Social Media Musings

Do you - personally or organizationally - make use of social media like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, etc., to get your message out and to interact with your clients/customers/audiences? What have been the pros & cons of using those forms of communication for you?

The IAC's Live the Arts in Iowa Facebook page has shot up to over 1,300 fans in just a few months, and we're seeing lots of great posts from people all over the state, describing with pride the arts activities going on in their communities, sharing what it's like to work as artists in Iowa, etc. We're thinking it will continue to be a good forum for networking and connecting. Lots of chances for people to contribute their own thoughts and ideas, and share their own information.

This blog, our e-newsletter Iowa Arts News, and the Iowa Arts Council Web site, on the other hand, offer chances for us to share news and information with you. They tend to be more one-way communication tools (you can leave comments on the blog, but it doesn't happen often) -- important in many ways, but not enough on their own.

Should we also have a Twitter account? How would we best use it? Is it the right and best use of state resources to assign a staff person's time to setting up and monitoring these sites? We're exploring it all. Maybe you are, too. Let us know what you do, and what you think.