I have talked about Jim Richardson (@MuseumMarketing) before in relation to his activities revolving around Sumo Design and the Small Historic Houses of London project, which I described as ‘the relish on top of a perfect sandwich’.  Well, needless to say, here I am, about to pour compliments on him and his merry band again.

For those who may have missed it, February 1st was ‘Follow a Museum’ day on Twitter.  This was organised single-handedly by Richardson and his cohorts and made some big waves, reaching trending topics in many parts of the world on Twitter.

The real impact is in the process of being assessed and unfortunately, rather than being scientific seems to come down to anecdotal evidence.  All the same, it is clear that museums, great and small have benefited, with anything from 10-20-30-40-50 to about about 1000+ during the course of the day.  Personally I followed several new museums, and per chance decided to become a member of the Tate on the very same day.

As an informal and private endeavour I am very impressed by everything that has happened and been gained.  My hat’s off to Jim and his team, but just imagine the possibilities in the future with more more of a coordinated effort to take the Twitter -sphere by storm.

People obviously hate it when they have culture rammed down their throats, but this is a super way to do the soft sell, and with even more linkage online amongst museums of all sizes, the natural network of followers for all museums will grow organically, which can only be a good thing!  It reminds me of what I wrote when talking about the London SHH project, and how those small organisations stand to achieve so much more when united, rather than trying to develop alone.  No museum is necessarily in competition with another, and working together is a positive move.

A ground swell of support has already been gathering pace and plenty of people have been writing about the project online and providing plaudits for it also.  Obviously there is much to be learned and improved upon in order to take the idea onwards & upwards, to generate even more interest and benefit for said museums in the future.

Some reviews include Culture 24′s Follow a Museum day eclipses England captain and iPad to become hottest topic on the internet, Musematic’s Follow a Museum Day, and Cybernetik Inkwell’s On Following Followers, With Help from Miss Manners.  You can of course follow the exploits of Jim and his crowd with a follow up blog post on Museum Marketing’s own Follow a Museum Day.