The following research was conducted on behalf of MuseumNext and Sumo in April 2011 by an independent market research company with a sample of 500 UK residents. This survey aims to provide some context for museums looking to use social media.
A few things which stood out in this survey:
- Social media usage was higher than I expected, with even the least engaged group, those aged over 65 revealing that over half of them use social media.
- A large percentage of those surveyed follow brands on social media platforms.
- Gallery and museum attendance was high, but only 18% were aware that museums use social media.
- Only 10% of those asked, are fans or followers of a museum on social media platforms.
- A desire to ‘support’ the museum was stated as the most popular reason for following or liking a museum on social media platforms.
- Most people think their friends would be ‘indifferent’ about their decision to fan or follow a museum.
- 83% of people stated that they would be more likely to visit an exhibition if a friend recommended it.
Please note: Please credit MuseumNext should you wish to reproduce this survey.
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Thank you. This is extremely useful! It would be interesting to see how the results differ for a US or Continental Europe audience.
This is a useful survey. Thank you. Like Vesicant, I would like to see differences between urban and regional museum goers and across continents.