MW2012+Where+Musesocial+Began

MW2012 Social Media Professional Forum:
The #musesocial movement started as a planning tool for a session at the 2012 Museums and the Web conference entitled "What Do We Really Know About Social Media in Museums." The goal was to conduct research about social media, using social media, and try to bridge and facilitate conversation between the conference and online audiences during a live conference session. Since then, #musesocial has taken off and become a regularly used hash tag during conference sessions, meetings, and a variety of conversations related to social media in museums. Below are the early beginnings, notes and more from the MW2012 planning and session. Enjoy!

Session Description & Presenters Target Audience Presentation Planning Questions for Discussion Contributions/Feedback Links & Resources

//Research Phase://
=**SOCIAL MEDIA IN MUSEUMS, FROM THE INSIDE** OUT= We are using these insights as research questions to frame the broader discussion, in hopes we can not only learn more about the state of social media in practice and with our audiences, but also how our organizations can adapt and evolve to advance their social media strategies.
 * WHAT DO YOU THINK?**
 * We asked museum social media practitioners what they thought were some of the biggest myths and misconceptions in our field. ** We received lots of votes (thank you!), and the results are here.

Social media practitioners voted to define the **social media myths (research questions)** they want to see addressed. Here are the top voted myths or misconceptions. Share your thoughts!:
 * 1) **Audiences have the same expectations of our social media that they do of our websites, publications, and exhibitions.** //What do you think?//
 * 2) Social media  communities will grow quickly and be relatively self-sustaining. //What do you think?//
 * 3) **You can't establish learning outcomes for museum social media that can be ** ** effectively measured or produce convincing evidence of success*. **// What do you think? //
 * 4) Many voices speaking on behalf of the Museum will damage our image and weaken our "voice." // What do you think? //
 * 5) ** The primary purpose of museum websites and social media channels  **** is to get more visitors to the physical museum. **// What do you think? //

**March 21, 2012**

**Wacky Wednesday: A conversation about museums, audiences and social media.**

Noon - 5:00pm EDT on Twitter.

For discussion:


 * 1) “[|Audiences do not learn via social media].” #musesocial #Q1
 * 2) “[|You can’t measure social media success.]" #musesocial #Q2
 * 3) “[|Audiences are dead; long live the Community.]” (3pm-3:30pm) #musesocial #Q3
 * 4) “[|Everyone should speak on behalf of the museum, on social media.]” (3:30pm - 4pm) #musesocial #Q4
 * 5) “[|We don’t measure engagement with an exhibition, so why do we measure it with social media?]” #musesocial #Q5

Follow [|#musesocial]

**March 21, 2012**


 * What Do We Really Know about Museums and Social Media? **

Smithsonian Staff invited in person in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery at the National Air and Space Museum

3. “[|Museums need to move beyond Audiences, we must build Community.]” (3pm-3:30pm)

- Who are museums trying to reach through social media and why?

- How easy/hard is it to build community?

- What are the motivations for building community among museum audiences?

4. "[|Everyone should speak on behalf of the museum, on social media.]” (3:30pm - 4pm)

- Who participates in social media and why?

- What is the audience/community impact?

5. "[|We don’t measure engagement with an exhibition, so why do we measure it with social media?]" (if time)

Everyone on Twitter. Follow [|#musesocial]

3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT

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**March 29, 2012** **TALKBACK THURSDAY: A conversation about museums, audiences and social media.**

Q1: What do museum audiences really want via social media?

Q2: Who do museum audiences want to interact with via social media?

Q3: What do/can audiences learn from museums via social media?

Q4: What do museums really know about social media audiences, and how can we learn more? Noon - 5:00pm EDT on Twitter. EVERYONE! Museum folks + audiences +anyone interested in museums & social media. Follow [|#musesocial]

All discussions will be curated into an [|archive on Storify]. = **"What Do We Really Know About Social Media in Museums?"** =

**APRIL 13, 2012**
The #musesocial community joined in online and live at the **2012 Museum and the Web Conference** in San Diego. A vibrant discussion was had by all, visit the [|Storify] archives to view highlights. We plan to provide a summary soon. Follow #mw2012 for all the conference action!


 * Audience vs. Community: **AUDIENCES ARE IRRELEVANT. LONG LIVE COMMUNITY!**
 * Learning: **PEOPLE DON'T LEARN THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA** (and even if they do, we can't know)
 * Participation: **EVERYONE SHOULD SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THE MUSEUM VIA SOCIAL MEDIA**
 * Metrics: **WE DON'T MEASURE ENGAGEMENT WITH EXHIBITIONS, SO WHY TRY TO MEASURE IT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?**

Questions we plan to discuss passionately, interdisciplinarily, with vigor: