May 18th’s #MuseumMoment live event has further cemented the ties that bind the social media app and cultural institutions.
Whether you’re in the yay or nay camp when it comes to TikTok, the virality-minded video sharing social network owned by Chinese company ByteDance, the app’s indomitable cultural presence is difficult to ignore. TikTok’s sophisticated AI and vast captive data pool — more than 800 million users scrolling for stimulation while trapped inside by COVID-19 — have produced a brand new wave of addictive trends, slang, and advertising models for individuals and institutions alike.
This digital outlook proved especially important over lockdown, when institutions were forced to find new ways to boost engagement from behind closed doors. Notably, content boasting hashtags like #FineArt, #ArtHistory, and #ArtonTikTik has garnered over 2 billion monthly views to date, growing over 3000 percent in the last twelve months. The #Museum hashtag alone has inspired the most video creations on earth, sporting growth by 200 percent since May 2020.
On May 18, the app launched its first #MuseumMoment event, a livestream marathon and accompanying hashtag that explored the collections of 23 institutions across 12 countries in celebration of International Museum Day. This 19-hour event started with a tour from the National Gallery in Singapore, and moved across the world through the galleries of far- flung, iconic locales like the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, the Rijksmuseum in The Netherlands, and the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin.
Programming was largely conducted in English in the form of “greatest hits” tours, allowing curators, sometimes solo, often in pairs, to nerd out about their collection’s biggest draws. This included the Palace of Versailles, which collaborated with TikTok to produce a charming AR effect that transforms viewers into Marie Antoinette as they navigate the grounds. On average, each livestream garnered about 1.5 thousand viewers from all over the world, reflecting a lively investment in the sector. Continue to read the full article here
