Sree Sreenivasan

Sree Sreenivasan is the first Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The latest stepin what he calls “a three-decade, one-way love affair with one of the world’s great museums.” At the Met, he leads a world-class team of70 working on topics he loves: digital, social, mobile, video, data, email apps and more.

1. How did you live the #MuseumWeek experience at the @metmuseum?

#MuseumWeek, like other special content prompts built around hashtags, succeeds because it’s a combination of our official tweets and posts by visitors (both in-person and virtual), employees, other museums commenting on our art and more. It’s great to see how much ownership others feel about the Met!

2. What is the benefit for your institution to be on Twitter specifically?

Thanks to the terrific work of our social media team, Taylor Newby and Kimberly Drew (follow them!), Twitter, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, has become a critical part of The Met’s outreach to the world. In addition to sharing information and photos, it’s also a quick way for us to get feedback about what’s happening in and around the Met.

3. According to you, will the museum of the future have to be “conversational” through social platforms? Considering this relatively new way to engage audiences and because it does change the relationship in space and time, should we reconsider the definition of a museum?

Museums will always be about works of art in the gallery. There’s nothing more magical than a visitor standing or sitting in front of a work of art. But there are times when optional technology can enhance the visitor experience – or bring something alive to folks who may not be able to get to the museum. Social media allows us to share our content in new and smarter ways and bring more access to the work of the museum. It does not require us to reconsider the definition of a museum.

Follow Sree on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and on his website.

 

Interview by Benjamin Benita, Julie Scheffer and Louis Jaubertie