Detroit Institute of the Arts
The DIA has what seems like a fairly standard social media presence in that they are active in what I consider to be the three big social media platforms, those being Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Their following for both Twitter and Facebook number over 100,000 users, while their Instagram following is only around 26,000. This may be a result of a relatively new account, but because I cannot see when their Instagram presence began without scrolling through the entirety of their archives, I cannot be certain. Also, it should be noted that there does not seem to be a social media policy in place at the DIA.
While the DIA displays their social media accounts prominently on their website, there does not seem to be a posted mission statement anywhere on the site. After doing some digging, I did find an old job posting for a position at the DIA which declared its mission statement as such: "The DIA creates experiences that help each visitor find personal meaning in art."1 I cannot say whether or not this their actual mission statement, but if so, it is simple, to say the least, and it does not provide much of a background for which to evaluate the institution's social media involvement. I will provide a bit of background information on the DIA since its possible mission statement leaves much to be desired. The Detroit Institute of the Arts was originally called the Detroit Museum of Art when it was founded in 1885 and located on Jefferson Avenue. It changed to its current name in 1919, and in 1927, the DIA moved to its current location on Woodward Avenue. 2 The museum currently holds its collection, valued at $8.1 billion in 2014, in its 658,000 square foot space. Additionally, the DIA consists of over 100 galleries, a 1,150 seat auditorium, an art reference library, a 380 seat lecture hall, and a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory. Its collection is considered to be within the top six in the United States, "comprising a multicultural and multinational survey of human creativity from prehistory through the 21st century." 3 Essentially, it is not a small institution by any means. The museums attendance totaled about 678,000 visitors in 2015. 4 This seems small in comparison to the Art Institute of Chicago, a much smaller building but similar style of collection, as they received about 1.5 million visitors in 2013. 5
Location of the DIA could be attributed to its comparably smaller numbers than similar institutions.
The DIA's considerable distance from Metro Detroit, as well as Detroit's lack of public transit, may explain its significantly lower attendance. Their social media presence, however, seems comparable to institutions such as the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. As mentioned previously, the DIA is mostly active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, just as the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. The number of followers is significantly lower than those two institutions, but again, this is possibly directly proportional to its visitor count. On twitter, the majority of posts are retweets of positive mentions from other twitter accounts. They also post non-related tweets, such as current happenings in the city of Detroit. For example, they tweeted about opening day at Tiger Stadium last week. Other tweets include number of school student visitors per day, current exhibits, and current events. Basically, it is a truncated regurgitation of their Facebook posts. After browsing twitter accounts of the MoMA, the Met, AIC, and LACMA, this seems standard practice.
What I did find notable, however, is that the DIA is fairly active in enticing the locals and community. One particular update mentioned the Detroit Public Schools Student Exhibition which displayed artwork of local Detroit students in an attempt to foster a love of art and community involvement in Detroit's youth which is certainly reflective of its supposed mission statement. Another post that I found interesting was in regards to its on-going Saturday event called Oakland County Day, where the DIA promises free bus transport to patrons coming from Oakland County, a good hour or so distance from the museum. They are clearly attempting to reach far and wide with their audience.
The DIA's Instagram account appear to primarily be the host of its images that they post to Twitter and Facebook. Much of the photos are reflective of their collection. They also posts a great deal of behind-the-scenes images of places like their conservation lab and library in order to provide patrons with an idea of how the institution is run. Finally, one thing that I noticed they do well is that the images of art they post seem to always be of pieces from their collection. For example, on Van Gogh's birthday, they did not simply just post a "Happy Birthday Vincent Van Gogh!" like I saw on other museum Instagram accounts, but they made certain to post his birthday along with an image of a painting they own with a significant amount of information on the piece. On opening day at Tiger Stadium, they used a Delacroix sketch of a Tiger from the museum's collection. Unlike many museum social media accounts, it seems that it is not merely just an intern doing his or her job, but it seems the DIA puts a lot of thought into which images they decide to show to the public. They make certain to tie things together rather than carelessly post a few images from their collection.
