Museums and Digital Communication

Museums and Digital Communication

Audience –Content – Impact

Kristen Purcell, Ph.D., Associate Director, Pew Internet Project Art Museum Marketing Association Meeting. Baltimore, MD. May 17, 2013.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=hRktt23Fx58D9M&tbnid=rqFWHvQbPRAwtM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3ABaltimore_Museum_of_Art.jpg&ei=QfeQUeipCYmz0QHAzICwCg&bvm=bv.46340616,d.dmQ&psig=AFQjCNEd5ft3yw-U1gmnCPSpCFqHVQKctA&ust=1368541368462280

Data presented here are based on surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center – our mission is to provide high quality, objective data to thought leaders and policymakers

Between May 30 and July 20, 2012, Pew Internet conducted an online survey of a non-probability national (U.S.) sample of arts organizations

1,258 arts organizations took the survey, representing a wide range of disciplines, organizational functions, budgets, etc.

Art museums comprised 9% of the final sample (performing groups made up the largest portion of the final sample at 22%)

Presentation slides and full report are available at pewinternet.org

Arts Organizations

and Digital Technologies

Audience – Content – Impact

Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies

Guiding Questions

Who is your

audience and how

well do you know

them?

What digital tools

do they use/have

access to?

Do digital tools

broaden or

fundamentally

change your

audience?

How does your

content shape your

choice of digital tool

or strategy?

Can you give up

control of your

content and the

online conversation?

What is your

organization’s

(digital) identity/

personality?

What are your

ultimate goals in

terms of impact?

How will you

measure impact in

these areas?

What impacts

are possible?

(Your resources +

tools available +

human nature)

Audience


Guiding Questions

Who is your

audience and how

well do you know

them?

What digital tools

do they use/have

access to?

Do digital tools

broaden or

fundamentally

change your

audience?

“listen more than you ask”

Who is your audience and how

well do you know them?

81% of arts organizations surveyed let users comment publicly

on their websites

77% use social media to monitor what is being said about their org

65% use social media to learn more about their audience

52% use social media to get feedback from the public or

“crowdsource” an idea

28% host online discussion groups

How, and how well, are you listening?

85% of US adults use the internet

2/3 have broadband at home

84% have a cell phone, including 45% who

have a smartphone

24% have a tablet computer

19% have an e-reader

2/3 of adult cell phone users are wireless

internet users

69% of online adults use social networking

sites, 16% use Twitter

US Adult Internet/Digital Tool Use in 2013

What digital tools does your audience use?

* Based on Pew Internet Tracking Surveys

95% of kids 12-17 use the internet

93% have a computer or have access to

one at home

78% have a cell phone, including 37% who

have a smartphone

23% have a tablet computer

74% access the internet on mobile devices

(smartphone, tablet, etc)

In July 2011, 80% of online teens used

SNS, 14% used Twitter

US Teen Internet/Digital Tool Use in 2013


* Based on Pew Internet Tracking Surveys

Information is Woven Into Our Lives

Mobile is the needle, Social Networks are the thread

Social Networks…

Surround us with

information through our

many connections

Bring us information from

multiple, varied sources

Provide instant feedback,

meaning and context

Allow us to shape and

create information

ourselves and easily

amplify others’ messages

Mobile…

Moves information

with us

Makes information

accessible ANYTIME

and ANYWHERE

Puts information at our

fingertips, literally

Magnifies the demand

for timely, actionable

information

Makes information

location-sensitive

6%

8%

12%

15%

16%

View/download info or images from a museum

Download or listen to audio tour at a museum, gallery or historical site

View or download info/images from a historic site, park or monument

Watch or download a music, dance or theater performance

View or download visual arts content

% of all adults in 2011 who had used a handheld device (phone/e-reader/tablet) to…

How your patrons reflected these mobile/social trends in 2011

Currently, 74% of adult smartphone owners use their phone to get directions,

recommendations or other information based on their present location

21% use their phone to get coupons or deals to use at local businesses

2011 data


8%

11%

29%

41%

Museums

Arts galleries or other visual arts orgs

Musical, dance or theater groups/venues

Individual artists, musicians or other performers

% of adult SNS/Twitter users in 2011 who followed…

In the 12 months prior to the 2011 survey….

