Museums on Instagram - Engagement with audiences on social media

Abstract: This thesis will explore the engagement modes of museums on Instagram by looking at the content of 1230 posts published by forty museums in Sweden and New Zealand over a three month time period. The analysis will focus specifically on the museums intention behind each post, with the use of an analytical grid developed by Lotina and Lepik. The museums’ invitations for engagement and participation with their audience will be the main focus of the study, drawing on concepts of civic engagement and the role of public institutions as democratic forums where collaboration is championed. The results indicate a trend of a low number of invitations for the public to collaborate and engage with the museum, while marketing is instead the most common engagement mode, in particular among art museums. The concluding discussion reflects on these results, as well as the initial assumption that museums should be places for democratic collaboration.