How and Why We are Closing the Twitter Accounts of our Museums
The museums that belong to the Fondazione Torino Musei were among the first in Italy to open Twitter accounts. Palazzo Madama, in particular, had based its social communication strategy on this channel up to 2016, and had obtained remarkable quantitative and qualitative results (analysis report presented by Lamagnetica at the Museums And The Web conference in 2015). However, the global social media landscape has changed radically with the changing of consumer habits and under the pressure of external disruptive elements, such as the exponential growth of spam and the proliferation of crises and scandals linked to BOTs, the false accounts automatically generated by malignant software.
Despite the fact that Twitter continues to have the highest growth in terms of its number of users, it is also the platform that has changed most, mainly due to evolving consumer use preferences. From being a tool for effective engagement, the channel has become a place for users to search for real-time information about current events or particularly striking events with real-time, quick access and searches for specific topics. Alternatively, the channel is often used for “second screen” comments, i.e. live commentary on the top television programmes. In this case too, the tool is used for an ad hoc purpose.
The platform is paying the price (including the devaluation of its equity) of the exponential increase in fake accounts that have been created with the probable purpose of generating spam, or in any case of influencing the platform’s trends. The following are links for additional information:
New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/31/technology/social-media-bots-investigations.html
BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38724082
La Stampa http://www.lastampa.it/2018/02/22/tecnologia/news/stretta-di-twitter-su-falsi-profili-e-propaganda-spam-duPaIdqC5ae0oyXJfCW3AO/pagina.html
The Palazzo Madama and GAM accounts became victims of false accounts since they got were “verified” badge, the blue check mark the Twitter uses for official accounts of important personalities or institutions. During the sign-up process, Twitter demands people to follow a certain number of accounts, and provides suggestions based, for instance, on georeference. Therefore, it is plausible that our two verified accounts are among the suggestions received by the thousands of fakes warping the statistics.
DATA
Further confirmation of this sharp decline in the quality of the platform’s exchanges can be noted in the generalised fall in data related to the organic interactions of accounts (the sum of responses, retweets, likes and mentions). Even in the case of unverified accounts, the data show a definite drop in the quality of engagement and, although the actual number of tweets declined in 2017, a comparison of the last two years also shows a trend of progressive data depletion.
@palazzomadamato
@gamtorino
@maotorino
@FondToMusei
The purpose of the presence of Fondazione Torino Musei museums in social media channels remains that of creating conversations, dialogues and opportunities to interact focusing on the collections and exhibitions. Hence in 2018, we will be re-defining the social media presence of our museums. Primary and secondary accounts will be re-defined, new services and platforms will be developed, and the Twitter accounts of individual museums will be deactivated. The only channel that will be maintained to retain the platform is Fondazione Torino Musei. Our digital strategy for 2018 will be published in the coming weeks on www.fondazionetorinomusei.it
Author: Carlotta Margarone, Head of Communication and Innovation, Fondazione Torino Musei