44% of adults had attended a live music, dance or theater performance

It was 77% among those who follow a music/dance/theatrical group

or venue on SNS

35% of adults had visited a museum

It was 82% among those who follow a museum on SNS

35% of adults had attended an arts, craft or music festival

It was 55% among those who follow individual artists, musicians or

performers on SNS

29% of adults had visited an art gallery, show or exhibit

It was 82% among those who follow an art gallery or other visual

arts organization on SNS

Social networking is a connection with “Superfans”


It’s a chicken and egg question, but does the answer matter?

Perceived impacts of technology on the arts Based on your experiences and those of your organization, do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Conducted May 30-July 20, 2012. N for respondents who answered this question=1,207.

Broad impacts of digital technology on the arts

Do digital tools broaden or change your audience?

27%

31%

50%

50%

52%

42%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

The internet has played a major role in broadening the boundaries of what is considered art

Because of the internet and digital technologies, the arts audience is more diverse than it was in the

past

The internet has increased engagement in the arts by providing a public platform through

which more people can share their work

Strongly agree Somewhat agree

“Because we do a lot of work in rural areas, with senior citizens, and low income areas, social

media only works for a portion of our audience…A heavy reliance on social media,

though convenient, can exclude many people.”

93% of arts orgs say social

media help them reach a

broader audience than they

would otherwise be able to

Content


Guiding Questions

How does your

content shape your

choice of digital tool

or strategy?

Can you give up

control of your

content and the online

conversation?

What is your

organization’s (digital)

identity/personality?

99% of arts organizations surveyed host a website

On those sites, 94% post photos

81% post or stream video

57% post or stream audio

50% maintain a blog

20% present online exhibits

---------------------------

86% have increased the number of online events and exhibits

they host over the past several years

24% use mobile apps to provide content to the public

No two organizations (or digital strategies) are the same

How does your content shape your organization’s

choice of digital tools and strategies?



97% of the arts organizations surveyed have a profile

or page on a social media site

69% have employees with professional social media

profiles they use in their capacity as a representative

of the organization

56% of the orgs that use social media have a profile on

4-9 different social media sites

10% of the orgs that use social media are active on

10+ platforms

No two organizations (or digital strategies) are the same



Among arts orgs that use social media, the top sites used are…

Reflects where

the audience

is, but…

Does it reflect

the best

platform for

YOUR content

How often arts organizations post content on social media…

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Arts Organizations Survey. Conducted

between May 30-July 20, 2012. N for respondents who answered this question=1,131.

Several times a

day 25%

About once a day

20%

Several times a week 28%

About once a week 16%

Every few

weeks 8%

Less often 3%

Infinite uses of social media…

• 82% use social media to engage

with audience members prior to,

during, or following an event

45% of arts orgs that use social media post daily



“We solicited ideas for how to name our "signature cocktail" at an upcoming benefit, based on the theme of the

benefit. Facebook fans wrote in with lots of ideas, we picked our top favorites, and then released a poll so fans could vote on the name we ended up using. It generated

awareness of the event (which was a record success) and allowed those who might not have been able to attend the event a way to engage with the party.”

There is no one-size-fits-all digital tool or strategy



“When SB1079 passed in Arizona, our organization (who specializes in Mexican music and dance), in the matter

of days, was able to write, record and make a video of a song that directly addressed the issue. The video was

posted on YouTube and got hundreds of hits in the matter of days. It was a way for us to execute our

mission to a large audience in a short amount of time.”

