Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials

Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials Project funded by Grant # 2020-792 https://www.holocaust-socialmedia.edu Stefania Manca RESEARCH TEAM Stefania Manca, Institute of Educational Technology, Italian Nation Research Council Ilaria Bortolotti, Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialisation Processes, Sapienza University of Rome Davide Capperucci, Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence Silvia Guetta, Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence Susanne Haake, Department of Media Education, University of Education Weingarten Donatella Persico, Institute of Educational Technology, Italian Nation Research Council Martin Rehm, Institute of Educational Consulting, University of Education Weingarten How to cite: Manca, S. (2021). Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials. IHRA Project Report. https://holocaust-socialmedia.eu/wp-content/uploads/Report-Survey_museums.pdf 2021 Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 2 CONTENTS Executive summary ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Results .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 profile of museums and memorials ......................................................................................................... 10 profile of respondents ............................................................................................................................... 11 Communication channels ......................................................................................................................... 12 Attitudes towards Social Media ............................................................................................................... 13 Social Media management ........................................................................................................................ 15 Social Media content ................................................................................................................................. 18 Social Media networking .......................................................................................................................... 20 COVID-19 pandemic ................................................................................................................................. 23 Final comments .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................... 27 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 27 Appendix. The survey .................................................................................................................................. 29 List of institutions that responded to the survey ....................................................................................... 39 Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report has been developed within the project "Countering Holocaust distortion on social media. Promoting the positive use of Internet social technologies for teaching and learning about the Holocaust", funded under the 2020 IHRA Grant Projects Program IHRA Grant # 2020-792; IHRA Grant Strategy 2019-2023, line 2 “Countering distortion”. We thank our survey respondents. “Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials” is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY NC SA 4.0). Report available at https://holocaust-socialmedia.eu/results/ Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In this report, we present the findings of a survey which was aimed at investigating if and how a large sample of Holocaust museums and memorials use Social Media (SM) in their communication channels. The findings reported in this study reflect the responses of 69 Holocaust museums and memorials from across the world. The most representative countries are Germany (36.2%), the United States of America (13.0%), Italy (10.1%), Austria (5.8%) and Poland (5.8%). The institutions vary widely in age, ranging from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Památník Terezín, established in 1947, to the most recent KL Plaszow Museum and Memorial in Krakow, opened in 2021. In terms of type, they are mostly Memorial Sites (54%), Holocaust Museums (38%) and Former Concentration Camps (41%), but War and Military and Virtual museums are also included in the sample. Almost all the institutions have a website (99%) and 61 out of 69 (88%) reported using SM as a communication channel. Key Findings • Attitudes towards social media are globally positive, with 96% of respondents that consider SM beneficial for the museum/memorial and an important means for outreach (91%). While respondents consider SM a worthwhile investment (83%), they also expressed a need for dedicated resources to be set aside for SM (72%), with 54% reporting that SM require more resources than the museum can currently afford. • 59% of the institutions using SM have been doing so for over three years. • The Museums/memorials that use SM tend to concentrate on a few platforms. Facebook is the most frequently used (87% use it daily or weekly), followed by Instagram (62%, daily and weekly use) and Twitter (45%, daily and weekly use). • 48% of the institutions have an internal SM manager, while only 10% use an external SM Manager. In 31% of cases, the Director is in charge of social media profiles. Persons in charge of SM profiles have specific expertise in SM management or marketing only in 38% of cases. . • In terms of SM content, the institutions tend to publish mainly educational material (80%), to use SM for sharing information about activities and initiatives (74%) and to organise educational events (70%) often or very often. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 5 • 90% of the respondents reported that their institution follows the SM profile of other museums/memorials and 67% declared that they draw inspiration from those profiles. • Only 30% reported the intention to change their SM policies and strategies, mostly to diversify content according to the nature of the different platforms, to develop specific content for SM, to increase the number of platforms used, and to improve strategies and interaction with followers/fans. • As for changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 89% reported pandemic-induced changes in various activities. Most institutions have increased the number of online events (79%), the frequency of posting (75%), and the variety of contents (74%). Other activities such as fundraising campaigns (80%) and contests/competitions (79%) have remained constant, while training on SM marketing has only increased in 25% of cases. