twitter analysis: sfmoma & moma

7/28/2019 Twitter Analysis: SFMOMA & MoMA

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Social Media: Voice and ToneAn Analysis of SFMOMA and MoMA on Twitter

October 8, 2012October 15, 2012

Jenna Simard


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IntroductionModern art museums today are using social media as a means to further engage their

publics, appeal to new audiences, bring awareness to their programs and activities and share

relevant news and information. Among those actively utilizing social media are the Museum of

Modern Art in New York City, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arttwo of the most

celebrated modern art museums in America. Both institutions engage on a variety of platforms,

including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, flickr, Foursquare and tumblr.

The following analysis serves to study how the MoMA and SFMOMA utilize Twitter.

The analysis regards the methods in which each museum exerts its voice on the platform, the

overall tone that each achieves and the way in which voice and tone impact the engagement of

their followers. Each of the organizations tweets were observed during an 8-day time frame,

between October 8 and October 15, 2012.


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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (@SFMOMA)San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was established in 1935 as the first modern art museum

on the West Coast. It houses a collection of more than 27,000 artworks, photographs and

sculptures.

On Twitter, SFMOMA has more than 350,000 followers and has issued more than 5,400

tweets to date.

VoiceDuringthe selected time frame, the museum tweeted 28 times and retweeted other users tweets7 times. Content included both internal and external-related material, ranging from promotion of

upcoming events at the museum to support of the San Francisco Giants.

The general style of SFMOMAs voice across its messaging is conversational. The

museum assumes a casual approach to communicating with its followers, as evidenced by its use

of exclamation points, emoticons, and random hashtags (See p. 14, example 7 ). It refers to itself

as we to express itself as a body of people to whom followers can relate, rather than strictly as

an institution (See p. 20, example 19). While it uses Twitter to inform followers, it also uses the

platform to entertain people with quirky content. A prime example is the museums tweet about a

pig that was parading outside the building one day (See p. 15, example 8).

The voice, though overall conversational, is at some times more casual and at other times

more educational. On October 11, the museum tweeted: @ArtistsReport aims to speak truth to


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power + upend traditional takes on critical issues. What can news media learn from artists?

#CTRL. Three hours later it tweeted:Way to pull through with the big win, @SFGiants! Lookslike all that spring training is paying off :) http://sfmoma.me/WXqH5U. Though clearly

SFMOMA was attempting to appeal to a broad mass of people by messaging about both

educational and sports-related material, these two different types of messages represent two

different voices. Consequently, the museums voice appears to lack consistency.

Although, overall, SFMOMA tweets about relevant material, sometimes its attempts to

seem relatable by infusing humor into its messaging are ineffective. On October 12, the museum

tweeted a picture of two visitors wearing similar outfits with the following message:Have our

visitors adopted a modern art-viewing uniform? :) RT @Mikey_Nicholson: Hey @sfmoma, who

wore it better? pic.twitter.com/cyDvfrKe (See p. 25, example 29). The tweet had the possibility

to showcase the museums community-oriented character by showing the two visitors posing

together for the camera, but the picture was taken from behind the women as they browsed the

galleries, presumably without their permission. As a result, the post seems out of place and

irrelevant.

EngagementThe museum remains engaged with its followers by retweeting other users messages. However,

the museums tweets do not garner a significant amount of response. Over the 8-day period, the

average number of times followers retweeted SFMOMAs messages was 6. The average number

of times they chose to favorite the messages was approximately 2.2. Typically, the museum

received more positive response when they utilized a voice which was neither too casual nor too

didactic. An ideal message which represents the museums voice is found on page 28, in


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example 35:Here's a peek at what you'll soon be seeing around town:

http://instagr.am/p/Q0DLKGqda3/Jasper Johns opens at @SFMOMA on Nov 3!

http://sfmoma.me/QJkN4W. The message informs followers about an upcoming exhibition while

remaining conversational. In 24 hours, the tweet was retweeted 11 times and favorited 4 times.

