Getty Museum Twitter EvaluationCollection Information & Access 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687 Getty Museum Twitter Evaluation Collection Information

Collection Information & Access 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687

Getty Museum Twitter Evaluation

Collection Information & Access Prepared by Maria L. Gilbert

July 13, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. BACKGROUND

A. Social Media ............................................................................................... 1 B. Twitter ........................................................................................................ 1 C. Impact ........................................................................................................ 2 D. Conversation .............................................................................................. 5 E. Project Plan ................................................................................................. 7

II. EVALUATION

A. User Demographics .................................................................................... 7

1. Geographic Location ....................................................................... 9 2. Identifying Characteristics .............................................................. 12

a. Gender ............................................................................... 12 b. Occupational Categories …................................................. 13

B. Measuring Success ................................................................................... 14

1. Distribute media about the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, and conservation activities ……………………..…………………................. 14 2. Provide Museum-produced resources and information about initiatives and projects directly to a virtual audience worldwide ….... 21 3. Increase access to the Museum's rich educational interpretative material by providing entry from a mainstream, popular Web site .... 25 4. Deliver content to mobile devices. ………………………................ 26 5. Reach our current audience on a personal platform ..................... 26 6. Deliver content that is not covered on getty.edu ......................... 27 7. Drive traffic to getty.edu ............................................................. 28 8. Build community ……………….................................................... 28

9. Give the Museum a fresh tool/maintain currency ..................... 32

10. Target new audiences, such as youth/digital natives ……......... 36 C. Recommendations …........................................................................... 38 D. Conclusion .......................................................................................... 38


© 2009 J. Paul Getty Trust July 13, 2009

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I. BACKGROUND A. Social Media American museums are embracing social media technology such as blogs, wikis, and video- and photo-sharing to communicate with their audiences. With the enormous success of sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter,1 museums are striving to be present where the world is, rather than simply waiting for online visitors to discover their own Web sites. Web 2.0 tools' innate facility for broad dissemination and sharing enables an institution to stand on the shoulders of others to deliver its brand, educational material, promotional efforts, and rich visual arts content on a much larger platform than the organization's own Web site or even the physical space of the museum itself. In addition, because social media have a culture of openness and sharing, being part of the scene gives a positive message: We are interested in what you have to say, we are fulfilling our mission to bring high-quality content directly to you, and we are savvy about what people are using and interested in. Social media are used to connect with new museum audiences; they provide an online context within which dispersed communities (e.g. youth, special interest groups, non-local audience) can engage with major museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions. Social media provide easy access to ambient awareness of how an institution is perceived—akin to having your "ear to the ground," and if negative, a chance to strategically moderate that perception. They can also be used to make a connection between an online museum reference and a tangible resource for visitors. B. Twitter (http://twitter.com) Twitter essentially turns the one-to-one channels of instant messaging and phone-based text messaging into broadcast media. Users don't need to use the same application as someone else to communicate with them and Twitter enables one to communicate easily with groups of people. Twitter users may use the Twitter Web site, desktop applications, instant messaging, or mobile phones to send and receive messages—or tweets—of up to 140 characters in length. Unless sent from a secured account, all tweets are recorded on the Web and anyone may access the content; tweets are instantly searchable via the Twitter “live search” function.2 Twitter uses an open application programming interface (API) enabling anyone to use the data in a wealth of meaningful ways. It's a wonderful tool for capturing community interaction for display. For example, the New York Times created a fascinating dynamic map with location and frequency of commonly used words in Super Bowl related messages.3

1 Ranking of top sites on the Web in the world: YouTube is number 3, Facebook is number 4, Flicker is number 30, and Twitter is number 20. Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/topsites (accessed July 8, 2009). 2 Twitter search can be accessed on the Web at: http://search.twitter.com/. 3 “Twitter Chatter During the Super Bowl,” New York Times, February 2, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/02/sports/20090202_superbowl_twitter.html.



