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Is there more to it than posting a status update?

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others in that organization represent an older age group, and are not social media users<br />

themselves. Naturally, when one does not utilize any social media applications, <strong>it</strong> is <strong>more</strong><br />

difficult <strong>to</strong> see why an organization should e<strong>it</strong>her.<br />

I feel like some of the employees, if they don’t use Facebook privately, perhaps they had<br />

some worries in the beginning… (Informant 4, Museum 3, A medium sized museum in a<br />

medium sized <strong>to</strong>wn).<br />

-<br />

Yes, <strong>it</strong>’s an age question, perhaps. …I do understand, in a way, that if you don’t go <strong>to</strong><br />

Facebook yourself or receive inv<strong>it</strong>ations <strong>to</strong> events, then <strong>it</strong> doesn’t feel so natural. Also, at<br />

the moment <strong>it</strong> might have <strong>to</strong> do w<strong>it</strong>h that <strong>there</strong> are people, who don’t have Facebook<br />

running un their veins… (Informant 7, Museum 5, A small museum in a medium sized<br />

<strong>to</strong>wn).<br />

5.2.5 Benef<strong>it</strong>s of social media<br />

The policies and ways of acting and communicating in social media vary amongst the<br />

interviewed museums, but as a common fac<strong>to</strong>r they all seem <strong>to</strong> agree on the fact that social<br />

media can really help a cultural organization <strong>to</strong> create and sustain a relationship w<strong>it</strong>h their<br />

cus<strong>to</strong>mers, and <strong>to</strong> lower the bar <strong>to</strong> come and vis<strong>it</strong> the actual museum as well. They also agree<br />

on the amount of effort real social media presence demands; <strong>it</strong> is not enough <strong>to</strong> create a page<br />

in Facebook, for example, but true communication would require real thought and planning.<br />

All informants had a pos<strong>it</strong>ive att<strong>it</strong>ude <strong>to</strong>wards social media in general, even if some had <strong>more</strong><br />

doubts about <strong>it</strong> <strong>than</strong> others.<br />

The reasons behind why museums in Finland join social media vary; some feel <strong>it</strong> is a good<br />

way <strong>to</strong> contact a new target group, some think <strong>it</strong> is good for communicating w<strong>it</strong>h the existing<br />

cus<strong>to</strong>mers. It is, however, difficult <strong>to</strong> know whether the cus<strong>to</strong>mers would first find the<br />

museum online, and then perhaps vis<strong>it</strong> the actual location, or whether they start following the<br />

museums online only after a vis<strong>it</strong> <strong>to</strong> the actual museum, or whether the liking of a museum<br />

online ever concretizes in<strong>to</strong> a vis<strong>it</strong> <strong>to</strong> the museum. The informants felts that the cus<strong>to</strong>mers do<br />

look for information on them online, also in social media, already before the first vis<strong>it</strong>.<br />

However, according <strong>to</strong> the informants, most of the fans seem <strong>to</strong> be people who already like<br />

the actual museum and have been <strong>to</strong> the physical s<strong>it</strong>e.<br />

83

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