How the Victoria and Albert Museum joins online discussions
The conversations that happen on the web about brands often present them with a problem - how should the intervene in a conversation and what should they say. Too often worrying about this prevents them from just doing it. The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London is one that doesn’t suffer this infliction.
They have an active approach to dealing with visitors and supporters online, entering conversations that are relevant and helping to answer questions and enter a debate. They are particularly engaged on Flickr, where many people post photographs of their visit to the museum of of exhibits they see there. This is a tricky area for some museums. Taking photographs is often restricted and they may feel that they don’t want to appear to encourage this for fear of potential copyright problem.
The V&A’s approach was highlighted by a discussion started a few weeks ago, in the discussion section of the V&A museum Flickr page. A discussion started about the museum’s policy towards taking photographs of exhibits:
It seems more and more museums do not allow to take photos inside the museum (e.g. National Gallery, etc) so as to promote the sales of postcard /print.
Will V&A museum also follows the trend soon?
How the V&A responded in this situation was critical and is a good example for others to follow. Rather than letting the discussion continue and rumours spread they joined the conversation:
We here at the V&A certainly hope that restricting photography is not a trend that will reach us. We are very keen to encourage the study and enjoyment of our collections in whatever form is appropriate; that might include photography, sketching, etc.
There are however inevitably some restrictions, for example in temporary exhibitions where some of the items included may be on loan from private collections or other institutions who do not allow photos to be taken.
That said, there are literally miles of galleries in the V&A within which are thousands of objects which everyone is free to photograph, so there should be something for everyone!
Joining the conversation in a timely manner like this is really only possible if your staff or also members of all of these groups, or if you have great social media monitoring. This is a great example of the V&A doing the right thing - joining the conversation.