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 6 INTRODUCTION Digital technologies and social media platforms have been used in museum communication for over a decade now, and Holocaust museums and memorials have increasingly adopted them for commemoration purposes and provision of educational content. Holocaust museums, memorials and remembrance centres are the most notable entities responsible for preserving the memory of the Holocaust, and are key institutions for implementing Holocaust and global citizenship education. Museums and memorials play a significant role as “lieux de mémoire” (Nora, 1989) - whether physical or virtual - in strengthening the presence of the past and specific experiential connections to the past (Ebbrecht-Hartmann, 2020). However, very little research has been conducted on the extent to which social media are used in Holocaust memory and Holocaust education, also because the two fields still rely on separate areas of research (Manca, 2021a). While existing research has yielded interesting results on remarkable individual institutions (Dalziel, 2016; Lundrigan, 2020; Manca, 2021b; Manikowska, 2020; Wight, 2020; Zalewska, 2017), or on small samples of Holocaust entities (Manca, 2019; Rehm, Manca, & Haake, 2020), there is a need to investigate how a broader sample of Holocaust museums and memorials of different size engage in social media. In this study, we adopt the broad concept of “Holocaust Museum” as defined by the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “any of several educational institutions and research centres dedicated to preserving the experiences of people who were victimized by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust (1933–45). Among the victims were Jews, Roma, homosexuals, Christians who helped to hide Jews, and people with physical and developmental disabilities.” (Parrott-Sheffer, 2019: n.a.). The museums and memorials sampled here cover a variety of commemorative entities involved in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and of the crimes committed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. In this report, we present the findings of a survey which was aimed at investigating if and how a large sample of Holocaust museums and memorials use social media in their communication channels. The survey explores attitudes, benefits, challenges and modalities of using social media. A specific section is devoted to exploring if and how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting modes of commemoration and education on social media. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 7 METHODOLOGY A questionnaire was developed from previous studies and based on indications available on the social media profiles and websites of the institutions involved. In particular, Booth, Ogundipe and Røyseng (2020) provided the basis for exploring attitudes towards the organisational change required by the use of social media, while the study by Samaroudi, Rodriguez Echavarria and Perry (2020) provided insights into changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire consists of 22 items of various nature (multiple choice questions, Likert Scale questions, short open-ended questions), grouped into three main sections. The first section collects background information about the museum/memorial and its communication channels; the second section investigates the museum/memorial’s experience in social media use; and the third section is dedicated to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the museum/memorial’s activities. Only the Museums/Memorials that declared they use social media were asked to answer the questions in the second and third sections. However, participants were encouraged to engage at least in the first part of the survey in order to collect information on the possible reasons why social media are not currently used. A sample of 203 museums and memorials were selected from the International Directory of Holocaust Organizations of the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) (https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/overview-holocaust-related-organizations) and were invited to take part in a survey. The survey was implemented online through LimeSurvey (http://www.limesurvey.org/), an opensource platform, and the invitations to fill in the questionnaire were sent via email by the software to the selected institutions. Data were collected in the period between 12th February and 22nd April 2021. The 69 institutions that responded correspond to 34.0% of the sample. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 8 RESULTS Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 9 PROFILE OF MUSEUMS AND MEMORIALS Argentina Austria Canada Croatia Czech Republic France Germany Guatemala Israel Italy Netherlands Norway Poland Serbia South Africa Turkey United States of America Uruguay 1 1.4 4 5.8 1 1.4 1 1.4 1 1.4 3 4.3 25 36.2 1 1.4 2 2.9 7 10.1 2 2.9 3 4.3 4 5.8 2 2.9 1 1.4 1 1.4 9 13.0 1 1.4 69 100.0 In terms of age, the median is 28 years, with the oldest museums established in 1947 (The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Památník Terezín), 1952 (Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen) and 1953 (Centro Recordatorio del Holocausto de Uruguay, Yad Vashem The World Holocaust Remembrance Center), and the youngest in 2019 (Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum) and 2021 (KL Plaszow Museum and Memorial in Krakow). Type of museum/memorial 40 35 30 Former Concentration Memorial Site; 37 Camp; 28 Holocaust Museum; 26 History Museum; 27 25 20 15 House Museum; 2 10 5 Holocaust Site; 7 War and Military Museum; 3 Virtual Museum; 4 0 Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 10 PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS The questionnaire respondents were from the most diverse backgrounds and most had been working for their reference institution for no more than 10 years (64%). Role of respondents Other 12 Social Media Manager 6 Volunteer 3 Guide 1 Public Relations Officer 9 Historian 3 Docent/Educator 5 Director 21 Curator 6 Archivist/Conservator/Registrar 3 0 5 10 15 20 25 “Other” includes diverse and multiple roles such as PR manager; Head of Communications; Project