“After seeing that a patron has checked into our venue or has been talking about how good our show was, we thank them publicly and

invite them back. This gives us the ability to create a personal interaction with them and create a connection that encourages

them to come back. Sometimes our actors will join in when they see us thanking a patron, and send a personal thanks from the cast.”

Personal

Timely Relevant

How well does your content lend itself to digital dissemination?



What is the VALUE of your content?

What is the NATURE of your content?

How much DEPTH is there to

your content?

Can your content be MORSELIZED

easily and in a meaningful way?

Is your content easily SHAREABLE?

5 key

questions

to ask

Patrons likely already expect free + open access to your content,

and at least partially digital immersion

90% of the arts orgs

surveyed let patrons

share their content via

email, SNS and Twitter

48% strongly agree and

26% agree that “the

internet and related

technologies have

created an expectation

among some audience

members that all digital

content should be free”

Just 3% strongly agree

and 19% agree that “the

internet and digital

technologies are hurting

attendance at in-person

events”

Can you give up control of your content?

“Access will be good for educational purposes and to increase awareness of the arts, especially historical material in performance

of all types. However, issues of copyright and payment for that material, such as in apps and in streaming or downloading, are

murky and hard to navigate for artists themselves as to value and fairness of payments to the artist for original content.”

“As the realism of participatory digital entertainment and the immersion ability of non-participatory digital entertainment

increases, it threatens the elements that make the live arts unique—the sense of immediacy, immersion, and personal interaction with

the art. We've long hung fast to the belief that there's nothing like a live experience, but digital entertainment is getting closer and closer

to replicating that experience.”

“The audience has already moved from ‘arts attendance as an event’ to ‘arts attendance as an experience.’ This desire for a full-range of positive experience from ticket purchase, to travel, to parking, to

treatment at the space, to quality of performance, to exit – this will only increase over the next 10 years.”

Can you give up control of the online conversation?

• Credibility and reputation are

assessed through multiple filters

–Trusted information sources

(including search engines)

–Personal beliefs/experiences

–Social networks

–Aggressive fact checking

• Bad information hangs around, but it

can be attacked in several ways

–Directed response

–Recanting (by you or others)

–Better information, especially from

multiple sources

• Just 5% of the arts orgs surveyed say

that “social media creates more risks

than benefits for our organization”

“Any time you engage in social media, you open yourself up to negative feedback. An example of this would be announcing our

summer concert series, and having someone not like one of the many guest artists we

bring in. However, for every negative comment, there is usually someone with a

different opinion.”

“We were the subject of comments concerning funding and donations from a

local political organization and our patrons responded in full with comments, examples and telling our story in a stronger and better

way than even our staff would have been able to do. We were proud that we did not have to, in any way, defend our value to the

community, our audience did this for us.”

52% of organizations not on social media say that lack of control of

what is said in these spaces is a reason they don’t use them

Surveillance –

powerful watch

ordinary

Sousveillance –

ordinary watch

powerful

Coveillance – peers

watch peers

Can you give up control of the online conversation?

The reality is that all organizations face more scrutiny

Transparency and openness are new markers of trust

Signal your audience that you trust them with your content

AND with your reputation

“We provide grants and an organization who

was unhappy about not receiving a grant

posted some negative stuff on Twitter. While we responded and kept

it professional, it did put negative comments

out there associated with our profile,

potentially damaging our brand.”

What is your organization’s digital identity/personality?

• 76% of social media-using arts orgs have full-

time paid staff tending the sites

• 29% use part-time staff

• 16% use volunteers, 8% use paid contractors

• Altogether, 13% use a combination of full-time

and part-time staffers to manage social media

• Just 27% have a staff member whose position

is dedicated to social media management

• 73% use staff to oversee social media who

also have other responsibilities

• 70% agree (including 38% who strongly agree)

that “Younger employees in our organization

have a more positive view of social media”

“Before we put policies in place, one of our employees, who was a great social media user, kind of merged his own

identity on Facebook with that of our organization. Therefore, when he also

would party and post about it – it became an area of discipline. And he didn't understand the need for

separating these things out, keeping his personal life off of our public profile. That

was several years ago.”