As far as improvements are concerned, they could try a bit harder with the current audience that they already have. For example, on their Facebook account, there are several posts by patrons with inquiries or comments, and it seems that these are ignored. I also note when bloggers or social media users ignore their readers, etc, and to me it comes off as somewhat unprofessional. If one would like to keep their patrons happy, it would not be too much to ask to respond to Facebook questions and concerns. Also, the DIA's Flickr, Pinterest, and Four Square pages are practically defunct. The last Flickr post was from 2012, it seems. Granted, these platforms are not as popular as the big three, but considering that the DIA hopes to raise enough funds by 2023 to allow for operational independence and autonomy in an economically insecure city, it should exhaust every opportunity it has in reaching a wide audience.7 From reading several pieces on social media best practices in museums, such as this particular one, social media is a great, cost-effective way to advertise, and as such, the DIA should take 100% advantage of this. As of late, I have noticed that Snapchat is the social media platform du jour among the youth, and so, it might be exceptionally beneficial for the DIA to create an account.
The LBJ Presidential Library
The other institution I have chosen to examine is the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, situated on a 30 acre site on the University of Texas at Austin's campus. The LBJ library is sometimes referred to as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, and houses 45 million pages of historical documents, 650,000 photos and 5,000 hours of recordings from President Johnson's political career, including about 643 hours of his recorded telephone conversations. It is one of 13 Presidential Libraries administered by NARA, and the core of its collection consists of personal objects owned, used, bought, or worn by the president and first lady, all donated by President Johnson under the Presidential Libraries Act (1955). The institution's exhibits receive approximately 100,000 visitors per year from around the world.8
Like many museums and institutions, the LBJ Presidential Library and pretty active on the big three social media platforms, those being Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Like the DIA, the LBJ Library posts to their Facebook and Twitter, an average of 5 or so posts per day. In total, this institution has tweeted 3,919 times and has 12,700 followers. This may seem small, but it is worth noting that this is a significantly smaller institution than those at the top of analytics. Additionally, it has a narrow focus, that being the presidency and political career of LBJ, thus, it can be assumed that it would have a much smaller audience. The majority of the library's tweets consists of flashbacks/today-in-history posts that have to do with, you guessed it, LBJ! There are a plethora of archival photos of everything from the Civil Rights Movement, to an Easter Bunny receiving "the Johnson Treatment" on the library's Easter Sunday post. They clearly have a sense of humor about some of LBJ's not-so-nice reputation, which makes an institution with a somewhat cold and unrelatable subject like LBJ, much more appealing as a whole. Humor makes the world go 'round, am I right?
Like most museums, many of their tweets also consist of retweets from users who have posted images of LBJ or appropriate mentions of LBJ. There are also retweets of various schools mentioning their visits to the library, retweets of events such as a recent one where John Kerry visited and spoke on changes in US relations with Vietnam.
The LBJ Presidential Library has similar Facebook statistics with around 12,000 likes and 30,000 visits, and like the DIA, it is somewhat a regurgitation of its twitter page. They do get on average over 100 likes per post which I found impressive as well as 20-30 shares per post. They have 594 total Instagram posts and 1538 followers. I found it interesting that although their Instagram is less active than their Twitter and Facebook, they make sure not to just recycle content. Images are different than on the other two social media platforms, and they are well thought out. Again, there is a sense of humor here too. On National Puppy Day, they posted an image of one of LBJ's beagle pups stuck in his old cowboy boot.
Just from personal experience, it seems that if one has a Twitter account, they also have one for Facebook and Instagram. I would be disappointed if an institution that I followed just recycled their content across the platforms. I think it is impressive when an institution takes the effort to post different material on each account, otherwise, I would find no point in following a place I enjoy on more than one platform.
On its website, the LBJ Presidential Library says its mission is "to preserve and protect the historical materials in the collections of the library and make them readily accessible; to increase public awareness of the American experience through relevant exhibitions and educational programs; to advance the LBJ Library's standing as a center for intellectual activity and community leadership while meeting the challenges of a changing world." Judging by its social media activity, it seems that they achieve this somewhat in that the images and today-in-history posts give concise, historical and educational information on relatively recent pieces of American history. They certainly increase public awareness by being as active as larger institutions. They tweet their events several times prior to their occurrence, and they seem to make an attempt to appeal to their local community with tweets and retweets of school visits and community lectures, etc.
