Department of Informatics and Media
Master’s Programme in Social Sciences, Digital Media and Society specialization
Two-year Master’s Thesis
The Audience Engagement for the TV Show of the Palace Museum
-- Case Study for the Social Media, Weibo account of the TV Show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum
Student: Xueying Shi Supervisor: Cecilia Strand
September 2020
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Abstract
This study aims to analyze the audience engagement in a Chinese social media, Weibo, of the Palace Museum TV show “There is Something New in the Palace Museum”. It is new for a Chinese museum to cooperate with traditional media and digital media at the same time to generate more interest, particularly of younger generations. Weibo content is mainly about the TV show and the Palace Museum. While focusing on different types of content that create more interactions, quantitative and qualitative methods of data and content analysis of Weibo posts and in-depth interviews are used to find out the answers to the research questions. The theories of participatory culture by Jenkins and the book about edutainment “Entertainment-education and social change: History, research, and practice” are considered in this study.
Based on the theory, the research demonstrates the celebrity-related content is the one that generates the most engagement with fans and followers, followed by direct interaction-trigger content and the Palace museum promotional content. Each type of posts has pros and cons; for example, the celebrity effect can produce the role model effect on the followers and generate more engagement within the fan community, but also create meaningless content. As for the direct trigger content, it can attract many zombie accounts to participate in expecting a positive result. To sum up, Weibo still connects the Palace Museum and the young generation and helps to attract more visitors in the future. These findings offer new insights for the cultural institution to make their work affect the younger generation in the digital media era.
Keywords: digital museum, social media interaction, audience engagement, participatory culture, edutainment
Wordcount: 21908 words
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Table of Contents
Abstract ... 1
List of figures ... 5
Acknowledgements ... 6
1. Introduction ... 7
1.1 General introduction ... 7
1.2 Aims and Research Questions ... 9
1.3 Thesis contributions and structures ... 10
2. Background ... 12
2.1 Weibo ... 12
2.1.1 Weibo, the leading social media in China ... 12
2.1.2 Weibo and traditional media ... 13
2.1.3 The reason Weibo become the main promotion channel ... 14
2.2 The TV show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum ... 16
2.2.1 General information of the TV show ... 16
2.2.2 Brief introduction about the episode ... 17
2.2.3 General opinions of the show... 20
3. Literature Review ... 22
3.1 Museums adaptations to changing times ... 22
3.2 Introduction of the new museology ... 24
3.3 The process of digitalization for the Chinese museums... 26
3.4 Museum and Edutainment ... 30
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3.5 Engagement in social media ... 31
3.5.1 Brief discussion about social media ... 31
3.5.2 Engagement in social media ... 32
3.5.3 Engagement in different types of the post ... 34
4. Theoretical Framework ... 35
4.1 Participatory Culture ... 35
4.1.1 The overview of the participatory culture ... 35
4.1.2 The participatory culture in the digital age ... 37
4.1.3 The criticism of participatory culture ... 39
4.2 The engagement in the edutainment industry ... 40
4.2.1 The fundamental theory of edutainment ... 40
4.2.2 The development of edutainment in the digital era ... 42
4.3 Analytical framework for users engagement ... 44
5. Methodology ... 46
5.1 Data Selection ... 46
5.2 Data collection ... 47
5.2.1 Weibo content data collection ... 47
5.2.2 In-depth interview ... 48
5.3 Data Analysis ... 50
5.4 Ethics and Limitations ... 51
5.4.1 Ethics ... 51
5.4.2 Limitations ... 52
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6. Analysis and Findings ... 54
6.1 The content types and the engagement data analysis ... 54
6.1.1 Basic data from the Weibo account from December 2019 to January 2020 ... 54
6.1.2 The data about different types of content ... 55
6.1.3 Summary ... 61
6.2 The role of celebrity in generating engagement ... 64
6.3 The role of direct interaction triggers in generating engagement ... 69
6.4 The value of There is Something New in the Palace Museum’s Weibo account ... 74
6.5 Summary and discussion ... 77
7. Discussion and conclusion ... 80
7.1 Conclusion ... 80
7.2 Limitations of the research ... 82
7.3 Suggestions for future research ... 83
References ... 85
Appendix I: Original Data from Weibo Post ... 97
Appendix II: Interview guideline ... 101
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List of figures
Figure 1. The cultural and creative product in the second episode, a pajamas series
... 19
Figure 2 The cat, Luban, working as a science cicerone in the show ... 20
Figure 3 The app “Emperor’ Day” ... 29
Figure 4 The app, Forbidden City Community ... 29
Figure 5. What is edutainment about ... 40
Figure 7. A sample of “today’s dictionary calendar” ... 55
Figure 8. A sample of cat-related post ... 58
Figure 9. A sample of the cultural and creative product post... 59
Figure 10. A sample of lucky draw post ... 60
Figure 11. A sample of the voting game post ... 61
Figure 12. The percentage of different types of the post ... 62
Figure 13. The chart of the average engagement for each type of posts ... 64
Figure 14. The virtuous circle for a fan community ... 68
Figure 15. A fan forward the post related to her favourite celebrity, Deng Lun .. 69
Figure 16. A sample of a direct interaction post ... 70
Figure 17. A sample of a fan’s work for the TV show ... 71
Figure 18. The post about a fan’s letter for the TV show ... 71
Figure 19. A sample about guessing game post ... 72
Figure 20. A sample of lucky game result post ... 73
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Cecilia Strand, my supervisor, who helps me with my thesis. And I also want to thank all the friends who offered generous help with my thesis ideas and language.
