“It wasn’t a stunt” or a “contest,” Ms. Bernstein added. “It was really getting people involved in this to see what was going to happen. Even I didn’t know. We also didn’t know if these people would come and see the show. We basically found that they did—in this very, very unique way. We had a great cascade going on. The second floor in that area was just packed all the time.”
Last month, she had an idea to turn Twittering into an art form: Brooklyn artist An Xiao blogged on the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed in Morse code.
Ms. Bernstein has built a mostly friendly community online on these free, open social networking platforms. But, in December, when Mr. Cary announced the new 1stfans membership in a blog post, some members of the community bristled at the idea.
Hrag Vartanian, a Brooklyn writer and critic, wrote on his personal blog: “The Brooklyn Museum is charging to subscribe to a Twitter feed? WTF!?!?! Are they lame or maybe they’re just smoking crack.” Jason Das, a freelance illustrator, Web designer and coder behind SuperVegan.com, noted on his Twitter account that the program was a neat idea, but “I resent being asked to pay $20 to follow you on Twitter. I wonder what you’ll miss by being a closed community.”
Mr. Cary explained that the program was curated for Ms. Bernstein’s online community and visitors who come to the museum’s popular Target First Saturdays, which offer free admission from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month. The museum’s $55 membership, which includes free admission, invitations to previews and receptions, a regular discount in the museum store and free parking during membership events, didn’t necessarily appeal to those online museum visitors, who are perhaps younger (don’t need that parking space!) and possibly not even New Yorkers. The museum’s Web programs had attracted people from different states and countries, who may not be able to visit the physical museum, but might consider paying for exclusive online content.
Of course, the museum is still offering free access to all of the current content on the museum’s Web site, not to mention Twitter, Flickr, Facebook applications and MySpace. So those who don’t want to pay don’t have to. But still, Mr. Cary said, it was worth experimenting.
“Shelley and I spent a ton of time looking at the [James] Surowiecki article in The New Yorker about the future of newspapers, the David Carr article in The Times, Jack Shafer’s response on Slate—all this stuff about how people are going to consume newspapers on the Internet in the future,” Mr. Cary said. “We find that extremely related to what we’re doing now. We’re sort of eating that stuff up. It’s about how you’re reaching to people and what platforms you’re reaching to people. Because it’s experimental and the feedback is instantaneous, we’ll really be able to play around with how things go.”
When Mr. Cary announced the 1stfans program in early December, about 140 members signed up. On Jan. 3, the first Target First Saturday of this year, 1stfans got to make their own screen prints, inspired by street artist Swoon, whose huge wheat-paste prints can be found on buildings around the city. They signed up another 45 members that night.
For 1stfans who lived out of state, Ms. Bernstein ordered some prints made by Swoon’s studio. She signed them “From Shelley and Will,” added a smiley face and mailed them out. When a new member signs up for 1stfans, using an online form, Mr. Cary personally adds them as a friend on Facebook and Twitter, and finds their personal blogs to add to a Google Reader that Ms. Bernstein and Mr. Cary check daily.
For the next 1stfans event at Target First Saturday, on Feb. 7, Ms. Bernstein is planning to videotape a question-and-answer session with a conservator about Egyptian mummies and post it on the 1stfans Facebook group.
“I think we’re forced to think outside the box and say, ‘How can we involve the supporter halfway around the world via the Web?’” Ms. Bernstein said. “And then go out of our way to create something special, so those faraway supporters feel less like outsiders.” And, one hopes, so they will contribute to the museum’s coffers.
Ms. Bernstein’s work at the Brooklyn Museum received a 2008 Forrester Groundswell Award in the Social Impact category. And last April, ArtShare, the Brooklyn Museum’s Facebook application, won a Silver award in the Online Presence category of the American Association of Museums MUSE awards. She is asked to speak at museum and art conventions around the world about her work; in March, she’ll visit Australia to deliver a speech at the Melbourne Museum’s Social Media & Cultural Communication Conference. Ms. Bernstein attributes the accolades to making museum-going more personal with the Web—a mission she hopes to bring to other museums, through Wikipedia Loves Art, an online scavenger hunt and photography contest. Launching in February, Wikipedia Loves Art will bring together 16 museums from all across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, and allow participants access to their collections. Groups of scavenger hunters will rush to photograph pieces in the museums’ physical collections, post the pictures on Flickr and help illustrate Wikipedia entries about artists and museums.
Brooklyn Museum online community members are already signing up. “These are our friends. I know these people,” Ms. Bernstein explained. “We’ve been working so hard for the past three years to contribute to the community, and to have them come back to us in this way to support us would be so great.” Hey, Web geeks: Maybe it’s time to give back to one of your own.
greagan@observer.com
