LIS432 Cultural Heritage Informatics SPR16: Social Media - The Museum of Modern Art & Massachusetts Historical Society

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

Mission Statement

...In sum, The Museum of Modern Art seeks to create a dialogue between the established and the experimental, the past and the present, in an environment that is responsive to the issues of modern and contemporary art, while being accessible to a public that ranges from scholars to young children.

From what I can understand with their mission statement, they are working on collection more art but at the same time being more involved with their communities and pulling people in in different ways. I went to their social media page and saw that they have quite a list of platforms and followers such as Facebook, Twitter (2.53M), YouTube (57,185), Tumblr, Instagram (1.4M) and their own blog at Inside Out. They have quite a following. I was not able to find their social media policies or guidelines. What I have seen so far, they do a great job at keeping it up to date and being involved with their communities.

Massachusetts Historical Society

MHS is an historical society where they focuses the letters, diaries, and other personal papers of individuals and families, such as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and goes on. They even have a collection that focus on Civil War and you are able to check them out online. Down below is their Mission Statement and part of their Vision Statement.

Mission Statement

The Massachusetts Historical Society is a center of research and learning dedicated to a deeper understanding of the American experience. Through its collections, scholarly pursuits, and public programs, the Society seeks to nurture a greater appreciation for American history and for the ideas, values, successes, and failures that bind us together as a nation.

Vision Statement

...Improved funding will reinforce the Society's core activities. Enhanced processing and increased digitization of the Society's collections will open avenues of research. Seminal national conferences, seminars, and additional research fellowships will advance scholarship. The MHS will extend the Adams Papers through another generation, publish other essential collections in print and online, launch an online magazine, and enrich our website. Greatly expanded public relations and marketing will support the Society's presence, mission, and activities.

In 2020 the MHS will be a thriving and influential center for the study and advancement of historical knowledge and an advocate for its importance. The MHS will reach a much larger audience who will use its resources, take part in programs, join as members, and support its mission to achieve a deeper understanding of the American experience. And we will have taken a significant step forward toward our vision of a renewed American understanding that our nation’s past is fundamental to its future...

I did not find any information directly on social media policy but in their mission and vision statements above; they talked about on trying their best to improve their materials online and through social media. They are saying that they will do more with the Adams Papers, publish more collections in print and online, launch an online magazine, and improve their website. They are also big on education by trying to give the students information that they need in order to learn more about their history.

I did find “Social Media” in their navigation bar under More. I clicked on that and it showed me a list of social media that they are active in, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Yelp, The Beehive, their blog and an e-newsletter. They are pretty active on them - just not much on YouTube, their last upload video were around 7 months ago. They do not have Instagram or Tumblr.

One thing about MHS Twitter , they have two handle names that I could find, @MSH1791 (with 5,111 followers) and @JQAdams_MHS (18K followers). They pretty much update almost everyday, especially the latter. It is about them tweet one line from John Quincy Adams’ diary that started from his journey to Russia on August 5, 1809. Last time I checked, the last tweet/diary line were from April 10th, 1816. It seems based on their numbers of the followers, JQAdams is more popular.

I think they (MoMA and MHS) need to have a social media guidelines. To better expand on what they have on their pages already and to explain what they are planning on executing with their social media pages as well as why they want to do it. I have found two examples from British Museum and Western Australian Museum. Here is what they should have added but I do believe both MoMA and MHS does follow these rules. I took each topic from British Museum because it works and it makes senses.