Again, like the DIA, their lesser used platforms such as Flickr, YouTube, and Tumblr, are not particularly active anymore. Additionally, they should perhaps consider exploring Snapchat to appeal to a much younger audience. Being that the LBJ Library has a much narrower focus than the DIA or places more like the Met, they should make it a point to be as active as possible on social media. Also, like the DIA, the LBJ Presidential Library does not seem to have a social media policy, and it might benefit them to create one in order to have a clear, organized focus of what they hope to achieve using social media.
The DIA has what seems like a fairly standard social media presence in that they are active in what I consider to be the three big social media platforms, those being Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Their following for both Twitter and Facebook number over 100,000 users, while their Instagram following is only around 26,000. This may be a result of a relatively new account, but because I cannot see when their Instagram presence began without scrolling through the entirety of their archives, I cannot be certain. Also, it should be noted that there does not seem to be a social media policy in place at the DIA.
While the DIA displays their social media accounts prominently on their website, there does not seem to be a posted mission statement anywhere on the site. After doing some digging, I did find an old job posting for a position at the DIA which declared its mission statement as such: "The DIA creates experiences that help each visitor find personal meaning in art."1 I cannot say whether or not this their actual mission statement, but if so, it is simple, to say the least, and it does not provide much of a background for which to evaluate the institution's social media involvement. I will provide a bit of background information on the DIA since its possible mission statement leaves much to be desired. The Detroit Institute of the Arts was originally called the Detroit Museum of Art when it was founded in 1885 and located on Jefferson Avenue. It changed to its current name in 1919, and in 1927, the DIA moved to its current location on Woodward Avenue. 2 The museum currently holds its collection, valued at $8.1 billion in 2014, in its 658,000 square foot space. Additionally, the DIA consists of over 100 galleries, a 1,150 seat auditorium, an art reference library, a 380 seat lecture hall, and a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory. Its collection is considered to be within the top six in the United States, "comprising a multicultural and multinational survey of human creativity from prehistory through the 21st century." 3 Essentially, it is not a small institution by any means. The museums attendance totaled about 678,000 visitors in 2015. 4 This seems small in comparison to the Art Institute of Chicago, a much smaller building but similar style of collection, as they received about 1.5 million visitors in 2013. 5
Location of the DIA could be attributed to its comparably smaller numbers than similar institutions.
The DIA's considerable distance from Metro Detroit, as well as Detroit's lack of public transit, may explain its significantly lower attendance. Their social media presence, however, seems comparable to institutions such as the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. As mentioned previously, the DIA is mostly active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, just as the Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. The number of followers is significantly lower than those two institutions, but again, this is possibly directly proportional to its visitor count. On twitter, the majority of posts are retweets of positive mentions from other twitter accounts. They also post non-related tweets, such as current happenings in the city of Detroit. For example, they tweeted about opening day at Tiger Stadium last week. Other tweets include number of school student visitors per day, current exhibits, and current events. Basically, it is a truncated regurgitation of their Facebook posts. After browsing twitter accounts of the MoMA, the Met, AIC, and LACMA, this seems standard practice.
What I did find notable, however, is that the DIA is fairly active in enticing the locals and community. One particular update mentioned the Detroit Public Schools Student Exhibition which displayed artwork of local Detroit students in an attempt to foster a love of art and community involvement in Detroit's youth which is certainly reflective of its supposed mission statement. Another post that I found interesting was in regards to its on-going Saturday event called Oakland County Day, where the DIA promises free bus transport to patrons coming from Oakland County, a good hour or so distance from the museum. They are clearly attempting to reach far and wide with their audience.
The DIA's Instagram account appear to primarily be the host of its images that they post to Twitter and Facebook. Much of the photos are reflective of their collection. They also posts a great deal of behind-the-scenes images of places like their conservation lab and library in order to provide patrons with an idea of how the institution is run. Finally, one thing that I noticed they do well is that the images of art they post seem to always be of pieces from their collection. For example, on Van Gogh's birthday, they did not simply just post a "Happy Birthday Vincent Van Gogh!" like I saw on other museum Instagram accounts, but they made certain to post his birthday along with an image of a painting they own with a significant amount of information on the piece. On opening day at Tiger Stadium, they used a Delacroix sketch of a Tiger from the museum's collection. Unlike many museum social media accounts, it seems that it is not merely just an intern doing his or her job, but it seems the DIA puts a lot of thought into which images they decide to show to the public. They make certain to tie things together rather than carelessly post a few images from their collection.
