It may seem quite appropriate for New York City’s Museum of Modern Art to be “modernized” when it comes to its presence on the web. The museums website is well equip with all the information that one would need in getting to know the museum as well as its artist, exhibits, films, festivals, etc.
Jackson Pollock's Blue Holes
There are many options for visitors when visiting the website. Not only can can visitors view the museum’s calendar of events or purchase museum tickets, but viewers can also become a member of the museum, make donations online to the museum, and even shop for well designed great gifts like the Big Love Ice Cream Bowl & Spoon. Giving visitors the opportunity to shop on the MoMA website generates additional revenue for the museum which is never a bad thing considering our current economic standing. This is a great way to gain an online audience that may not have the resources to actually visit the museum, but enjoy modern art enough to purchase it. Like the other museums I have made posts about, The Museum of Modern Art is also present on the usual social media networks. From the museum’s home-page visitors can access the museum blog as well as their Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and iTunes U accounts. The iTunes U account, software permitted, allows visitors to access the museum’s audio and video programs. Visitors can download exhibitions, educator guides, and of course the top albums of the week. The Museum of Modern Art is a great example of just how far a museum can delve into the web while creating a great experience for its online visitors.
It is great to know that just how many social media outlets museums are using. I found it interesting that they are using itunes at all. I always though iTunes was for music and movies but I was not aware that places such as the Museum of Modern Art would be using it as well. I feel that more people will want to visit after they get a taste of an exhibition from iTunes. Being able to access audio and visual files really shows just how much social media is affecting every industry and museums are definitely following suite.
So often I tend to think of social media in terms of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter and I forget about iTunes. That’s a really neat idea for the Museum of Modern Art to utilize iTunes to bring exhibitions and educator guides to people in the comfort of their homes. This increases the awareness of museum and is a cool feature that sort of puts them ahead of other museums in that type of technology.
I also tend to forget that iTunes is one of the mediums of social media. With everything MoMA provides on iTunes, visitors do not even need to go to the actual museum. At the same time it promotes more traffic to the museum because an entire museum could not fit in a website. It will give visitors a taste of the museum and want to go visit for more. By using iTunes, they are also appealing to a very diverse audience all over the world. Audio and video provides an inside scoop to visitors as well. Social media is the best way to get a museum’s name out there.
It is very interesting the way that some museums are really diving into social media. I think that using facebook and Twitter to attract museum goers is very innovatice, and using iTunes is even more creative. iTunes is a social media tools that most people use on a daily basis, so I think that it will be a great way of reaching an even larger audience for the museum industry. Not only can iTuns reach the audience, it is doing a great job at informing them. With the education guides and exhibitions that iTunes is bringing to their home, it is a perfect way to get more information about thier favorite topics without even getting in the car.