Social media

I am facebook friends with Egill Harðar, and I read Andres Jónsson's blog, in the hopes that somehow or another I will absorb enough of this social media stuff to be able to implement some of it with Vikingaheimar. We already added to our homepage a Twitter and Facebook link in an attempt to be more savvy in this regard.

But I don't know much about it technically speaking. It seems to me that the principle is one of giving people the feeling of lots of options. Lots of ways of getting in touch with a certain company. Lots of ways to participate in that company's activities, to become part of its development. A chance to identify with it, embrace it as part of oneself and one's life, and not just a place to get a particular thing or service. This sort of model fits in very well with museum practice and theory. A museum is a place for community building, for people of like minds and like interest to come together and develop new ideas. Thus clearly I like the idea of social media, and I think it is a positive development in marketing in general. Much less manipulative than the Madison Avenue marketing of the 1950's to 80's.

Anyhow, it seems to work for those types of companies, and those types of people, who need or want lots of options and flexibility in their lives. All very hip and modern, democratic, interactive. And the fact of the matter is that in our world today, there are lots of options, no one is obligated to anything.

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