Shorty Awards are important for museums

By: Dartmouth Museum
Added: 17 January 2013

Social media is truly important in brining museums to the public notice. Among the various media types, Twitter is the most direct and fastest way of sharing a message. Last year Dartmouth Museum had a load of fun coming 7th or so in the Museum category.

This year Dartmouth was one of the first museums to be nominated as voting opened, and we took the immediate decision to nominate as many other small and local museums as we could. But why?

Simply because the Shorty Awards are there for fun and to help folk publicise themselves. Every time you nominate someone that nomination is tweeted to all your followers. Usually the museum you nominate re-tweets your nomination. Both win. The nominator gets exposed to a new community and the nominated gets extra kudos. Winning isn't important.

Seriously, winning isn't important!

What's important is the great PR from all the various tweets flying around the tweetosphere (is that really a word? No!) and gaining new friends and followers. So we're encouraging everyone we know to visit the museums category and vote!

We'd love you to vote for us, of course we would, but vote for everyone you feel deserves a boost for their work in social media, and some of those you've not even met before.

And then pay it forward. Remember, winning is unimportant! When we looked last we were first equal. That isn't going to last. And why should it? Vote early, vote often!