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The Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh, streams tweets that include the tag #MFtxt, as well as text messages, and digital pictures in the museum lobby.4

C. Impact Twitter is currently the 20th most used Web site in the world.5 Part of the power of Twitter as a communication tool is the potential exponential reach of your message. When a user finds a tweet particularly interesting, they “retweet” (RT) or repeat it with

4 Description of Mattress Factory project, “Making it Work,” Mattress Factory Blog, February 23, 2009, http://artyoucangetinto.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-it-work-screentxt-part-2.html. Access live feed to lobby display on BrightKite.com, http://brightkite.com/wall/window?type=place&sms_code=us&checkins=false&twitter=true&identifier=MF&radius=close&twitter_query=%23MFtxt. 5The Top 500 Sites on the Web, Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/topsites (accessed July 8, 2009).



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an attribution to the originator. Because every user has a separate audience of their own, retweeting reaches a new groups of users.



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The @GettyMuseum account currently has over 12,000 followers and is classified as “highly influential.” The graph below shows the popularity of our followers—determined by the number of their own followers. This gives an idea of the extent of our influence.

To give an example of impact and influence, on June 9, 2009 we were mentioned in 40 tweets by 36 unique individuals.



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On July 8, 2009, we reached 14,336 unique readers directly, but were exposed to over 45,000 via retweets.

D. Conversation At any time, you may see what people are saying to and about us in Twitter anytime under Favorites.6 This material is continuously updated.7 The Museum’s Twitter presence keeps company with our peers.

6 See https://twitter.com/GettyMuseum/favourites. 7 A more detailed discussion of the conversation on Twitter is found under II. B.8. Evaluation>Measuring Success>Build Community.



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Twitter mentions of the Twitter accounts of the Getty Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Walters Art Museum.8

Twitter Mentions of the Twitter accounts of the Getty Museum, British Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Whitney Museum, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.9

8 Tweet Volume, http://tweetvolume.com (accessed July 8, 2009). Site purports to cull an aggregate of all Twitter postings. 9 Tweet Volume, http://tweetvolume.com (accessed July 8, 2009).



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E. Project Plan In alignment with the Museum's mission to extend its reach to a broad audience via the Web, Collection Information & Access created the Getty Museum Twitter account on October 2, 2008 with the following objectives:

1. Use Twitter as an external distribution channel/platform for delivery of digital media about the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, and conservation activities. 2. Provide Museum-produced resources and information about initiatives and projects directly to a virtual audience worldwide. 3. Increase access to the Museum's rich educational interpretative material by providing entry from a mainstream, popular Web site. 4. Deliver content to mobile devices. Twitter includes a special mobile view;

getty.edu allows only certain content for download to mobile devices. 5. Reach our current audience on a personal platform. Rather than depend on users to come to getty.edu for educational Museum content, bring rich, browsable snippets to them on a regular basis. 6. Deliver content that is not covered on getty.edu. 7. Drive traffic to getty.edu. While there will be a limited number of resulting hits coming directly from Twitter, each will make a user aware of the site and create the potential for future return visits. 8. Community building. Twitter offers a method for visitors/users to comment/weigh in. Utilize delivery/communication tool in a two-way manner—not simply to push out content, but also to engage with audience and followers by following, listening, and conversing. Participatory interaction encourages a positive attitude and loyalty. 9. Give the Getty Museum a fresh tool/maintain currency. 10. Target new audiences, such as youth/digital natives.

II. EVALUATION A. User Demographics The number of Getty Museum Twitter followers grows steadily, and in a completely viral fashion, that is, by word of mouth. Between October 2008 and July 2009 we have amassed over 12,000 followers.



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Getty Museum Followers10 October 2008–July 2009

This is particularly impressive, as the Getty Museum Twitter account has not been promoted on getty.edu. In general, more users are joining Twitter every day. The graph below illustrates when @GettyMuseum followers first started using Twitter11. Note that like our follower numbers, Twitter usage continues to grow at a steady pace.

10 Twitter Grader, http://twitter.grader.com/ (accessed July 11, 2009). 11 Twitter Analyzer, http://twitteranalyzer.com/ (accessed June 2009).