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1. Introduction
1.1 General introduction
The International Council of Museums defines that the museum as a non-profit, permanent institution that is open to the public in service to the society, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates, and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for education, study and enjoyment (ICOM, 2007).
However, traditional museums are limited to space and time, so it is hard to accomplish the function of the museum only by leading the audience into showrooms. In the past, museum exhibitions mostly depended on the curators and the reviewers' explanations.
Nowadays, even with the implantation of technology, such as portable audio guides, there is no connection between visitors and objects, studies suggest that people feel isolated as they cannot communicate with each other about the objects that they are interested in (Yu-chang, 2012). Since the turn of the millionaire, it has been anticipated, that museums will include extendable visit experience and appropriate interaction with objects, to fulfill both educational and entertainment functions and attract the attention of the young generation. (Spasojevic, 2001).
Museums are cultural institutions that should function as a public learning environment (Falk & Dierking, 2018). However, in the digital society, it is hard for the traditional exhibition to attract more visitors, especially the younger generations, because their attention is absorbed by gadgets. It is difficult for cultural institutions, such as museums, to practice either educational functions within the new digital generation. So for the past few years, more and more museums have been stepping into a digitalized path, mostly by the digitalization of its content. Content digitalization involves transferring the exhibition objects and their description into digital media, such as audio, image, and video, so the audience can enjoy the exhibition from anywhere in the world. This increases the visitors' interest, but it also has many disadvantages. From the visitor's point of view, the online digital museum decreases physical participation, making more people reluctant to visit the museums. Thus the physical museum becomes isolated and
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purposeless, which seems counter-intuitive. The aim of the digitalization of the museum should be focused on filling the gap of the physical museum (Li & Liew, 2007), not creating another museum. From the museum's point of view, naturally, online exhibitions meet several legal difficulties, such as copyright issues. For example, Google Arts & Culture have transferred more than 1000 museums' pieces online, but they have encountered some copyright disputes in 2012 (TMTPost, 2019).
This thesis is focused on a social media account of the Palace museum's TV show. The Palace Museum has been cooperating with Beijing TV station, broadcasting a TV show called "There is Something New in the Palace Museum", to raise awareness about the treasures inside the Forbidden City. This marvel from imperial crown has been reconstructed as the Palace Museum with the purpose of increasing interest in Chinese history, Ming and Qing dynasty in particular. Each TV episode focuses on a historical character, exploring the traces of the character's life in the Forbidden City. Some scenes are interpreted in the form of short plays, connecting the "new" and "old" times, where the actors are wearing restored costumes and performing activities from the past as royal characters based on historical research.
Since the show aired, it has become a rating champion for weeks. And the score for the first season of the TV show is 8.2 out of 10 based on 16,362 user reviews on Douban, which is a Chinese social networking service website that allows registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music, recent events, and activities in Chinese cities (from Wikipedia). The second season had a rating of 8.5 out of 10, higher than the first season, demonstrating a positive feedback to the new form of presenting the museum’s historical heritage.
Although the “There is Something New in the Palace Museum” is a stand-alone media product, it can be found in Weibo, one of the most popular social media platforms in China. This allows the viewers to interact with its creators, as well as with other viewers.
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Social media platforms contribute to a more extensive communication experience, for example, giving rating and their opinions about the show, voting for the cultural product's design, etc. ; they can also interact with the TV show whenever and wherever they want. The viewers' comments are easily collected through Weibo, and the feedback can be analyzed quickly inexpensively, which helps to improve the show quality and ratings, also helps spreading the show to a larger audience.
1.2 Aims and Research Questions
There is an increasing trend to research about Weibo in China. However, most of the studies focus on marketing purpose of the platform. However, this study focuses on how Weibo generates participation and promote the TV show and the museum. Most of the previous research is about digital media related to the museum rather than the TV show episode. One of the aim of the Palace Museum is to educate the public, create and cultivate interest for its precious cultural treasures.
My enthusiasm for doing this research comes from my interest in the development of the digital media, and whether or not it will help to promote the museum’s mission. The following study aims to find out how’s the Weibo account for the show “There is Something New in the Palace Museum” generates engagement and how it influences the audience and the museum. Usually, the cultural and historical TV show has a hard time getting into the younger generations. However, with the help of digital media, the show can reach the audience who are in their 20s. In short, this study aims to research the social media engagement of young audience and its influence.
