The Walker Art Center, PBS and Social Media

For a paper in my Museums and Media class I explored the uses of social media and iTunes by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. While the use of social media by businesses is a hot topic, the use of social media by non-profits is not as big of a topic of conversation in media. I was really impressed with all of the ways that the Walker has reached out to use social media and iTunes. It's great to see all of these resources that can be considered places for solely for socializing or having fun used in an educational and cultural capacity.





In my Social Media class we explored examples of broadcast media merging with social media. I looked at PBS's use of social media and was really impressed:

 While in the past I’ve checked out videos and related features on PBS’s website I have not been on there in a while. Much to my surprise, PBS is immersed in social media. When I first opened their webpage there was not an immediately apparent social media connection but then I scrolled down the page to find a good-sized box containing Facebook updates. Scrolling down a little further there was a small section titled “Latest PBS Blogs” that included PBS NewsHour’s The Business Desk, Art 21, Tavis Smiley’s Young Voices, Media Infusion, and P.O.V. Blog. All the way at the bottom of the page is a small section titled “Follow PBS” which includes links to their Facebook Page, Podcasts, Twitter Feed, and YouTube Channel.

            PBS has almost 265,000 fans on Facebook. Their wall is filled with posts about their programming (with links to videos and blogs) interspersed with comments from fans. They have 38 favorite pages, which seem to all be for PBS related shows. They have videos and events posted as well as almost 100 discussion forums. They have an incredibly full Facebook page!

            Their link to podcasts includes a list of about 30 current podcasts plus a dozen archived podcasts. Each podcast has the feed address and an option to subscribe in iTunes. Some of the podcasts have an option to subscribe with Miro. I clicked on one of the links to learn more about Miro and found that it is “a free HD video player”.

            The PBS channel on YouTube has almost 46,000 subscribers and their videos have been viewed over 50 million times since they started posting videos in 2006. There are a great variety of videos from many of their regular shows and features.

            PBS has a variety of Twitter accounts with almost 520,000 followers on their main account. Their Twitter Directory has lists of Twitter accounts from their shows and stations.

I’m really impressed with all of the social media that PBS has to offer and can’t wait to explore further!