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A fairly new social media tool, Twitter already has numerous museums—primarily American—participating. The Getty Museum Twitter account is usually one of the first followed by a museum when it begins using Twitter. We are considered a good model, and are frequently asked for pointers by other cultural, nonprofit institutions. 1. Geographic Location At this time, Twitter is used most prevalently in the United States.12 We have a broad, diverse audience on Twitter. While most of our followers are located in North America, they're also listening in England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, Singapore, India, China, Tbilisi, Philippines, Brazil, etc. Number of @GettyMuseum followers by country13

12 42.9% Twitter.com users come from the United States, 8.6% from Germany, 7.2% from India, 6.2% from the United Kingdom, 2.5% from China, 2.5% from Canada, 2.5% from Australia. Twitter.com site information, Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitter.com (accessed July 8, 2009). 13 Twitter Analyzer, http://twitteranalyzer.com/ (accessed June 2009).



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Map of Southern California followers of @GettyMuseum14

Map of United States followers of @GettyMuseum15

14 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued). 15 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued).



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Map of Europe followers of @GettyMuseum16

Map of Australia followers of @GettyMuseum17

Map of Middle East and Asia followers of @GettyMuseum18

16 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued). 17 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued). 18 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued).



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Map of World followers of @GettyMuseum19

Usage report of sample set of 15 links included in @GettyMuseum tweets. Includes number of visits and origin (country) of user.20

2. Identifying Characteristics a. Gender Our followers are currently 52.3% female and 47.6% male.21 19 Tweemap, http://tweemap.com/ (accessed June 2009; site now discontinued). 20 Tr.im, http://tr.im/ (accessed July 11, 2009). 21 Twitter Analyzer, http://twitteranalyzer.com (accessed June 2009).



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b. Occupational Categories Our followers are primarily made up of:

• Social media professionals • Journalists • Leisure destination, travel, culture, preservation, arts businesses • Parents, children caregivers and educators • Artists • Museums and other cultural and nonprofit organizations—primarily managed

by marketing and PR staff • Luxury brand marketers • Museum and other cultural and nonprofit organization colleagues and peers

Graph of @GettyMuseum followers by occupation (taken from bios)22

22 Twitter Analyzer, http://twitteranalyzer.com (accessed June 2009).



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Word cloud made from the bios of @GettyMuseum followers23

B. Measuring Success With social media initiatives, such as Twitter, many of the desired goals—participation, engagement, influence, innovation, currency (keeping “brand,” or perception, alive and vital), and loyalty—cannot be measured quantitatively. What follows are qualitative examples of @GettyMuseum Twitter usage with regard to the project’s key objectives. 1. Distribute media about the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, and conservation activities Online Collection Material. We regularly tweet about works of art and artists in the Museum’s collection, bringing interesting, digestible art morsels directly to the user. 23 Twitter Sheep, http://twittersheep.com/ (accessed June 2009).



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Produced by Collection Information & Access, these have proven to be quite popular and no other museum is currently doing this—many do not have the breadth of interpretive content online that we do. Paul Outerbridge exhibition



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Portrait of a Father and Smiling Child, Unknown, about 1855

Omaha Beach, Robert Capa, 1964



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Favorable feedback from respected Museum social media expert Nina Simon24

24 Nina Simon, “An Open Letter to Museums on Twitter,” Museum 2.0, December 30, 2008, http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/open-letter-to-museums-on-twitter.html.



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Note comment from the Metropolitan Museum of Art head of interpretive technology Koven Smith:

Online Videos. We regularly inform our users about the films created by Collection Information & Access regarding the collection, exhibitions, and conservation activities. The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript animation25

25 The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript animation was made in conjunction with the Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry exhibition http://getty.edu/art/exhibitions/belles_heures/video.html See also http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoDetails?cat=2&segid=4260.



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Making a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture video26

Online Interactives. We promote interactives created by Collection Information & Access about the collection, exhibitions, and conservation activities.

26 Making A Spanish Polychrome Sculpture video was made in conjunction with the La Roldana’s Saint Ginés: The Making of a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture exhibition, http://getty.edu/art/exhibitions/roldana/video.html. See also http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoDetails?cat=2&segid=4305.



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Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg interactive27

When relevant, we also promote material created by other Getty programs. Tango with Cows interactive28

27 Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg interactive was created in conjunction with the Imagining Christ exhibition, http://getty.edu/art/exhibitions/imagining_christ/albrecht_prayer_book/. 28 Tango with Cows interactive was created by the Getty Web Group in conjunction with the Research Institute’s Tango with Cows: Book Art of the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910–1917 exhibition, http://getty.edu/art/exhibitions/tango_with_cows/slideshow.html.