Social media is a top-down activity, not bottom-up

Who will you be online, and who will speak for you?

Impact


Guiding Questions

What are your

ultimate goals in

terms of impact?

How will you

measure impact in

these areas?

What impacts

are possible?

(Your resources +

tools available +

human nature)

% of arts orgs who say the internet is very or somewhat important for…

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Arts Organizations Survey. Conducted between May 30-July 20, 2012. N for respondents who answered this

question=1,212.

19%

27%

28%

33%

55%

63%

64%

65%

78%

81%

24%

16%

39%

37%

29%

29%

27%

25%

18%

15%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Improving arts curation

Improving arts cataloging and collections management

Artistic creation and/or collaboration

Providing arts education to the public

Engaging in arts advocacy

Using your organization's resources more efficiently

Indentifying sources of funding

Gathering research and data for grant applications

Increasing audience engagement

Promoting the arts

Very Important Somewhat Important

What are your organizational goals vis a vis impact?

Perceived importance of the internet and digital tools among arts orgs,

both external and internal

Internal

Education,

Collaboration,

Curation

• 56% see major impact on boosting org’s public

profile

• 53% see major impact on engagement with public

• 48% see major impact on increasing traffic to

website

• 45% see major impact on event promotion/

attendance

• 41% see major impact on audience building and

stakeholder engagement

----------------------------------------------------

• 27% see major impact on audience engagement

w/content

• Just 13% see major impact on professional

collaboration, or on fundraising


Promotion

(increasing

awareness,

public image,

attendance)

Engagement (with organization,

with content)

Education

Fundraising

Collaboration

Actual impacts arts orgs see from their internet/social media efforts

91% say social media is worth the time their organization spends on it

Promotion

•74% maintain an online calendar

•72% sell tickets online

•34% make info available through RSS feeds

•31% offer discounts through services such

as Groupon or LivingSocial

Fundraising

•86% accept donations online

•47% sell merchandise online

•15% use apps to sell tickets, products or

services

•5% accept donations or gifts via SMS or text

messaging


Promotion

(increasing

awareness, public

image, attendance)

Engagement (with organization,

with content)

Education

Fundraising

Collaboration

Internet/social media efforts geared toward specific goals


Engagement with an organization can mean many different things

Leading

Owning

Contributing

Endorsing

Following

Observing

At the bottom, communications

and relationships are tech-

centric and automated. At the

top, they are personal and

labor-intensive.

Using tech to automate

interactions at the bottom helps

scale engagement to reach lots

of people (websites, databases,

email, social networks).

Automated communications

become less effective above

level three, where personal

relationships become

increasingly critical.

Borrowed from Gideon Rosenblatt’s “The Engagement Pyramid: Six Levels of Connecting People and Social Change”

Where

bulk of

social

media

impact

occurs


What is the next level of engagement?

• 56% of arts orgs surveyed said internet

and digital media have a MAJOR impact

on organization’s public profile

• 53% say dig tools have a MAJOR impact

on engagement with the public

• 48% see major impact on website traffic

• 45% see major impact on event

promotion/ attendance

-------------------------------------------------

• 27% see a major impact on public

understanding of/engagement with

artistic content

• 16% see major impact on public

education

A concern of orgs surveyed

was that while social media

encourage engagement with the

organization, they do not always

encourage a deep engagement

with/ understanding of artistic

content

___________________

Is it the tool?

Is it how the tool is used?

Is it something unique about

arts content?

Is it the social media audience?

Has this always been the case

with arts outreach?

Is this true for all kinds of

organizations?

Engagement with an organization or engagement with content?

How will you measure your impact?

