Do museums worldwide form a true community on Twitter? Social Network Analysis (SNA) - Museums and the Web 2014

Alex Espinós ~ [email protected] Espín ~ [email protected]

___Do Worldwide Museums form a true Community on Twitter?

Some insights on the ecosystem of museums on Twitter through Social Network Analysis and Network Science.

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Intro

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The Museum ecosystem on Twitter

1 Introduction

Why this study?Questions we want to answerMethodology

> Why this study?


Everybody talks about things like:

> Why this study?

The new paradigm of communication that Social Networks have brought


> Why this study?

Knowledge and experience sharing





> Why this study?


Information flow




> Why this study?


Information flow

User feedback



OK, but is it true for museums?Or is it still an unrealized possibility?

> Why this study?


> Questions we want to answer



The study is focused to offer insights over questions such as:


· Do the worldwide museums form a community on Twitter? · Or several different communities? · And then: which is the main criterion that explains the community structure:

topic, language or country?





topic, language or country? · Do the Twitter communities seem to mimic patterns of offline relationships? · Which are the communities? Which are the key players in each community? · Does the small world principle work?





topic, language or country? · Do the Twitter communities seem to mimic patterns of offline relationships? · Which are the communities? Which are the key players in each community? · Does the small world principle work? · And the strength of weak ties? To what degree? · Which are the most influential museums, not in terms of followers,

but in terms of influence among other museums?




> How?


> How?

We have analysed the Twitter talk among museums worldwide, using SNA (Social Network Analysis) techniques.


We have analysed the Twitter talk among museums worldwide, using SNA (Social Network Analysis) techniques.

· Later on we will focus on some case studies about the relationship of museums and their followers. This involves a much heavier use of the Twitter API.

· We are starting such a study with a museum in Barcelona (Spain), and another one in Turin (Italy).

> How?


We have used the museum list from Museum Analytics*:

1.800 museums with a Twitter account

*museum-analytics.org Thank you to INTK team!

> How?


* The final study will include data from a 12-month period. Now we are showing results based on 10,5 months of data.

And using the Twitter API we have got:

Millions of tweetsAround 150.000 interactions30.000+ unique interactions

> How?



The

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2 The study

The big pictureThe core graphCountry/languageUK Key role

CommunitiesAmerican museumsThe MoMA environmentThe Tate environment#museumweek

> The big picture



> The core graph


> The core graph

These are the 400 most relevant museums (according to their importance in the graph –i.e. in the Twitter talk among museums)


Netherlands

United Kingdom

USA

Mexico

Spain

France

Germany

Canada

> Country is the key factor for explaining the graph structure


Netherlands

United Kingdom

USA

Mexico

Spain

France

Germany

Canada

There’s a clear country grouping in the interactions between the museums.

Apart from the labeled countries there are important clusters for Australia and New Zealand placed between USA and UK.And a Swedish one placed roughly between Netherlands, Germany and France.

> Country is the key factor for explaining the graph structure


> UK museums have a Key role

Several UK museums are key players in the spread of information between Continental Europe ad USA museums.


> Communities, countries and some key players

United states 28,3%Unknown 18,24%United Kingdom 10,69%Netherlands 10,06%Germany 9,43%Spain 7,55%France 5,03%

Mexico 4,4%Canada 2,52%Australia 1,89%Austria 0,63%Italy 0,63%New Zealand 0,63%


Community structure is almost the same as country grouping:Twitter relationships mimic offline relationships. We are not getting the most out of Twitter.





US community is the biggest, but UK museums have a central position. Speaking the world language is a clear advantage.

4 key US players in the worldwide graph: @museummodernart, @metmuseum,@guggenheim, @gettymuseum 3 key British players: @britishmuseum, @sciencemuseum, @v_and_a





> American museums


> American museums

Some weights have changed as here we are only focusing on connections between the American museums.

Even within the US there are some area-related clusters: DC, Boston or California.


> American museums

NY museums monopolize most of the central cluster, but it includes also LACMA and Getty.

Key players: Metropolitan, Smithsonian, MoMA and then Guggenheim, Getty, LACMA, Queens, SF MoMA, Whithney, National Gallery.


> The MoMA environment

USAFranceSpainItalyBarcelonaMexico


MoMA’s place in the ecosystem.Museums that have been related to the MoMA and the crossed relationships among them.

MoMA is an important hub in the worldwide Twitter talk.

> The MoMA environment

USAFranceSpainItalyBarcelonaMexico


> The Tate environment


UK, US and some Dutch museums merge in one group.

Specific groups for Italian, French and Spanish museums.

Some scattered points from different countries.

> The Tate environment


> #museumweek (March 23rd-March 30th)


The result of a truly participative Twitter action in Europe.

Using SNA to assess the scope and success of an action. 165.000+ analyzed tweets, 40.000+ users, 600+ museums.

> #museumweek (March 23rd-March 30th)



Con

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3 Conclusions

ConclusionsHow can this study help your museum?#MW2014 at Twitter

> Conclusions

› 3.500 museums at museum-analytic.org › 1.800 museums at Twitter › 400-500 museums really interact with other museums

Most museums are not profiting the opportunities Twitter offer.


> Conclusions

There is not a worldwide Twitter community, not even among those 400/500 museums.

1. But there is a significant flow of information. (Small world principles applies) Country is the main factor for explaining community structure

2. Not language: US and UK form different communities, so do Spain and Mexico3. And not topic: there is not an archaeological museums community, or a contemporary art

community… That would have reflected a maturity in Twitter use.


> Conclusions

There is a small set of key players in the spread of information and in the relationship among museums worldwide(Structural holes)



> How can this study help your museum?

Con

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· Detect key players, analyse how they work on Twitter, relate to them.

· Became a key player in your area (country, region, topic), then go bigger.

· Connecting the main component with your local or topic-based community can be the first step. Be bilingual! (unless you are in the UK or US).


Con

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· Use SNA approach to improve your work at Twitter, your communication campaigns and the relationship with your followers.

· Stay tuned for the final paper, with more detailed graphics, museum lists, etc.


Con

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> #MW2014 at Twitter





We will write a post next week about the hashtag #MW2014: who has used it, the mention and RT map about the conference, etc.



Thanks!

For asking the final paper (May) contact us at:[email protected]@lamagnetica

We want to partner with a museum for working a case study analysing the relationship with its Twitter followers.Are you interested? Contact us.

Con

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Do museums worldwide form a true community on Twitter? Social Network Analysis (SNA) - Museums and the Web 2014

Data & Analytics

Do museums worldwide form a true community on Twitter? Social Network Analysis (SNA) - Museums and the Web 2014