Social media isn’t about technology

I have been researching case studies of social media in the arts and come across this interesting example. Many people are put off using ‘social media’ because it seems like you need to invest in technology, build blogs and generally be a bit of a techno whizz. I strongly believe that social media doesn’t need to rely on super shiny gadgets or fancy websites- in fact it’s so much more about the ‘social’ part than the ‘media’.

Which leads me to this example: At York City Art Gallery they recently invited people to comment and write messages under works of art using blackboard and chalk. It was for an exhibition curated by Tracy Chevalier (author of Girl with a Pearl Earring) who chose pieces from the gallery’s collection which depicted parts of stories. These were hung with a blackboard border and gallery attenders were invited to write suggestions for the beginning and ends of those stories around the artworks. This is not a new technology, but it is an application of the principles of sharing, commenting and engaging in a dialogue; which to me is exactly what social media is for.



[Original source for this case study is Jonathan Drori’s speech at the AMA event New Media New Marketing. Read the notes from that event here.]