How do you convince a free content advocate (like me) to join 1stfans?
As Will Cary notes in his post we’ve seen plenty of feedback with regard to the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed. Will and I had been saying we’d blog about our experiences, so here we go! I hit my head up against a wall when I saw the status update above…(not kidding).
When we started discussing the idea of providing members with some kind of exclusive content, my reaction was much like @floodfish. So, what was it exactly that turned me around? Well, for one thing, Will was open to the idea of providing an even more affordable option to become a Member here. For me, the affordability of 1stfans makes Membership more accessible and I adore how mission-centric that notion is—that is just *very* Brooklyn Museum. I was also digging the idea that we might be able to provide a way for “far-away” 1stfans (tip-of-the-hat to Amy Fox who coined that term) to support the institution they have grown to know and love online. So, knowing that 99.9% of the time our content is accessible (<– 12 links) and given that this membership program was created with accessibility in mind, the Twitter Art Feed was something that I could get behind. Even though we know the paying-for-content model on the internet is not something that is natural in my world, Will convinced me to think of the feed as a benefit of membership and benefits are expected in his line of work.
The links above are just a fraction of many examples that illustrate our overall goal with regard to open content and community online. It is a core part of our mission, something we think about every day and take very seriously. So, the challenge for us it to figure out how to make the content on the feed somewhat accessible to everyone, while still providing something special for our 1stfans. There is no set equation for this and we expect it will differ from artist to artist, project to project, so let’s take a look at what we did this month.
If you don’t have direct access to the feed, you can see this short video interview with An Xiao who describes her concept. In it, we sampled one of the exchanges, so you can get a pretty decent idea of what is going on. Later this week, you’ll also start to see blog posts from one of our curators about An’s concept and how it ties to our collection. None of these things are being produced with the eye to try and get people to join 1stfans. Rather, they are a way for us to open the content just a bit, while still giving our 1stfans something exclusive.
Coming full circle, let’s go back to the original question: How do you convince a free content advocate (like me) to join 1stfans? I’m not sure this has a cookie-cutter answer that will work for everyone, but for me, it wasn’t to get the benefit of the Twitter Art Feed. I wanted to throw a little support to the Brooklyn Museum, so I joined to do just that : )
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Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
January 14th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
[…] will post this afternoon with her own take on the subject. Filed under: 1stfans, Membership Tagged:twitter | Share This […]
January 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Oh come on, @floodfish. Yes, art should be available to anyone and everyone. But the people who create, present and care for that art have to pay for electricity.
Is $20 per year (less than $2 per month!) really a closed community? People pay $18 per month to have DVDs delivered by mail but an arts organization tries to support its endeavors with an OPTIONAL membership opportunity and people get fussy.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
It really pisses me off when people don’t support the arts. I wonder how much these haters give each year (if at all) and to which non-profits?
Heck, a contributor level ($150) membership to the Brooklyn Museum is around the same cost as cable and internet access for 1 month…and they’re complaining about 20 bucks!?!?!
I’ll write a more intelligent response later when I calm down. Grr!!!!!
January 14th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
obviously, as a 1stfan i don’t have a problem with the membership. i joined initially to show support for my local arts institution’s desire to “think outside the box” and venture into unchartered territory. as an artist who has developed a very close connection between my physical & virtual work, i find this exciting.
the one drawback that i see is not having interaction with/from the community at large which is one of the great strengths of the web, especially across geo/socio/economic boundaries. perhaps there could be a tweet-chive that would be made public at the close of each month’s piece consisting of all posts and responses. this would possibly do 3 things:
1. allow non-1stfans access to the work
2. make each monthly project feel less like a membership clique & more like a participatory “performance piece” between the artist & 1stfans that would be available for public consumption once it was “installed”
3. encourage borderline 1stfans to join in
think “artist coop”
January 14th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hi Nina,
Interesting idea. As Will and I are working to get more and more artists involved, we are not sure how many of them are going to be as interactive as An has been this month. An’s been great with RT and responses and that’s been great to see, but what if we have an artist who won’t be going quite that far? Just curious to see how you would feel about archiving the work…if that, in fact, gave people most of the access to the entire work (in some cases). I think each artist is going to be different, so the archive concerns me a bit on that level - tho, I really, really like the idea a ton.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
yes the success of a tweeterchive (better than tweet-chive) might vary from project to project but given the inherent essence of tweeting i guess i assume that any artist working within this format is by default kind of turned on by communicating with large numbers of people on a fairly consistent basis.
and, if the tweets are more uni-directional as opposed to responsive, that says a lot about the essence of the project as well.
i think there is a really gr8 balance that can be struck between what happens within this (somewhat) insular community and making the energy that is generated by it available to the community at large.
