MUSEUMS AND SOCIAL MEDIA: MODERN METHODS OF REACHING A WIDER AUDIENCE

Abstract

The opening of museums to society brought about radical changes in the museum practice, because their goal is not only the viewing of exhibits but a meaningful contact and communication with the public. According to this view, museums are trying to approach a wider audience, providing them with the opportunity of personalized use of information and active creation of content in an entertaining and interactive way. The following study explores various approaches that the social media (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin) can provide to museums, aiming at a constant communication and interaction with the audience. The vertiginous technological development, the digitization, the dissemination and democratization of knowledge, as well as the systematic information of the public by the mass media, have significantly influenced the museums in the way they promote their activities. The social media can be low-cost communication tools while addressing to a wider audience, as they can provide museums with the opportunity to benefit in many ways from their use, offering them the ability to give prominence to both their dynamic nature and the purpose of their actions. By studying the cases of important museums in Australia, America and Europe, it becomes immediately clear that the social media have already formed a basic communication tool for the museum’s exhibitions and for the other traits that highlight the educational and entertaining dimension of their character.