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2. Provide Museum-produced resources and information about initiatives and projects directly to a virtual audience worldwide Programming When Robert Irwin spoke at the Museum in December 2009, we hosted an Irwin Day on Twitter, in which users tweeted about his work. Then, we live-tweeted his talk.



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Artist Kehinde Wiley’s lecture at the Getty Center, April 2, 2009



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Snapshot, the Museum's online dashboard of visit metrics.29

As a result of the above tweet, art writer Tyler Green wrote about Snapshot in his blog Modern Art Notes a few days later.30

29 Snapshot, http://getty.edu/news/press_information/index.html. 30 Tyler Green, “Tuesday Links,” Modern Art Notes, December 9, 2008, http://www.artsjournal.com/man/2008/12/tuesday_links_17.html.



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Having conversations on Twitter enables us to frequently bring Museum resources, programming, etc. to the attention of followers. Rather than simply answer a question directed our way, we always aim to add value in our response.

As a result of the above exchange, another follower wrote a nice blog entry about the project, concluding, "I suggest you imitate the tiny running figure (who can just be seen, as a speck on the road to the left of the faun’s wife’s head, in A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion, and get yourself over to the Getty as fast as your legs (or your browser) can carry you."31

31 David Lovely, “Cranach Magnified,” Ramage, February 15, 2009, http://dclramage.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/cranach-magnified/.



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3. Increase access to the Museum's rich educational interpretative material by providing entry from a mainstream, popular Web site

As mentioned previously, Twitter is presently the 20th most popular Web site in the world. To give some context to this statistic, Google holds 4 of the places above Twitter (Google US, Google India, Google Germany, Google France.)32 Twitter is the 14th most popular Web site in the US, 13th in the UK, 14th in Canada, 13th in Australia, 16th in India, and 17th in Germany.33 Today, there are 2,637,934 Twitter users; out of these, @GettyMuseum is ranked no. 1,196.34

In March 2008, there were 200,000 total active Twitter users per week� and over 3 million Twitter messages sent each day.35

From Pew Internet study done in February 2009:

As of December 2008, 11% of online American adults said they used a service like Twitter or another service that allowed them to share updates about themselves or to see the updates of others. Just a few weeks earlier, in November 2008, 9% of internet users used Twitter or updated their status online and in May of 2008, 6% of internet users responded yes to a slightly different question, where users were asked if they used “Twitter or another ‘microblogging’ service to share updates about themselves or to see updates about others.”

32 The Top 500 Sites on the Web, Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/topsites (accessed July 8, 2009). 33 Twitter.com site information, Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitter.com (accessed July 8, 2009). 34 TwitterGrader, http://twitter.grader.com/gettymuseum, (accessed July 8, 2009). 35 Michael Arrington, “End of Speculation: The Real Twitter Usage Numbers,” TechCrunch, April 29, 2008, http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/29/end-of-speculation-the-real-twitter-usage-numbers/.



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Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 to 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter. The decline is even more stark among older internet users; 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older use Twitter.36

4. Deliver content to mobile devices. Twitter includes a special mobile view;

getty.edu allows only certain content for download to mobile devices. Twitter on Mobile Device (iPhone)

5. Reach our current audience on a personal platform. Rather than depend on users to come to getty.edu for educational Museum content, bring rich, browsable snippets to them on a regular basis. See above image.

36 Pew Internet Twitter and Status Updating report, February 12, 2009, http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2009/PIP%20Twitter%20Memo%20FINAL.pdf.



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6. Deliver content that is not covered on getty.edu Often, there are loans in the galleries that have not been deemed a priority to represent on getty.edu, or we don’t have the rights to use images of the works of art. Twitter is used to bring this information to an interested and loyal audience that has signed up to receive our updates.

7. Drive traffic to getty.edu. While there will be a limited number of resulting hits coming directly from Twitter, each will make a user aware of the site and create the potential for future return visits. Between October 2008 and April 2009, there were 5,042 referrals from Twitter to getty.edu. In May there were an additional 972 referrals and June 1,186 bringing the numbers to 7,200.



