Is there more to it than posting a status update?
Is there more to it than posting a status update?
Is there more to it than posting a status update?
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extent, seems even wrong for social media; in the informative style of <strong>posting</strong>, <strong>there</strong> really is<br />
nothing for the fans <strong>to</strong> react <strong>to</strong>. According <strong>to</strong> Sm<strong>it</strong>h and Wollan (2011, 4), socil media is not<br />
just a new medium for communicating the same messages that organizations communicate<br />
through other medias. It is a new surrounding for new kind of behaviour, and <strong>it</strong> changes the<br />
way people behave and communicate. As a museum is an organization that has also the<br />
purpose of educating the people, their cus<strong>to</strong>mers, let alone the people who are not yet their<br />
cus<strong>to</strong>mers, might feel like they have nothing <strong>to</strong> say <strong>to</strong> such an author<strong>it</strong>y. The barrier for an<br />
individual cus<strong>to</strong>mer or “fan” <strong>to</strong> spontaneously begin a conversation w<strong>it</strong>h such a respected<br />
museum author<strong>it</strong>y is really high. What could they have <strong>to</strong> comment? The museums need <strong>to</strong><br />
think about the goal of having two-way communication w<strong>it</strong>h the cus<strong>to</strong>mers, and thus creating<br />
experiences and building relationships w<strong>it</strong>h them. If the museums are motivated <strong>to</strong> such a<br />
goal, they need <strong>to</strong> change the way they act in social media. It would help the museums <strong>to</strong> have<br />
a larger pool of fans in, for example Facebook, because <strong>it</strong> could mean that the <strong>more</strong> fans they<br />
have, the <strong>more</strong> comments they receive. However, in social media <strong>it</strong> usually is not the quant<strong>it</strong>y<br />
but the qual<strong>it</strong>y of the fans that make a difference as 30 percent of all social media users are<br />
actually sharing 90 percent of all shared content (Safron, 2010). Also, no matter how many<br />
fans the museums might have, the communication w<strong>it</strong>h them will not change until the<br />
museum changes the way they communicate first, because of the mentioned barrier of<br />
communicating w<strong>it</strong>h an author<strong>it</strong>y such as a museum. The museums could enhance the activ<strong>it</strong>y<br />
of their own social media presence and the activ<strong>it</strong>y of their fans by asking questions, directing<br />
the content <strong>to</strong> a specific group of people (the ones that have never vis<strong>it</strong>ed the museum, active<br />
visi<strong>to</strong>rs, et cetera), using a <strong>more</strong> relaxed and context-related language instead of <strong>posting</strong> the<br />
same content <strong>to</strong> every media, and <strong>posting</strong> different kinds of content in different ways, such as<br />
links, videos, compet<strong>it</strong>ions, external links, et cetera.<br />
Even if the cus<strong>to</strong>mers of “fans” of a museum in social media might not be that active (yet), <strong>it</strong><br />
does not mean that they would not be interested in communication w<strong>it</strong>h the organization.<br />
Some of the museums interviewed had concerns about the content they produce. They were<br />
worried that people might not be interested in, for example, reading a blog by the museum.<br />
The pos<strong>it</strong>ive thing about social media is that people follow only those people and<br />
organizations they are interested in. In this way the communications is always already<br />
targeted <strong>to</strong> people who are interested in hearing about the museum in question, which makes<br />
<strong>it</strong> easier <strong>to</strong> talk w<strong>it</strong>h them.<br />
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