Look who's talking

Major museums worldwide are starting to use social media such as blogs, podcasts and online video to encourage users to participate in their programs. Social media are variously described as 'online technologies and practices used to share opinions, insights, perspectives', 'software-supported social networking' (Chan) and 'many-to-many communication supported by web technology' (Watkins and Russo). This article argues that the social media space can be considered in terms of its effect on participation, communication and visitor incentive. It explores each of these in details using recent examples and findings on social media implementation in museums.