I linked to an article a few weeks ago about how social media is turning us into a post-literate society, literally rewiring our brains for how we consume and analyse information.

I was thinking initially of how this affects content and social media, but then I started thinking of how it affects the physical visit. Which is weird because I’ve spent the last decade thinking of how to interpret the physical digitally, and it’s rare to think of how social media can inform the physical (and not just in a ‘will people take selfies’ way). So I asked Bluesky and LinkedIn.

I still don’t feel like I’ve answered the question though: If social media and online culture is changing how we consume and analyse information, is that changing how people visit cultural organisations?

If you have any data, research or insights I’d love to hear them.

Content of this week

• I really love this style of telling a story or giving an opinion through handwritten notebooks and drawings, but my problem is my handwriting looks like it was done by a toddler with feet instead of hands.

• If you work in an historic building, get a tour guide to peg it to the roof.

• A classic, tight bit of ‘how do they do that effect on stage’.

• I’ve talked before about how Meta Glasses opens up a whole new POV style that cuts out the awkwardness of pointing a phone at something. (just ignore the privacy implications and Meta consuming your life)

• The guy at Buckinghamshire Archives is someone every organisation needs. A person who lives to post, to create things that amuse him and hopefully others. As they said in a follow-up post: “At this point our 'Brand Identity' is essentially whatever is most amusing at the moment that we have to post NOW before we get bored of it”

The bullet point bit

• The Director of Product Development at Marks & Sharts has been doing very well on TikTok, “sharing behind-the-scenes insights into M&S products, from bakery favourites to farm visits and product development stories.” It helps that people love M&S stuff, but also goes to show how an authentic Behind-the-scenes voice can do things your main account can’t.

• Joe Vaughan and others were asked ‘Is social media still worth it?’ by the Museums Association (paywalled). The answer is still: if you do it badly, then probably not. The same applies to everything.

• Meta got fined $567m for not warning of the dangers its platforms pose to children. This comes on top of stories of TikTok purposefully testing harmful content (paywalled) to see if it increased engagement, which has led to suicides.

Personal stuff I do for me and you can just skip this if you like

🎮📖 what I’m consuming as a consumer

I started reading the Rivers of London series which is alright but everyone in it is incredibly comfortable with magic and gods turning out to be a real thing incredibly fast. Like, at least spend a few pages where the protagonist questions reality. Also, again, incredibly horny male protagonist. Can’t escape them. Am I a puritan? Why is everyone horny all the time?

🐕 Keith

Here he is