Brooklyn Museum's Use of Flickr

            When examining the use of social media in museums, it becomes necessary to consider what the goals of museums as institutions are.  The museum as an institution was created to fulfill a two-fold purpose.  First and foremost, museums collect and preserve cultural artifacts which they deem to be important for their mission.  Secondly, they attempt to engage the public and educate visitors about the significance of their collections.  Museums usually accomplish this by selecting specific objects in their collections which they use to create an exhibit centered around a common theme through which the objects can be interpreted. 

            Prior to the Digital Revolution, the public engaged with museums by physically going to them and viewing their exhibitions which required time and energy.  Thus, the public's awareness of and access to museum collections may have been limited.  However, with the advent of the Internet, physically attending the museum has become optional due to the development of social media which allows the public to explore museum collections and, in turn, allows the museum to educate its visitors about its cultural holdings.  In the last decade, social media has changed the way people have viewed museums as cultural heritage institutions.  As Russo et al. comment, "Social media technologies have broadened learning options, shifting the focus from individual/institutional custodianship to participatory relationships where those involved in the learning process are seeking and sharing new knowledge (Russo et al, 156)." Indeed, the Brooklyn Museum presents one of the best examples of a museum's use of social media.

            The Brooklyn Museum is a major arts and cultural institution in New York City which also has a large community presence.  It houses a broad range of collections which were initially developed at the beginning of the twentieth century.  According to the Museum's website (brooklynmuseum.org), its mission is to "act as a bridge between the rich artistic heritage of world cultures, as embodied in its collections, and the unique experience of each visitor."  Consistent with this goal, the museum has a large social media presence.  Indeed, they even have a technology officer, Shelley Bernstein who, in an article in the New York Times, stated, "It’s less about technology and more about what the visitor can bring to the equation ... In the end, we want people to feel ownership of this museum. We ask them to tell us what they think. They can give us a bad review; when we make a mistake they can come to our rescue. We want to engage with our community (Vogel, F1)."  As part of its social media efforts, the Museum utilizes  a variety of websites among which I found Flickr and Youtube to be the most interesting.

            While an overall social media policy is not on the Museum's website, there is an explicit statement regarding Flickr the initial part of which reads: "Brooklyn Museum is a member of The Commons on Flickr. Brooklyn Museum images that are part of The Commons are marked as 'no known copyright restrictions,' indicating that the Museum is unaware of any current copyright restrictions on the works so designated, either because the term of copyright may have expired without being renewed or because no evidence has been found that copyright restrictions apply (brooklynmuseum.org)."

            The Museum's Flickr page can best be described as a digital encyclopedia which presents the institution's contents, activities, and visitors' experiences.  The photos on the site are subdivided into three categories: Photostream, Sets, and Favorites.   The Photostream contains single images of artists at work,  museum employees creating and maintaining exhibits, and images pertaining to the locales of the subjects of some of the Museum exhibits (e.g, Egypt).  The Sets page contains  photos categorized into groups which pertain to a wide variety of topics including artwork by staff, local sights,  famous architectural sights (e.g., French and Italian churches), and Museum exhibits.  Finally, the Favorites page is perhaps the most exotic of the three since it appears to contain single images taken and posted by Museum members and visitors.  Most  of these pertain to visitors' experiences at the Museum.  Thus, the Museum's Flickr pages present the full range of experiences which the Brooklyn Museum offers to its patrons.

            While Flickr provides a static visual introduction to the Brooklyn Museum,  Youtube offers a different way for members of the public to experience the Museum's contents.  Although the Museum appears to not have an official social media policy about Youtube, this does not diminish the richness of the content displayed on Youtube.  The Brooklyn Museum has literally hundreds of videos on Youtube all of which fit into three distinct categories:  Playlist, Popular Uploads, and Recent Uploads.  The Recent Uploads category appears to consist of videos containing lectures, panel discussions, and interviews.  Popular Uploads range from Museum staff discussing aspects of exhibitions and research on Museum holdings as well as lectures and panel discussions.  It is evident that the Popular Uploads are the videos watched the most based on their relative number of views.  Finally, the Playlists are groups of videos which address various aspects of the Museum's exhibitions.

            In addition to the videos on Youtube created by the Brooklyn Museum to publicize its holdings, the Museum has created a community outreach effort utilizing homemade Youtube productions involving the Museum.  Its website states, "If you've created a video starring the Brooklyn Museum, we'd love to see it and broadcast it from our website (brooklynmuseum.org/community)."  Their policy regarding such videos is covered under its policy on photography and does permit the original creator to retain the copyright.

            In line with the Brooklyn Museum's emphasis on community outreach and inclusion is the program called 1stfans which is described as an audience-specific membership program built on social media participation (Simon, 2009).  1stfans "builds benefits onto two programs that were already successful at connecting people to the Brooklyn Museum: free Target First Saturdays and online social media outreach."  For a nominal fee, this program allows members of the public who come to the Museum's FirstSaturdays and who participate in its social media to become a special class of Museum members.  While 1stfans don't get free admission to the Museum, they do receive other benefits. 

            The Brooklyn Museum maintains a vigorous and extensive social media presence which is designed to create inclusive community participation.  Through its various social media activities, it promotes interactive learning and encourages visitors whether they are members of the Museum or not.  In addition, it appears to continue to experiment with new types of audience participation through its social media presence such as its 1stfans program.  Finally, I was impressed by how innovative the Brooklyn Museum is in its use of technology and am considering becoming a member.

Works Cited

Russo, Angelina, Jerry Watkins, and Susan Groundwater-Smith.  "The impact of social media on informal learning in museums." Educational Media International 46, no. 2 (2009): 153-166.

Simon, Nina. "1stfans: An audience-specific membership program at the Brooklyn Msueum."

http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/02/1stfans-audience-specific-membership.html, viewed on  11/09/13.

Vogel, Carol.  "The art of sharing." The New York Times, March 17, 2011: F1.