As far as improvements are concerned, they could try a bit harder with the current audience that they already have. For example, on their Facebook account, there are several posts by patrons with inquiries or comments, and it seems that these are ignored. I also note when bloggers or social media users ignore their readers, etc, and to me it comes off as somewhat unprofessional. If one would like to keep their patrons happy, it would not be too much to ask to respond to Facebook questions and concerns. Also, the DIA's Flickr, Pinterest, and Four Square pages are practically defunct. The last Flickr post was from 2012, it seems. Granted, these platforms are not as popular as the big three, but considering that the DIA hopes to raise enough funds by 2023 to allow for operational independence and autonomy in an economically insecure city, it should exhaust every opportunity it has in reaching a wide audience.7 From reading several pieces on social media best practices in museums, such as this particular one, social media is a great, cost-effective way to advertise, and as such, the DIA should take 100% advantage of this. As of late, I have noticed that Snapchat is the social media platform du jour among the youth, and so, it might be exceptionally beneficial for the DIA to create an account.
The LBJ Presidential Library
Like many museums and institutions, the LBJ Presidential Library and pretty active on the big three social media platforms, those being Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Like the DIA, the LBJ Library posts to their Facebook and Twitter, an average of 5 or so posts per day. In total, this institution has tweeted 3,919 times and has 12,700 followers. This may seem small, but it is worth noting that this is a significantly smaller institution than those at the top of analytics. Additionally, it has a narrow focus, that being the presidency and political career of LBJ, thus, it can be assumed that it would have a much smaller audience. The majority of the library's tweets consists of flashbacks/today-in-history posts that have to do with, you guessed it, LBJ! There are a plethora of archival photos of everything from the Civil Rights Movement, to an Easter Bunny receiving "the Johnson Treatment" on the library's Easter Sunday post. They clearly have a sense of humor about some of LBJ's not-so-nice reputation, which makes an institution with a somewhat cold and unrelatable subject like LBJ, much more appealing as a whole. Humor makes the world go 'round, am I right?
Like most museums, many of their tweets also consist of retweets from users who have posted images of LBJ or appropriate mentions of LBJ. There are also retweets of various schools mentioning their visits to the library, retweets of events such as a recent one where John Kerry visited and spoke on changes in US relations with Vietnam.
The LBJ Presidential Library has similar Facebook statistics with around 12,000 likes and 30,000 visits, and like the DIA, it is somewhat a regurgitation of its twitter page. They do get on average over 100 likes per post which I found impressive as well as 20-30 shares per post. They have 594 total Instagram posts and 1538 followers. I found it interesting that although their Instagram is less active than their Twitter and Facebook, they make sure not to just recycle content. Images are different than on the other two social media platforms, and they are well thought out. Again, there is a sense of humor here too. On National Puppy Day, they posted an image of one of LBJ's beagle pups stuck in his old cowboy boot.
Just from personal experience, it seems that if one has a Twitter account, they also have one for Facebook and Instagram. I would be disappointed if an institution that I followed just recycled their content across the platforms. I think it is impressive when an institution takes the effort to post different material on each account, otherwise, I would find no point in following a place I enjoy on more than one platform.
On its website, the LBJ Presidential Library says its mission is "to preserve and protect the historical materials in the collections of the library and make them readily accessible; to increase public awareness of the American experience through relevant exhibitions and educational programs; to advance the LBJ Library's standing as a center for intellectual activity and community leadership while meeting the challenges of a changing world." Judging by its social media activity, it seems that they achieve this somewhat in that the images and today-in-history posts give concise, historical and educational information on relatively recent pieces of American history. They certainly increase public awareness by being as active as larger institutions. They tweet their events several times prior to their occurrence, and they seem to make an attempt to appeal to their local community with tweets and retweets of school visits and community lectures, etc.
Again, like the DIA, their lesser used platforms such as Flickr, YouTube, and Tumblr, are not particularly active anymore. Additionally, they should perhaps consider exploring Snapchat to appeal to a much younger audience. Being that the LBJ Library has a much narrower focus than the DIA or places more like the Met, they should make it a point to be as active as possible on social media. Also, like the DIA, the LBJ Presidential Library does not seem to have a social media policy, and it might benefit them to create one in order to have a clear, organized focus of what they hope to achieve using social media.
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