Manager; Chairwoman; Press Officer; Educator and Social Media Manager; Administrator; President; Archivist, Historian and Social Media Manager; Director Digital Department; Program Officer and Social Media Officer; Events and Social Media Manager; Organizational Secretariat. Years working for the museum/memorial 21 to 30 9% More than 30 3% Less than 3 35% 11 to 20 24% 3 to 10 29% Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 11 COMMUNICATION CHANNELS Other 5 Website 68 Mailing list 51 Traditional media channels (TV, radio, newspapers) 57 In-person events (e.g. workshops, conferences, etc.) 61 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 “Other” encompasses Magazine, Brochures, App giving access to virtual tour of the permanent exhibition and outdoor facility, Digital Conferences. Use of Social Media No 12% Yes 88% Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 12 ATTITUDES TOWARDS SOCIAL MEDIA How much you agree or disagree (%) Museums should use social media to counter Holocaust 11 distortion Any time spent by the museum’s communication department on social media would be better used elsewhere We are eager to support innovative social media projects at our museum We want our museum to have the best social media presence, compared to all other museums Social media requires more resources than the museum can currently employ on them Social media provide museums with the freedom to try new 03 things The museum has to set aside dedicated resources for social media 7 30 42 14 Digital media has usurped the role of museums Social media is an important means for museum outreach 11 6 64 Social media is a welcome change for the museum 11 12 0 57 32 28 If the museum uses social media, the museum will benefit in the 1 30 future 46 39 59 36 10 20 60 6 1 16 38 39 Museums need to have a defined social media policy 01 10 14 33 46 Social media distracts museum’s resources from its primary function Moderately disagree 43 41 13 6 22 32 26 14 6 16 20 41 10 13 39 19 30 9 3 36 46 13 6 1 16 26 51 Expending resources on social media communication is a 04 worthwhile investment Strongly disagree 41 33 23 30 Neither agree nor disagree 40 50 60 Moderately agree 70 80 90 100 Strongly agree Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 13 In terms of attitudes towards social media, the questionnaire revealed that the majority considers SM beneficial for the museum/memorial (96%), a welcome change for the museum (86%), an important means for outreach (91%), a way to provide museums with the freedom to try new things (84%), and that spending resources on social media communication is a worthwhile investment (83%). Respondents also indicated that museums/memorials have to set aside dedicated resources for SM (72%), with 54% reporting that SM require more resources than the museum can currently afford. However, only 7% agreed that SM diverted museum resources from their primary function and only 6% that digital media has usurped the role of museums, or that any time spent by the museum’s communication department on SM would be better used elsewhere (8%). Respondents are also eager to support innovative SM projects at their institutions (58%), while they are uncertain about the value of having the best SM presence when compared to all other museums (36%). Finally, 88% agree that museums/memorials need to have a defined social media policy and 74% that they should use SM to counter Holocaust distortion. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 14 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT The following section shows the answers provided by 61 museums/memorials that have declared they use social media. How long has your Museum/Memorial been using social media? more than 3 years 59% up to 3 years 41% How often does your Museum/Memorial use the following social media platforms? (%) Blog 67 7 Tumblr 16 8 2 100 LinkedIn 0 75 13 2 8 2 Flickr 92 7 020 Pinterest 92 7 20 Tik Tok/Snapchat 98 YouTube 11 30 Twitter 38 39 Instagram 21 Facebook 0 7 7 0 020 7 11 5 8 16 21 Never 30 44 40 Rarely 25 33 43 20 5 60 Monthly 80 Weekly 100 120 Daily Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 15 Facebook is the most frequently used platform, with 43% using Facebook at least weekly and 44% reporting daily use. The second most frequently used platform is Instagram, with 33% reporting weekly use and 30% daily use. The third platform, Twitter, is used weekly by 21% and daily by 25% of the respondents. Other SM platforms are YouTube, with 38% of monthly use, and Blog, with 16% of monthly use. Platforms such as LinkedIn (25%), Pinterest (8%), Flickr (8%) and Snapchat/TikTok (2%) are only used in a very small number of cases. Two institutions reported they prefer Vimeo to YouTube, while one declared it uses TripAdvisor and another declared it uses Medium. Who is in charge of the social media profiles/pages and contents of the Museum/Memorial? (%) Other 11 Volunteer 25 Guide 5 Public Relations Officer 25 Historian 20 Exhibit Designer/Graphic Designer/Preparator 3 Docent/Educator 20 Director 31 Curator 15 Archivist/Conservator/Registrar 13 External Social Media Manager 10 Internal Social Media Manager 48 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 People in charge of maintaining social media pages and their content belong to a wide variety of internal and external figures: 48% of institutions have an internal SM manager, while only 10% use an external SM Manager. In 31% of cases, the Director is in charge of social profiles, while Volunteers and Public Relations Officers are employed in 25% of cases respectively. “Other” corresponds to: • PR manager • Fundraiser • Marketing and communication coordinator Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 16 • Pedagogy department • Communication officer • Program officer • Event manager Do these persons have specific expertise in social media management/marketing? Yes 38% No 62% Respondents reported that only in 38% of cases persons in charge of SM profiles have specific expertise in SM management or marketing. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 17 SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT To what extent does your Museum/Memorial publish the following contents on social media? (%) Fundraising campaigns Hashtags campaigns Material intended to counter Holocaust distortion Museum/Memorial activities and service communications 2 7 Educational events 0 Rarely 20 3 7 Educational contents 2 5 Never 18 10 Sometimes 41 33 36 34 44 36 13 20 30 Often 40 8 15 39 25 13 8 11 30 28 23 8 2 21 16 52 50 60 70 80 90 100 Very often Museums and Memorials tend to publish educational contents (80%), to use SM to share information about activities and initiatives (74%) and to organise educational events (70%) often or very often. A less frequent Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 18 activity is the publication of material intended to counter Holocaust distortion (39%, sometimes). Hashtag campaigns are conducted sometimes or rarely by 57%, and Fundraising campaigns on SM are undertaken by less than half of the institutions (48%). Other types of content that the Museums/Memorials publish but which are not included in the list are detailed below: • Information about upcoming book-releases and/or books/pamphlets that the museum makes and/or sells in our museum shop and online • Tolerance, social inclusion, racism, genocide, massive violence prevention • Participative elements (e.g., to find out what people are interested in for the planning of future events) • School resources for learners and educators • Remembrance days and celebration (national and international) • Cultural events if connected with our partner organisations and dedicated to the topic of National Socialism • Reading suggestions and miscellaneous • Links to articles, images from the exhibition, information about other branches of our Museum and their activity • Public intervention in historical-political disputes • Surveys, Ask-us-anything-offers • Reports on visitors of the 2nd and 3nd generation from home and abroad in the memorial, reports from interns, references to articles or contributions newspapers, radio or television, notes and reports on NeoNazi activities in the region, reports on cooperation with other memorials or institutions, visits from politicians, scientists and others, notices and advertisements on our volunteer positions, commemorations. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 19 SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING Does your Museums/Memorial follow other Museums/Memorials social accounts? No 10% Yes 90% Does your Museum/Memorial draw inspiration from other Museums/Memorials’ social media profiles/pages ? No 33% Yes 67% 90% of the respondents reported that their institution follows the SM profiles of other museums/memorials and 67% declared they draw inspiration from those profiles. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 20 Does your Museum/Memorial intend to change its policies/strategies in the use of social media? Yes 30% No 70% Only 30% reported the intention to change their policies and strategies in SM use. The following reasons to change policies and strategies were expressed: • To accompany the opening of the new museum in 2023 • As social media evolves, it is important to evolve our policies and strategies for social media • Currently working on different types of content for different platforms. Where we used to post mostly educational content (personal stories). I would like to inform more about our 'invisible work' such as our collection (not displayed) and our databases etc. Also we never post about the organisations’ recent history, so I would like to tell more about the museums’ history too. I am planning to think more about what to post on what platform • Creating better web sites • The strategy of communication should be more fluent and focused on educational activity, less informative • Trying to develop more social media specific content • Social Media strategies constantly develop • We plan to extend our activity to other social media platforms • We plan to intensify social media presence • oh, not so easy to describe... the importance of newsletters and emails has decreased. Thanks to social media, we have a target group that extends far beyond our local region, and we recognize their connection to our memorial. That is why we are now also planning more complex media offers to reach these people (podcast; film documents and plays as well) • Try to intensify use of Social Media • We are in the process of hiring an external company to run social media • The Corona crisis taught us to use social media more Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 21 • We would like to have more local fans, who will be able to come to our onsite activities, because a large share of likes on FB come from tourists all over the world • Tik Tok, having a permanent strategy on social media • Enabling own event formats via Facebook and Instagram • We just founded a Social Media group to develop a strategy for regular posting of activities and campaigns. We want a strategy to develop activities that fit each communication channel and complete the other channels. This year’s campaign for the camps liberation anniversary is supported by a media company, so we are planning activities like a crisis management workshop which prepares us for hate speech and history distortion in case it appears. Until now, holocaust distortion or history distortion was nothing for the memorial. Hopefully, our Social Media activities get boosted by this year’s liberation campaign • More posts and more contact with users Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 22 COVID-19 PANDEMIC Due to the COVID-19 emergency, has your Museum/Memorial changed its activity on social media? No 11% Yes 89% As for changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 89% reported pandemic-induced changes in activity. To what extent the Museum/Memorial has increased or decreased the following activities during the COVID-19 pandemic (%) Training on SM marketing 3 25 72 Interactions with fans/followers 2 46 52 Contests/Competitions 5 79 16 Fundraising campaigns 5 80 15 SM campaigns 2 49 Online events 2 49 20 79 Variety of contents 7 20 74 Frequency of posting 7 18 75 Number of profiles 54 3 0% 10% Decreased 20% 30% 43 40% Unchanged 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Increased Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 23 Institutions have increased the number of online events (79%), the frequency of posting (75%), the variety of contents (74%), the campaigns (49%), the interaction with fans/followers (46%), and the number of SM profiles (43%). Activities such as Fundraising campaigns (80%) and Contests/Competitions (79%) have remained unchanged. Training on SM marketing has only increased in 25% of cases. Other activities that