Prestigious N.Y. Museums Diverge in Internet Approach

The New York Times examines the different digital tacks taken by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum years after both launched online pushes to attract a global virtual audience.

The institutions initially shared what Shelley Bernstein, the Brooklyn Museum’s vice director of digital engagement and technology, called the “anyone, anywhere’ dream” of sharing their collections and expertise with people all over the world.

The Met has maintained that vision with digital galleries and art-history tools on its website and an active social-media presence, with curators commenting on Facebook and Twitter, an award-winning Instagram feed, and an account on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. “We are really committed to this idea of reaching people around the world,” said Sree Sreenivasan, the museum’s chief digital officer.

But the Brooklyn Museum found that its online experiments aimed at going global were primarily engaging people close to home. It has refashioned its efforts accordingly, scaling back its social-media footprint and launching efforts aimed at building its physical audience, like digital tours of Brooklyn artists’ studios in which viewers could vote on works to be exhibited at the museum.