On August 22, @CultureThemes ran #MusMeme for the monthly hashtag.  As I often talk about, finding a hashtag once a month isn’t always easy and there is a balance of finding a hashtag that works with the public and culture venues alike.  For August, I usually try to find a hashtag that will be quirky-ish but light as September is always busy with #AskACurator Day (September 12th 2018)…. did I get that one wrong!

All I put was:

Our next CultureThemes is going to be #MusMeme – a day to share memes all about museums, galleries, art, collections, etc. on August 22!

The general idea is to let the public and museums have a bit of creative license and fun with collections.

Simple, right? If people got involved, great! If not, that was ok to!

They got involved.  A LOT.  By 11am it was trending in the UK and pretty much stayed there all day almost into the evening. This screenshot is from 2.30pm

Now I never really care about trending but know people taking part feel part of something special (plus all those people who are confused about what #Mus_____ is usually brings a chuckle).

There were the classic #MusMeme (text over an object):

So we heard it's #MusMeme day.
A classic. pic.twitter.com/NToKPZTK7e

— NaturalHistoryMuseum (@NHM_London) August 22, 2018

There were new wave #MusMeme with statements and a gif:

When you hear "My kid could do that" in the gallery. #musmeme pic.twitter.com/VH19M33jUF

— MCA Chicago (@mcachicago) August 22, 2018

and there were the passive aggressive #MusMeme type

We asked a curator to do our #MusMeme pic.twitter.com/hGj2K9Rleq

— National Science and Media Museum (@mediamuseum) August 22, 2018

Overall, a hilarious day.

I put out a survey (thanks to Adrian Murphy‘s suggestion) to try to capture some of the significance for the hashtag.

SURVEY SAYS

Some Comments on engagement:

My favorite is:

We usually get 4-8 likes a tweet but one of #MusMeme received over 400 likes. Impressions went from about 500 a week to almost 100,000 for those memes.

Before the end of this article (which is the press coverage) a friendly reminder:

Just wanted to add that I do not get paid for these hashtags, I love bringing my social media expertise to these days to promote the sector and have fun! I am freelance and a consultant so if you are interested in hiring me please get in touch – I work internationally so there are no boundaries!

PRESS COVERAGE:

And in case you missed it, the press got involved:

Museums are ruling Twitter with the #MuseMeme hashtag

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/your-favorite-historical-artefacts-are-now-memes-as-museums-celebrate-national-musmeme-day-1853715.html

https://www.the-village.ru/village/city/news-city/322941-memy-s-proizvedeniyami-iskusstva-ot-rossiyskih-muzeev-dlya-aktsii-musmeme

27 museum memes that are supposed to be niche, but are totally relatable

British museums have spent today making super-niche memes