Marketing Museums: Selfie Rules (Selfies Rule?)

Museums enjoy positive social media exposure, and selfies certainly fit the bill. According to a recent New York Times article, the Whitney Museum in NY actively encouraged selfies during its retrospective of Jeff Koons art in 2014.

January 21 of this year was, in fact, the second annual museum selfie day.

Some museums ban photographs entirely, not specifically selfies. And when selfies are allowed, the selfie stick might not be. Selfie sticks require space around the selfie-taker--and can lead to unintended consequences such as hurting someone standing nearby or damaging museum artwork or property.

Some museums (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and the Smithsonian) have actually banned selfie sticks. The Smithsonian encourages selfies, just not with sticks.

Others are posting specific rules. At right, the selfie rules posted by the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, for its recent Peter Halley exhibit.

No selfie sticks allowed but please, go ahead and take a selfie with any of the artworks accompanied by a hashtag on the floor (shown above with my caption).

And for extra convenience, the rules include the museum's social media site addresses and even suggested #hashtags. The museum's Facebook page includes selfie posts, naturally.