have changed include: • Increased number of online photo exhibitions, increased number of articles published • We planned a participative tool on our commemoration website for visitors, for technical reasons it ended up as merely a guest book instead of a virtual visit with a commemorative gesture. We developed the pilot of a virtual visit in a 3D reconstruction for remote desktop use from the tablet application we use onsite. • In person presentations and events • Face to face visits • Our digital activities have increased overall because of the pandemic and strict regulations • Virtual speaker presentations have increased • Video conferences with other memorials • The Museum was closed. Beforehand there were no online events, now we have had at least some • Creation of digital work materials for school classes • Number of physical visits to the Museum decreased during the Covid-19 pandemic • Development of online video and print resources for learners and educators. The Holocaust, lessons for humanity, eugenics and pseudoscience are included in the national school curriculum and resources have been created to enable learners and educators to continue learning about the subject matter • Together with our colleagues in [anonymised content] we are launching the nationwide /European social media campaign #[ anonymised content] • Renewal of offices, some rooms of the museum, renewal of websites, digitization, purchase of digitization machinery, historical research, etc. • Online conferences • Research, digitization • Surveys on audience development • The number of visits to the [anonymised content] has drastically decreased. On the whole, connections and dialogue with distant territories have increased, and the use of platforms for initiatives has given people who would hardly have been able to follow the initiatives the opportunity to participate. • Decreased of course on site educational programs, live events, support of researchers onsite, increased: internal Zoom meetings, setting up hygiene-plans, adjusting opening strategy according to changes in lockdown (light/hard) • Online tours, online meetings between the students and tour guides • Digital commemoration Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 24 • Live Streaming Events - i.e. Facebook Lives • We have implemented the production of online resources FINAL COMMENTS The last question allowed for general comments or comments on specific topics of the questionnaire. • The Memorial I work for is too small for a communication department. With only three employees (75%, 50%, 50%) there's no room or time to work on Social Media for any of us. Other things are more important! • When we were in the first lockdown from March 2020 to July and then cautiously reopened until October 2020 the memorial was attended both by school classes and single visitors. From the beginning of last November we have been in the second lockdown and so far we don´t know when reopening will be possible. Unfortunately a big memorial ceremony referring to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp had to be cancelled in April 2020 and also won´t take place this year! • The memorial site is closed due to the pandemic. It is possible to watch pictures of the exhibition online, however the historical and political education and the impact of the authentical, historical place is not transferrable in that way. At the moment we are thinking of a suitable way to use social media for the memorial-site, since it is a tool of communication during the pandemic and further on. • During the COVID-19 pandemic [anonymised content] Facebook profile was created. • We are currently not in a position to use social media to the extent required for our purposes. We do not have the personnel to continually oversee the comments and views expressed by users (which may be inacceptable and hence would not be tolerated). We have neither the financial resources nor the personnel to employ someone to design and keep an eye on what the Memorial and Museum might post on social media and also oversee the comments and views expressed by users. • I believe that online will remain a hybrid of our traditional offering by the Centre after Covid. Social media and digital platforms have allowed access to new audiences and speakers both locally, nationally and internationally. Although speakers may wish to still come to South Africa, I think that many donors would start to question the costs involved versus hosting a lecture via a digital platform. • During the pandemic, the [anonymised content] developed a new media concept that will begin to be implemented this year. • Our Museum lives on personal contact with students, visitors on original place of former Concentration camp. Social Media still plays a subordinate role at present in our Museum. • Unfortunately, there are times when antisemitic statements arise in the public context (social media and/or newspaper and public debate). The Museum does not take a stand publicly not to increase the attention on these statements and limit the 'damage'. • We try to keep the Memorial open for single Visitors. We try to let People know that they are welcome to ask questions about [anonymised content] history. We try to provide Information online so that teachers can use them Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 25 for their classes. We are open to new Projects. At the moment we are working on a new presentation online and at the exhibition. • In the last year we have strengthened our social media presence, increased the contents posted and their quality. It has become increasingly clear to the management as well the necessity to invest in the digital communication, in order to broaden our outreach. There are going to be numerous changes in the upcoming months. • We used the Corona crisis as a change to reach our prospective customer despite the memorial site being closed. