Last week I followed what was quite possibly the most entertaining use I have ever seen of Twitter. It was stunningly adlib, and showcased just how effective Twitter can be when the right brains are in charge, and when a certain amount of creative flair is permitted.
The saga kicked off when Twitter user @Bednarz (who refers to himself as a “part-time silly sausage” within his bio) put out the intriguing question below, as part of the #askacurator twitter chat:
The tweet has to date received 1.5k ‘likes’, largely owing to the readiness with which the two museums leapt to the challenge. I have no doubt both institutions downed tools and temporarily re-focused priorities on the epic battle that ensued, and in my mind it was well worth the effort.
On the face of it, it’s impossible to say who would emerge victorious in a battle between the two world-renowned museums, but both put up an extremely convincing argument. The tweets speak for themselves, so grab yourselves a cuppa, sit back and enjoy one of the finest (slightly edited) moments in Twitter history.
The debate began a little low-key…
Then things ramped up a gear…
And got a little weird…(what the hell is this?!)
And even more weird…
Skipping ahead a little…The Natural History Museum decided to add a soundtrack…
Finally, it was time to call it a day, and agree on the winner…or was it?
The battle continued for a while longer with some lovely audience participation. I personally love the finishing touch by The Science Museum, revealing the faces behind the ingenious tweets.
Granting creative freedom to a social media team can be a tricky thing to achieve successfully, and there are some obvious risks attached; but hats off to The Science Museum and The Natural History Museum for demonstrating that it’s possible.
