From overlooked objects to digital ‘icons’: evaluating the role of social media in exhibition making and the creation of more participatory and democratic museums

This article highlights the opportunity for social media to play a greater role in critically and democratically evaluating museum displays and exhibitions in order to increase their popular appeal. By comparing datasets obtained from traditional (often in-person) evaluation techniques with those expressed by visitors using social media platforms, it is possible to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of each, resulting in a more holistic approach to audience reception. Based on the results of a curatorial experiment to diversify the type of objects displayed in a major exhibition held at the British Museum (‘The world of Stonehenge’), this paper uses qualatitive and quantitative (over 1000 images and 50,000 words) methods to explore the potential, wider, role of visitor-generated social media content. We highlight the potential of this approach for critiquing and rethinking exhibition design, marketing and the ethics that underpin pressing moral issues such as the display of human remains and the reductive and problematic process of ‘iconification’ whereby certain museum objects and heritage assets are selected to represent whole geographies, peoples and eras.