When using a clever yet professional voice, the museum has the opportunity to relate to

its laid-back audience on the West Coast as well as a broader public, therefore creating more

possibilities for engagement.

ToneThrough its laid-back yet informational voice, SFMOMA achieves the tone of a friendly,

community-oriented museum. Its tweetsinfused with expressionrender the museum as

approachable and desiring of two-way communication with the public.
http://t.co/21VJoz2shttp://t.co/21VJoz2s


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Museum of Modern Art (@MuseumModernArt)The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was established in 1935 in New York City. Today its

collection consists of over 36,000 works. In its mission statement, the museum proclaims its

dedication to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world.

On Twitter, the museum has over 1,160,000 followers and has issued over 3,300 tweets

to date.

VoiceDuring the reported time frame, MoMA tweeted 12 times. The museum did not send any

retweets. Content consisted entirely of internally-related material, ranging from promotion of a

live streaming at a gallery event to a reminder for prospective interns to submit their

applications.

The voice behind the museums messages is institutional. In keeping its followers

updated with news about its activities and the arts community, MoMA maintains clarity and

direction in its tweets. Nearly every tweet contains a brief description of the news and a link

directing followers to further information (See examples, pp. 2836). MoMAs voice is

consistently simple, informative and easy to read. Rarely does the museum utilize any

exclamation points or emoticons, unlike SFMOMA.


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EngagementMoMA maintains engagement with followers by tweeting about content that is relevant to its

community. In contrary to SFMOMA, the museum did not retweet followers messages during

the 8-day period, but it continued to post about information which its audience finds valuable.

The average number of times that users retweeted was 39.75 times, and the average number of

times that users favorited tweets was 14.66 times.

During the time frame, one of its messages which prompted the most engagement from

followers reads: Yayoi Kusamas Accumulation No. 1 returns to MoMA later this month:

bit.ly/R4JOGV(See p. 28, example 2). The message represents an ideal tweet for the museum

because it is clear and informative, and directs followers to a site where they can learn more

about the topic.

ToneThe overall tone achieved is that of a global institution with the purpose of educating people

about art. By avoiding casual, friendly messaging, it maintains its reputation as a world-renown

museum of modern art. It engages people not by utilizing a personable, informal voice, but by

disseminating information which calls followers to respond.


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ConclusionsWhile both SFMOMA and MoMA are well-known, widely-respected museums of modern art,

each serves a different communityboth in size and in personality. SFMOMA speaks to a

smaller community who, due to the museums west coast location, is more laid-back than that of

MoMA. On the other hand, the former speaks to an east coast community with a fast-paced

lifestyle, and to a broader public far beyond New York City. The varying voices that the two

museums assert on Twitter are contingent upon these differing communities. SFMOMA appeals

to its audience by utilizing a more personable voice and, thus, extends its brand image as a

community-oriented institution. Meanwhile, MoMA asserts itself as a prominent educational

establishment by speaking in a more institutional manner. Each museum tweets with a voice that

expresses its personality and relates to its audience.During the recorded time frame, MoMA, whose community of followers on Twitter is

twice as large as that of SFMOMA, sent less than half as many tweets as the latter. Yet MoMA

still engaged more people; the percentage of retweets per total number of followers was larger

for MoMA than for SFMOMA. It could then be determined by Twitter alone that MoMA has

more social influence than does SFMOMA. However, this inference may not necessarily be the

result of MoMAs institutional voice on Twitter, but rather likely the effect of its preexisting

reputation as one of the best museums of modern art in the world.

Therefore, the disparity in size and reputation of the two museums renders difficulty in

analyzing which type of communication is more effective. However, the analysis may conclude


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that MoMAs employment of a consistent style of voice contributes to its greater ability to

engage followers.


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AppendixSFMOMA1.


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MOMA1.

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twitter analysis: sfmoma & moma

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