Including...the Digital Culture Network Awards, Twitter's new verification ticks and Brünnhilde.
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Digital Snapshot, bringing you all the latest digital news, ideas, tips and guidance for the arts, culture, museums and heritage world.
Happy new year. Just another 350 days until Christmas.
Latest News
- The BBC is banking big on TikTok but some of its journalists are urging caution because of Chinese government snooping (and don't forget regular rumours the USA will ban the platform, EU regulation etc.). I feel like this sword of Damocles has been hanging over our heads for a long time though. If your audience is on TikTok, go for it - but plan for the worst.
- You just about have time to enter the Digital Culture Network awards before 12 January, as well as nominate someone you think does a stellar job as Digital Ambassador. Which is a better name than Digital Whizz Kid or Social Media Guru I guess.
- I don't have the energy to cover everything Elon Musk got up to over the past few weeks. Things happened at Twitter, some of them controversial, and we have some new verification ticks.
Useful / bookmarkable
- The Arts & Humanities Research Council have published their theory of change, a roadmap for achieving their vision.
- 2023 is the year we say goodbye to our convoluted, frustrating but familiar friend: Universal Analytics. OneFurther ran a free webinar last year on all the lessons they had learned so far on Google Analytics 4, you can watch the webinar recording here.
- I was reading up on the Whitney Museum of American Art's new digital signage (kind of fun) when they mentioned Sunrise/Sunset (very fun), where artists take over their website for 30 seconds each sunrise and sunset. Don't know if it's useful/bookmarkable but it's a good case study of doing something light-touch to make a website a true platform, rather than just a tool.
Distracting / entertaining / inspiring
- She's an anteater.
- I liked this simple call-out for people to share the latest picture in their camera roll of an archive record. There's often a risk of someone breaking copyright law or privacy in this kind of thing, but social media is a game of balancing those risks - will we just share lots of lovely stories, or cause a comms crisis? Let's roll the dice and find out.
- The Library of Congress released another angle of their most loved free-to-use picture: Brünnhilde. What with Lizzo and the old dead man's crystal flute, they seem to be on a roll recently.
Good Reads
- The much smarter Chris Unitt and Alec Ward and the much dumber Adam Koszary predict 5 social media trends in the art world in 2023.
And that’s all for this edition. If you come across any interesting or noteworthy content or have any of your own projects to share please do send it my way. Don't forget we're here to support you with training, research and consultancy, so please do get in touch. You can find all past editions of the Digital Snapshot here.
You can also post your thoughts on digital and data-related topics to us and a wider community through our Community forum.
You can find me or The Audience Agency on Twitter. See you soon.
Adam Koszary
Head of Digital, The Audience Agency
Need some help with Digital?
The Audience Agency can help you get the most out of your digital activity, taking an audience-centric approach, focusing on the needs of the audience, rather than the technical features or functions of different channels.
Improve your digital platforms and tactics
The Digital Snapshot newsletter shares the latest, most important news from the social media and digital world - as relevant to the arts, culture and heritage sectors.