Web and social media usage by museums: Online value creation

• Web and social media usage by museums are examined.
• Data from 40 museums are analysed.
• There exist online’ strategies differences in museums.
• Sources of online value in museums are identified.
• Implications to other cultural institutions are included.

This paper contributes to the understanding of online strategies in the context of museums as examples of cultural organisations, an underrepresented sector in the information management literature. It presents a theoretical framework for understanding the online strategies of museums’ use of Web and social media, their sources of online value (efficiency, novelty, lock-in, complementarities) and some measurements of Internet performance, such as the Alexa Internet ranking and the number of followers of museums in social media. This type of analysis has not been conducted before and the findings will help museum curators and managers of other cultural institutions to appreciate the impact of these technologies and to make better informed decisions regarding online strategies and resource allocation. In addition, the results of this research are applicable to similar organisations, such as archives and cultural exhibitions, as well as to other service organisations related to information, education and entertainment activities.