Museums and social media: the case of the Museum of Natural History of Florence

Abstract

Over the last years, Social Media (SM) have been emphasized as a means for nonprofit organizations to build and strengthen relations with a variety of stakeholders, although empirical studies have found a substantial delay in their adoption compared to profit-driven organizations. Less attention has been devoted to the cultural sector, wherein SM have been widely emphasized as a way to empower visitors. To this purpose, the paper presents a case study of a medium-sized non-profit cultural institution, the Museum of Natural History of Florence (MNH), which has engaged relatively early with SM. First, the role of different social networks within the museum's communication activities is analysed through direct interviews. Moreover, the intensity of the museum's interactions with its stakeholders on SM is measured. Finally, the nature of interactions with stakeholders on SM is identified through a qualitative contents analysis of the museum's profiles on Facebook and Twitter. The empirical analysis allows to compare the theoretical potential of Social Media with their actual implementation in a real-life context, besides shedding light on the organizational challenges that medium-sized cultural institutions such as the MNH have to face when engaging with Social Media.

What makes a museum attractive to young people? Evidence from Italy

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Scientometrics of Forest Health and Tree Diseases: An Overview

“…For example, the proportion of published books mentioning "forest pathology" appears to have declined in recent decades for books in American and British English, French, German and Italian [108]. This finding is of concern, given the importance of books in inspiring students to study a certain topic, although this influence of books on career and lifestyle choices might now have been largely replaced by the internet and social media [109]. There has partly been a counter-trend for books mentioning "forest health" in the same languages [108].…”

Οι Αφίσες Ως Σημεία Επικοινωνίας Με Τους Πολιτιστικούς Θεσμούς: Η Περίπτωση Των Πολιτιστικών Φεστιβάλ Του Δήμου Θεσσαλονίκης

“…Ζωντανή οντότητα της επικοινωνιακής αυτής διαδικασίας των μονάδων πολιτισμού με το κοινό τους αποτελεί το μήνυμα, καθώς εσωκλείει προσδοκίες, πεποιθήσεις, αρχές και εμπειρίες ως καθοριστικές συνιστώσες της ατομικής, κοινωνικής και πολιτιστικής δράσης και πραγμάτωσης. Ο σκοπός του μηνύματος, ειδικότερα για τους πολιτιστικούς οργανισμούς, ξεπερνά την απλή πληροφόρηση του κοινού για τα πολιτιστικά αγαθά, τη διαφήμιση των προσφερόμενων υπηρεσιών και προϊόντων και ορίζεται ως η «εμπλοκή» του κοινού στην πολιτιστική εμπειρία που προσφέρει ο πολιτιστικός οργανισμός μέσα από μια επικοινωνιακή διαδικασία συμμετοχής, σύμπλεξης και συνεργασίας (Lazzeretti, Sartori, & Innocenti, 2015). Μια διαδικασία η οποία καθιστά τους πολιτιστικούς οργανισμούς (μουσεία, κινηματογράφους, βιβλιοθήκες, φεστιβάλ κλπ) σημαντικούς φορείς εκπαίδευσης, μετατρέποντάς τους σε χώρους μίας ιδιαίτερης, εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας χωρίς χρονικούς και χωρικούς περιορισμούς, χωρίς τύπους και εκπαιδευτικές φόρμες, δηλαδή σε χώρους άτυπης, πολιτισμικής εκπαίδευσης.…”