Fashion heritage on Tumblr
Europeana's Geer Oskam writes about an exciting new user engagement project. Read on if you like blogs, fashion in general or shoes in particular...
In the slipstream of the amazing coverage about the anticipated launch of Europeana Fashion - see Vogue UK and the International Herald Tribune – the Europeana Marketing and Communications team has launched a Europeana Fashion Tumblr.
The Europeana Fashion Tumblr is an end-user engagement project, much like the Europeana Pinterest project which was launched last year. The aim of these kinds of projects is to get Europeana content spread across the web, engaging end-users with unique cultural heritage in an innovative way. Tumblr is a microblogging service with over 70 million users, mainly young adults. Postings vary from texts and photos to quotes and videos.
The Europeana content provider that we will feature on the Tumblr is Northampton Museums. To begin with, we're focusing on their amazing shoe collection. In the following months, we will post more fashion content and monitor users’ engagement with it, looking at things like referral traffic. This will give us a specific insight into the users’ behaviour. In a few months, we will hand over the Tumblr completely to the Europeana Fashion team after which we can explore user engagement on other platforms.
Women's Glace Kid Cromwell Shoes. Pointed toe, fastening with four bars and buttons in front; 5" wooden plaster covered heels engraved with a gilt rococco pattern. Made by Charles Hind of 22 Park Terrace, Regents Park, London. These shoes were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Northampton Museums & Art Gallery
By setting up the Tumblr, we gain not only by spreading Europeana content and letting users engage with it but also by adding this project to a ‘Europeana end-user engagement repository'. The repository will be called GLAMusers and it will be used to inform and inspire the Europeana Network to do more with social media platforms. We are currently building the repository so do send us your suggestions.
Help us make the Tumblr a success by sharing the link on your social media and, of course, pay it a visit for your own pleasure.