Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From "2018 In Review: The Sheep That Won The Internet" by Emma Tucker, 2018-12-20:

"Earlier this year, The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) achieved the kind of viral success that social media managers salivate over. All it took was a particularly imposing ram, and five words that stamped the museum in the minds of Twitter users. 'Look at this absolute unit.'

[...]

"'Museums are disgustingly slow at adapting,' says Koszary. 'I come from a collections background, but I see social media as the most effective way of reaching the most people with the stories we can tell about history. I see it as something museums should be doing as their core work. It's as important as having physical galleries.'

[...]

"But although it might look like Koszary is simply having fun - and there's plenty of that - he says it's more than just 'pissing about on Twitter'. Many museums have digitised their collections in recent years, but Koszary says they're not making the most of them. According to him there's still hesitancy around how to use them, how to share them, and how to get people interested in
what they offer. 'The absolute unit is one part of what we should be doing - it's the awareness-building that drives people towards what our colleagues want, which is crowdfunding, coming to exhibitions, and getting into the archive,' he says."

[I got to this article via a link in a tweet from @TheMERL, which I was reading because @rmd1023 linked to a thread @TheMERL instigated (which someone described as "museums trolling each other") by asking @britishmuseum to "give us your best duck". After lots and lots and lots of scrolling, I didn't spot any replies from @britishmuseum, but I did see a bunch of museuems, museum employees, other institutions, scientists, and random people who like ducks, sharing interesting and/or amusing duck-related stuff. It definitely made me more interested in several museums and their Twitter presences. Go have a pleasant scroll, and enjoy the ducks.]