January 14th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Always two sides to every story, I guess…I joined 1stfans because it is innovative, interesting and it helps me deal with the guilt and shame caused by how much money I spend on stupid stuff (like Starbucks) every week. (Maybe Will could benefit from the Starbucks guilt and shame angle?)
And,….I hate Twitter! That’s right, I joined this elite group, with closed-door Twitter privileges and I am not even reading it….It honestly, never once, occurred to me that the BM was charging me for Twitter access…because they’re really not. When you think about the time and effort the museum puts in to being an industry-leader in the use of social media, $20 seems like a drop in the bucket…using @floodfish’s logic you should be angry anytime you pay to see an art exhibition. Stuff costs money! All stuff….even “invisible” cool internet stuff.
Thanks to Shelley and Will for creating this dialogue!
January 14th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
For me the issue is not paying a nominal fee for a “membership” as others suggest, the issue for me personally is that the Brooklyn Museum is using a free and open service, Twitter, to essentially funnel members, i.e. money, to their closed program “1stfans”. The fact that this membership is in support of or in service of art is irrelevant. What’s to keep any and all institutions from using Twitter for their own benefit? Nothing, nothing at all. Should any and all institutions interested in directing people/money to their places of business do so through this free service? Again my personal opinion, or better yet my hope, is no, I’d rather not see Twitter become over run with commercial interests but rather remain as free and open a space as possible. I am an artist and I enjoy the Brooklyn Museum very much, just not a huge “fan” of this project. Best.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I have to admit that the idea of charging bothered me at first, but decided to reserve judgement to see how everything developed. After it became apparent that the content and interaction of the main twitter account is still as strong as before most of my concern disappeared. It’s also wonderful to see how welcoming you have been to far-away members. Many organizations forget that their online audience often includes a portion of people who have limited or no access to the physical location. My Swoon print arrived today and sending it must have taken considerable fraction of my membership fee.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
A response to Greg above, who doesn’t want to see “Twitter become overrun with commercial interests”:
The Brooklyn Museum is a non-profit entity. So inherently, it cannot (and does not) have “commercial interests.” In which case I guess I don’t fully understand your objection…
Are you suggesting, instead, that non-profit programs like 1stfans will somehow cause a domino effect, leading eventually to Coca-Cola and Nike and Lexus trying to sell me memberships? I guess I don’t think that scenario is likely — especially since on Twitter (unlike Facebook, where I can’t block the ads) I can choose to “unfollow” anyone at anytime.
I am more than a little baffled — and, honestly, disheartened — by people who criticize an accessible and affordable giving program at a time when most people find it incredibly difficult to be generous and philanthropic at all, given the state of our economy. As for me, I’m proud to be part of the incredibly creative, interesting, supportive, passionate group of 1stfans who have signaled their affection and support for this museum by making a mere $20 donation.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:16 am
[…] people have been getting their panties in a knot over the Brooklyn Museum’s paid Twitter feed, 1stfans. I personally don’t think it’s a big […]
January 15th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I agree with aehny, the museum membership model is inherently different than large companies. It would take something pretty amazing to get me to pay $20 to follow Nike or Apple on Twitter.
And if more museums charge for memberships on social networks that offer great incentives for members, more power to the museum community. They have such a difficult time raising money that I think it takes some real ingenuity to try something new.
If you think museums should be free and accessible to all, you should go work at one and see how difficult it is to keep programs and exhibits going (not to mention keep the lights on). Museums are an expensive endeavor. Who will pay for them otherwise? Because trust me, the Museum has already tried for every grant and corporate sponsor they can.
January 18th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
@Greg–
No Twitter user (Brooklyn Museum among them) will impact Twitter’s progression toward being overrun by “commercial interests.” They are already driven by commercial interests, and they always have been.
Twitter is neither open nor free. It is one sell-out away from overbearing advertising, unsettling challenges to online privacy, and unscrupulous data-mining and -sharing. It may not happen this year, but it will happen soon (it’s either sell or die).
We use Twitter because it works. They provide a platform to us because they want us to make it work. It’s as simple as that–there is no cause here for you to defend (except Brooklyn Museum’s).
June 12th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
[…] does seem as though they’ve gotten some backlash for charging people to see their twitter feed. But I don’t think they are […]