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8. Build Community. Twitter offers a method for visitors/users to comment/weigh in. Utilize delivery/communication tool in a two-way manner—not simply to push out content, but also to engage with audience and followers by following, listening, and conversing. Participatory interaction encourages a positive attitude and loyalty. Getty Museum’s Twitter Favorites are a record of our conversation. These may be accessed at any time by any Twitter user.37

37 Go to “Favorites” on the Getty Museum Twitter page, https://twitter.com/gettymuseum/favourites.



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When someone issues a negative comment, we may moderate their perception by providing helpful information.

Day Without Art



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We also tweet about arts content unrelated to the Museum’s collection. This has proven to be a very effective way of creating goodwill—rather than simply promote our own material, we strive to be an established, unbiased resource.



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9. Give the Getty Museum a fresh tool/maintain currency

We are known for our success on Twitter. Virtually all museums that launch Twitter accounts follow us as one of their first follows. We have been contacted for guidance and advices regarding Twitter from a number of institutions, including:

• Metropolitan Museum, @metmuseum • Museum of Modern Art, @MuseumModernArt • Guggenheim, @Guggenheim • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, @LACMA



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Arts marketing and PR pro Maryann Devine lists us with social media stars Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum as an arts and culture organization making good use of Twitter.38

Our Twitter account is featured as one of four examples of cultural heritage institutions worldwide using Twitter in An Introduction to Twitter, by United Kingdom's Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council UKOLN. UKOLN advises the UK's higher and further education communities and museums, libraries and archives sector on standards, emerging technologies and best practices for use of the Web.39 In his Museums and the Web, 2009 presentation Time to Stop Doing and Start Thinking: A Framework for Exploiting Web 2.0 Services, UKOLN leader Brian Kelly includes @GettyMuseum as one of three examples of the use of Twitter by museums.40

38 “Twitter for Arts and Culture,” smarts and Culture, December 2, 2008, http://maryanndevine.typepad.com/smartsandculture/2008/12/twitter-for-arts-and-culture.html. 39 http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/documents/briefing-36/html/. 40 http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/kelly/kelly.html.



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We were recently extolled by mobiThinking, the marketing arm of dotMobi, the ICANN-appointed global registry for the .mobi top-level domain name and the only domain specifically for the mobile web. dotMobi is backed by fourteen leading mobile and Internet players: Ericsson, Google, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, Visa and Vodafone.41

41 "Good enough to share: insights and tips on social-media marketing and Twitter," Editor's Desk, mob Thinking, May 16, 2009, http://mobithinking.com/blog/good-enough-share-insights-and-tips-social-media-marketing-and-twitter.



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Indicommons, the influential blog for Flickr Commons recently posted two items gleaned from our tweets—demonstrating our influence and far-reaching impact.42

42 “Carnival of the Commons: Tweets, Rankings & Movie Envy,” indicommons, May 22, 2009, http://www.indicommons.org/2009/05/22/carnival-of-the-commons-tweets-rankings-movie-envy/.



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10. Target new audiences, such as youth/digital natives Digital natives, or those that have always relied on the Web as a source of information, expect to be able to access Museum information via the latest social media tools. Participating in Twitter allows us to fulfill these expectations and lead new users to rich, in-depth content.



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Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog, March 19, 2009



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C. Recommendations As mentioned above, include a page on getty.edu with a menu of Getty Museum social media efforts such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter. Presently, Twitter is providing a beta service “Verified Account,” for which the bona fide identity of a well known individual or public entity is established to discourage imposters. Note this advice they give: "One thing you can do if we haven't verified an account you're wondering about is to check the official web site of the person and see if there's a link back to their Twitter profile.”43 Examples of social media features on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Web sites.

D. Conclusion Simply put, social media—such as Twitter—are the latest communication tools. Our success with Twitter, as demonstrated in this evaluation, is the result of a focus on collection-related content.

43 http://twitter.com/help/verified.



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Using a mission-driven approach, Twitter has proven to be a very effective tool—fulfilling the Museum's desire to extend its reach to a broad audience via the Web. It is clear that we can benefit from other social media tools, such as Flickr which has the great potential for user-generated content.

Documents

Getty Museum Twitter EvaluationCollection Information & Access 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687 Getty Museum Twitter Evaluation Collection Information