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 26 CONCLUSIONS This report presents the findings of a survey administered to a large sample of Holocaust museums and memorials in the period February-April 2021. It is the first comprehensive investigation of its kind and paves the way for further and more in-depth investigations. Results have shown that respondents have a positive attitude towards SM although a number of concerns and limitations have been highlighted. The scenario that emerges is indeed quite diverse and includes large institutions with well-recognised expertise in the use of digital technologies and social media, as well as smaller or more recent institutions that have just begun to orient themselves in the intricate world of digital Holocaust remembrance. Further investigations are required to understand the specific challenges that each institution faces given the ever-expanding and ever-changing “virtual Holocaust memory” scenario (Walden, 2019). As stressed by Ebbrecht-Hartmann (2020), Holocaust memorials’ adoption and/or routine use of social media have been considerably hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, they have not only accepted the ongoing generational change but have also acquired a tool that seems destined to remain in the future. Further iterations of this survey will tell us what transformations and changes will have taken place. REFERENCES Booth, P., Ogundipe, A., & Røyseng, S. (2020). Museum leaders’ perspectives on social media. Museum Management and Curatorship, 35(4), 373-391. Dalziel, I. (2016). “Romantic Auschwitz”: examples and perceptions of contemporary visitor photography at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Holocaust Studies, 22, 185-207. Ebbrecht-Hartmann, T. (2020). Commemorating from a distance: the digital transformation of Holocaust memory in times of COVID-19. Media, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0163443720983276 Lundrigan, M. (2020). #Holocaust #Auschwitz: Performing Holocaust Memory on Social Media. In S. Gigliotti, & H. Earl (Eds.), A Companion to the Holocaust (pp. 639-654). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Manca, S. (2019). Holocaust memorialisation and social media. Investigating how memorials of former concentration camps use Facebook and Twitter. In W. Popma & F. Stuart (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Social Media – ECSM 2019, Brighton, UK, 13-14 June 2019, pp. 189-198. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 27 Manca, S. (2021a). Bridging cultural studies and learning science: An investigation of social media use for Holocaust memory and education in the digital age. Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2020.1862582 Manca, S. (2021b). Digital Memory in the Post-Witness Era: How Holocaust Museums Use Social Media as New Memory Ecologies. Information, 12(1), 1-17. Manikowska, E. (2020). Museums and the Traps of Social Media: The Case of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2/2020 (6), 223-250. Nora, P. (1989). Between memory and history: Les Lieux de Mémoire. Representations, 26, 7–24. Parrott-Sheffer, C. (2019, March 20). Holocaust museum. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holocaust-museum Rehm, M., Manca, S., & Haake, S. (2020). Sozialen Medien als digitale Räume in der Erinnerung an den Holocaust: Eine Vorstudie zur Twitter-Nutzung von Holocaust-Museen und Gedenkstätten. merzmedien + erziehung. zeitschrift für medienpädagogik, 6, 62-73. Samaroudi, M., Rodriguez Echavarria, K., & Perry, L. (2020). Heritage in lockdown: digital provision of memory institutions in the UK and US of America during the COVID-19 pandemic. Museum Management and Curatorship, 35(4), 337-361. Walden, V. G. (2019). What is ‘virtual Holocaust memory’? Memory Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698019888712 Wight, A. C. (2020). Visitor perceptions of European Holocaust Heritage: A social media analysis. Tourism Management, 81, 104142. Zalewska, M. (2017). Selfies from Auschwitz: Rethinking the Relationship Between Spaces of Memory and Places of Commemoration in The Digital Age. Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media, 18, 95–116. Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 28 APPENDIX. THE SURVEY Survey on Holocaust museums and memorials’ use of social media Dear participant, In the framework of the project "Countering Holocaust distortion on social media. Promoting the positive use of Internet social technologies for teaching and learning about the Holocaust" (IHRA Grant no. 2020-792), the Institute of Educational Technology of the Italian National Research Council (Italy), in collaboration with the Institute of Educational Consulting, University of Education Weingarten (Germany) and the Department of Education, Languages, Interculture, Literature and Psychology, University of Florence (Italy), is conducting a study on the use of social media by Holocaust museums and memorials. The study investigates the interests, motivations and benefits of the users related to the use of these social pages or profiles to acquire information on Holocaust-related topics. In this specific survey, we are researching if and how Holocaust museums and memorials use social media in their communication channels. We are asking for your cooperation in taking the time to fill in the questionnaire below (the average completion time is 15 minutes). The questionnaire consists of 22 items of different nature (multiple choice questions, Likert Scale questions, short open-ended questions), grouped into three main sections. The first section collects background information about the museum/memorial and its communication channels; the second section investigates the experience in social media use; the third section is dedicated to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the museum/memorial’s activities. Please answer as sincerely as possible, bearing in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. If you wish, you can ask us to send you the results of the research once we have processed the data. For further information, please contact the research manager, Dr Stefania Manca, [email protected] CONFIDENTIALITY, DATA PROCESSING AND STORAGE The data collected will be processed in accordance with the Law of 22 December 2017, no. 219, and may be the subject of scientific publications only in aggregate form, guaranteeing the anonymity of the participants. In particular, the personal data collected will not be transmitted to persons not directly involved in the research and will be processed anonymously; the results will be presented in aggregate form and with every precaution necessary to avoid the identifiability of the participants. The processing of the data collected within the framework of the research, their communication to third parties and/or publication for scientific purposes are permitted, but can only occur after the data have been made anonymous, under the direct responsibility of the person in