Measuring impact is

a 3-step process:

1) Decide which

metric/tool to use

to measure impact

2) Learn how to use it

3) Make decisions

based on its

output

Metrics can 1) help improve online presence, 2) provide data for funders, 3) inform decision-making

•55% of arts orgs surveyed use Google Analytics

to measure web traffic and campaigns

•8% are not using any web analytics

•Generally, the bigger the overall budget, the

more metrics an organization uses

•Online metrics (page views, unique visitors) v.

measurable outcomes (ticket sales, museum

visits, membership, donations)

•Smaller organizations in particular note

that measurable outcomes are very important

to funders

•Online metrics v. measurable impacts v.

immeasurable impacts

(public education, collaboration may be less

measurable impacts, not less common)

This may be the million dollar question!

What impacts are possible?

• 49% of arts orgs surveyed

have sought funding

specifically to expand

their organization’s use of

the internet or other digital

technologies, such as

apps and social media

(mostly unsuccessful)

• 36% have conducted

research to learn more

about how their audiences

use technologies

• 35% agree that “the

internet is shifting the

focus of many arts

organizations from artistic

creation and curation to

promotion and marketing”

Possible Impacts = Your Resources + Tools Available + Human Nature

30%

37%

38%

52%

58%

5%

44%

48%

32%

41%

33%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Social media creates more risks than benefits for our

organization

Overall, my organization does not have the personnel or resources it needs to

use social media effectively

Social media helps our existing audience members

feel more a part of the organization

The younger employees in our organization have a

more positive view of social media …

Social media helps my organization reach a broader audience than it would

otherwise be able to

Social media is worth the time our organization spends on it

Very true Somewhat true

Among arts organizations that do not currently have a social media presence…

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Arts Orgs Survey. Conducted May 30-July 20, 2012. N for respondents who answered this question=1,117.

5%

7%

12%

16%

18%

30%

35%

5%

23%

40%

33%

39%

25%

40%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

My organization tried using social media in the past and found that it was ineffective

My organization does not have access to the updated hardware or software necessary to use social media

effectively

My organization does not use social media because it is too difficult to control what is said in social networking

spaces

My organization does not have the financial resources it needs to begin using social media

My organization is able to reach our community/ stakeholders through other means, so we do not need to

use social media

My organization does not have the staff skills or knowledge it needs to begin using social media

My organization is concerned about the continued resources that would be necessary to maintain a

successful social media profile or campaign

Major reason Minor reason


Not everyone is on board the social media train,

mainly because of resources not desire


A new way of thinking about SCALE

Borrowed from

Michael

Edson

Web and New Media

Strategy for the

Smithsonian

@mpedson

Full version of his talk

“The Age of Scale” is available on

Slideshare

http://www.slideshare.

net/edsonm

“A global ‘audience’ of collaborators (individuals, learners, fans, community) was not

imaginable to an organization 30 years ago” – Michael Edson

• New tools = a new approach to organization’s mission


• National Gallery has 4.6 MILLION visitors

• 108.4 million viewers for the 2013 SuperBowl

• 1.3 BILLION views of Gangnam Style (and

counting)

• In November 2012 TEDTalk reached its ONE

BILLIONTH video view

• Wikipedia has 1.8 BILLION edits and growing

• On KICKSTARTER in 2012, 2.2 MILLION people

from 177 countries pledged more than $319

MILLION to support 18,000+ projects

• Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s rendition

of “Space Oddity” had 1.8 million views on

YouTube and more than 3,000 Reddit comments

Monday afternoon, one day after it was posted

Parts borrowed from

Michael Edson

Web and New Media Strategy

for the Smithsonian

Full version of his talk

“The Age of Scale” is available

on Slideshare

Chris Hadfield understands SCALE

A new way of thinking about SCALE

Kristen Purcell Associate Director for Research, Pew Internet Project

[email protected]

Twitter:

@pewinternet

@kristenpurcell

THANK YOU!! Data and report available at pewinternet.org

Museums and Digital Communication

Technology

Transcript of Museums and Digital Communication