charge of the research. The data will be stored, through the use of technological means (such as encrypted passwords, access to the data only by authorised personnel, etc.), by the research manager, in accordance with the principles set out in Article 5 EU Regulation 2016/679, for a period of time not exceeding Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 29 the achievement of the purposes and with specific regard to the principle of limitation of storage in Article 5, letter e), GDPR EU Regulation 2016/679. The data controller is the ITD-CNR and the Data Processor is Dr Stefania Manca, e-mail: [email protected]. All data will be deleted by 01/01/2025. The project has received the approval of the Ethics Committee of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain. INFORMED CONSENT Before deciding freely whether you want to participate in this research, please read this informed consent form carefully and ask the researcher any questions you feel are appropriate so that you are fully informed of the aims and methods of the study. Please remember that this is a research project and that your participation is completely voluntary. You may withdraw from the compilation at any time. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. Your help is greatly appreciated. The undersigned declares that he/she is over 16 years of age and can therefore independently consent to the processing of his/her personal data. 1. Yes 2. No I declare that I have carefully read the explanations concerning this research and the whole experimental procedure; that I have been informed about the aims and objectives of the research in question; that I have had the opportunity to ask questions about any aspect of the experimental procedure; that I have received satisfactory assurances about the confidentiality of the personal data collected by the research; that I am aware that I can withdraw at any stage of the study *. 1. Yes 2. No I, the undersigned, hereby consent to the processing of my personal and sensitive data collected as part of this research in the terms and manner indicated above *. 1. I consent 2. I do not consent Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 30 a. Background information 1. Please enter the full name of the Museum/Memorial:_________________________ 2. Where is the Museum/Memorial located? (place and country) ________________________________________________ 3. When was the Museum/Memorial opened? (please insert the year) _________________________ 4. What type of Museum/Memorial is it? a. Holocaust Museum b. Holocaust Site c. Former Concentration Camp d. Memorial Site e. War and Military Museum f. History Museum g. House Museum h. Virtual Museum i. Other: _________ 5. What is your role in the Museum/Memorial? a. Archivist/Conservator/Registrar b. Curator c. Director d. Docent/Educator e. Exhibit Designer/Graphic Designer/Preparator f. Historian g. Public Relations Officer h. Guide i. Volunteer j. Social Media Manager k. Other: ____________ 6. How many years have you been working for the Museum/Memorial? a. Less than 3 b. 3 to 10 c. 11 to 20 d. 21 to 30 e. More than 30 7. Which of the following communication channels does the Museum/Memorial use to inform people about its activities?? a. In-person events (e.g. workshops, conferences, etc.) Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 31 b. Traditional media channels (TV, radio, newspapers) c. Mailing list d. Website e. Other: _______________ 8. Does your Museum/Memorial use social media? a. Yes b. No 9. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements Strongly disagree Moderate ly disagree Neither agree nor disagree Moderate ly agree Strongly agree If the museum uses social media, the museum will benefit in the future Social media is a welcome change for the museum Social media is an important means for museum outreach Museums need to have a defined social media policy Social media distracts museum’s resources from its primary function Digital media has usurped the role of museums Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 32 The museum has to set aside dedicated resources for social media Social media provide museums with the freedom to try new things Social media requires more resources than the museum can currently employ on them We want our museum to have the best social media presence, compared to all other museums We are eager to support innovative social media projects at our museum Expending resources on social media communication is a worthwhile investment Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 33 Any time spent by the museum’s communication department on social media would be better used elsewhere Museums should use social media to counter Holocaust distortion This section is shown only if the answer to question no. 8 was positive, otherwise the survey ends with question no. 9. b. Social Media Use information 10. How long has your Museum/Memorial been using social media? a. Less than 1 year b. 1 year to 3 years c. 4 years to 6 years d. 7 years and more 11. Which social media platforms does your Museum/Memorial use? (you can select more than one) a. Facebook b. Instagram c. Twitter d. YouTube e. Tik Tok/Snapchat f. Pinterest g. Flickr h. LinkedIn i. Tumblr j. Blog k. Other: ________ 12. How often does your Museum/Memorial use the following social media platforms? Never Rarely Monthly Weekly Daily Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 34 Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Tik Tok/Snapchat Pinterest Flickr LinkedIn Tumblr Blog 13. Are there other platforms that the museum/memorial uses which are not included in the list? _____________________________________________________________________ 14. Who is in charge of the social media profiles/pages and contents of the Museum/Memorial? (you can select more than one option) a. Internal Social Media Manager b. External Social Media Manager c. Archivist/Conservator/Registrar d. Curator e. Director f. Docent/Educator g. Exhibit Designer/Graphic Designer/Preparator h. Historian i. Public Relations Officer j. Guide k. Volunteer l. Other: ________ 15. Do these persons have specific expertise in social media management/marketing? a. Yes b. No 16. To what extent does your Museum/Memorial publish the following contents on social media? Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 35 Never Rarely Someti mes Often Very often Educational contents (e.g. historical content, moral education content, personal stories of victims/survivors) Educational events (e.g. workshops, conferences, podcasts, webinars, virtual/audio tours) Museum/Memorial activities and service communications (e.g. information about Museum operation) Material intended to counter Holocaust distortion Hashtags campaigns Fundraising campaigns 17. Are there other types of content that the museum/memorial publishes which are not included in the list? _____________________________________________________________________ 18. Does your Museums/Memorial follow other Museums/Memorials social accounts? a. Yes b. No 19. If yes, please specify which ones: ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 20. Does your Museum/Memorial draw inspiration from other Museums/Memorials’ social media profiles/pages for your social media marketing/management strategies? a. Yes b. No Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 36 21. If yes, please specify which ones: ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 22. Does your Museum/Memorial intend to change its policies/strategies in the use of social media? a. Yes b. No 23. If yes, how? ___________________________________________________________ c.COVID-19 Pandemic 24. Due to the COVID-19 emergency, has your Museum/Memorial changed its activity on social media? a. Yes b. No 25. If yes, please indicate to what extent the Museum/Memorial has increased or decreased the following activities during the COVID-19 pandemic Decrea sed Unchan ged Increas ed Number of social media accounts/pages of the Museum/Memorial Frequency of posting on social media accounts/pages Variety of contents posted on social media accounts/pages Online events (e.g. webinars, virtual audio/video tours, remote laboratories) Social media campaigns (e.g. hashtags, Instagram/Facebook stories) Fundraising campaigns Contests/Challenges/Competitions Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 37 Interactions with fans/followers (e.g. answer to fan/followers comments) Training on social media management/marketing addressed to Museum/Memorial personnel 26. Are there other activities that the museum/memorial has increased or decreased the following activities during the COVID-19 pandemic? ___________________________________________________________ 27. Final comments _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________ Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 38 LIST OF INSTITUTIONS THAT RESPONDED TO THE SURVEY Anne Frank House, Netherlands Beit Theresienstadt, Israel Belgrade city museum - Banjica concentration camp museum, Serbia Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, Argentina CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, United States of America Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, South Africa Centre d'études et musée Edmond-Michelet, France Centro Recordatorio del Holocausto de Uruguay, Uruguay Concentration Camp Memorial Site of Dachau, Germany Concentration Camp Memorial Vaihingen/Enz e.V., Germany Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, United States of America Esther Raab Holocaust Museum, United States of America Fondazione Museo della Shoah, Italy Fondazione per la conservazione e valorizzazione della memoria storica del Campo di Fossoli - Fondazione Fossoli, Italy Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, Canada Gedenkhalle Oberhausen, Germany Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen, Germany Gedenkstätte Bullenhuser Damm und Rosengarten für die Kinder vom Bullenhuser Damm, Germany Gedenkstätte Kreuzstadl für alle Opfer beim Südostwallbau, Austria Gedenkstätte SS-Sonderlager/KZ Hinzert, Germany Gedenkstätte Todesmarsch im Belower Wald, Germany Gedenkstätte und Museum Trutzhain, Germany Gedenkstätte Wehnen, Germany Gedenkstätten Gestapokeller und Augustaschacht, Germany Geschichtswerkstatt Französische Kapelle Soest e.V., Germany Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 39 Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork, Netherlands Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus, United States of America Initiative Gedenkstätte Eckerwald, Germany Jasenovac Memorial Site, Croatia Konzentrationslager-Gedenkstätte "Unter den Eichen" Wiesbaden, Germany KZ-Gedenk- und Begegnungsstätte Ladelund, Germany KZ-Gedenkstätte Husum-Schwesing, Germany KZ-Gedenkstätte Leonberg, Germany KZ-Gedenkstätte Moringen, Germany KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, Germany KZ-Gedenkstätte Sandhofen (Mannheim), Germany Lern- und Gedenkort Schloss Hartheim, Austria Mahn- und Gedenkstätten Wöbbelin, Germany Mauthausen Komitee Kärnten/Koroška, Austria Mémorial de la Shoah, France Memorium Nuremberg Trials, Germany Museo del Holocausto Guatemala, Yahad - In Unum, Guatemala Museo diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà, Italy Museo Internazionale della Memoria di Ferramonti di Tarsia, Italy Museo Nazionale dell'Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah, Italy Museo storico della Liberazione – Roma, Italy Museum of Resistance and Deportation of Besançon, France Music of Remembrance, United States of America Narvik War Museum, Norway Norway's Resistance Museum, Norway NS-Dokumentationsstelle Krefeld, Germany Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, branch of the Museum of Krakow, Poland Památník Terezín, Czech Republic Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 40 KL Plaszow Museum and Memorial in Krakowa. German Nazi labor and concentration camp (1942-1945), Poland Ravensbrück Memorial Museum, Germany Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum, Germany Memoriale della Shoah di Milano, Italy St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, United States of America Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Germany The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Poland The Falstad Center, Norway The ''February 12th'' Memorial Museum, Serbia The Florida Holocaust Museum, United States of America The Quincentennial Foundation Museum Of Turkish Jews, Turkey Treblinka Museum. The Nazi German Extermination and Forced Labour Camp (1941-1944), Poland United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States of America Vermont Holocaust Memorial, United States of America Yad Vashem The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Israel Zeitgeschichte Museum und KZ- Gedenkstätte Ebensee, Austria Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials 41