Considering the goals of the research, both quantitative and qualitative methods have been implemented. For the quantitative method, data from the TV show’s official Weibo account, to determine the quantity, averages, and percentages of the platform engagement indicators. For the qualitative method, the content of the comment section in Weibo have been analyzed and the in-depth interviews have been conducted.
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The research purposes were divided into the following research questions:
1. Which content generates the most engagement with the show's audience?
2. With celebrities being a vital feature of the TV show "There is Something New in the Palace Museum", what effect do they bring to the Weibo account?
3. What is the role of direct interaction features in Weibo, such as lottery, voting games, and quizzes?
4. What is the value that the Weibo account brings to the museum and the audience?
1.3 Thesis contributions and structures
This study focuses on a new sphere, that combines the museum, traditional media, and digital media, that was rarely explored and discussed before. I anticipate it will be helpful in the following aspects. It is different from previous researches that were focused on the museum transition and content marketing, and this study is aimed at the new media and how it generates engagements and promotes the museum. I hope this research can provide new perspectives and insights that may bring further interest to scholars, digital media operators and museum management.
The paper is divided into six parts. The introduction consists of a brief overview of the study motivation, research goals, design and thesis contribution. The second chapter presents the background knowledge for the study, including information about the Palace Museum, the Chinese social media Weibo in China and the TV show "There is Something New in the Palace Museum". Chapter three discusses the previous research, both in Chinese and English literature about museums. This chapter also discusses the museums' development in the digital age and the digitalization process in China.
Previous literature on engagement in social media is also discussed. The fourth chapter includes the theoretical framework for this study. It starts with the collaborative cultural research of the digital media era. Along with the edutainment theory, this chapter provides basic information on audience engagement triggers. Chapter five elaborates
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on the methodology of the study and quantitative and qualitative analysis. It also contains the ethical aspects and limitations of the study. The sixth chapter demonstrates the findings and analysis based on the data from the Weibo account and the interviews conducted. Following the order of the research questions. The final chapter provides a conclusion, and presents a summary of the research questions, as well as some suggestions for further research.
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2. Background
The topic of the thesis is about a Chinese TV show's social media account. So in the following chapter, the necessary background information about the social media Weibo, and the TV show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum, in order for the reader to be able to place this study into context.
2.1 Weibo
2.1.1 Weibo, the leading social media in China
Social media is a combination of social networks and media. It is a collection of websites and applications designed to build and enhance online communities for networking and sharing information (Osborne-Gowey, 2014). The fundamental logic of content producing and spreading of social media is based on the social network. In social media is a platforms users are willing to share topics that they are interested in or related with their networks.
This study focuses on Weibo, one of the most popular social media in China. Weibo means micro-blogging in Chinese. One of the most extensive websites in China, Sina.com, joined the Weibo industry, using the abundant celebrity resources accumulated by the original website for many years to start a new wave of microblogging, attracting the attention and participation of many Chinese netizens.
Weibo uses the slogan "Share what is new around you, anytime, anywhere" to simply and effectively outline the characteristics of Weibo. Netizens only need a mobile phone, and users can broadcast live, with pictures, texts and videos.
Chen defines Weibo as a broadcasting society network platform that through the following mechanism shares brief information contains five aspects (2012). First of all, the following mechanism allows users to follow each other mutually. Secondly, the published content is brief, usually less than 140 words, similar to twitter, but incorporates the possibility to create and post visual media, such as pictures and videos.
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Next, it has real-time information. Everyone can post news on it without having it reviewed by administrators. Furthermore, Weibo is a public platform, all information is public and accessible to everyone. Finally, it is a social network so that it has all features that are attributed to social media (Chen, 2012). The 140 words limitation makes the content brief, easy to assimilate, and easy to spread. It is one of the essential reasons why Weibo has become a popular app in quite a short time.
Weibo uses its unique communication characteristics, the immediacy, and convenience of information release; the openness and interactivity of information acquisition, changing the way of communication (Zeng, 2013). Compared with the multi-level report and monitor of traditional media, Weibo has become a faster way for users to obtain information. Not only ordinary users, but journalists and other media practitioners use Weibo on a daily basis. After users obtain information, fission-like propagation provides a powerful "butterfly effect" for the rapid spread of information.
Information spread through Weibo, and it may affect public opinion (Zhou, 2012). For example, in the formulation of many laws and standards, the government usually collect opinions from the official Weibo accounts.
2.1.2 Weibo and traditional media
The emergence of Weibo has indeed had a significant impact on the information dissemination of traditional TV-based media. Weibo has become a prominent source of information in Chinese society. The opportune and rapid propagation characteristics of Weibo makes it a natural information centre in the digital era.
However, the development of distributed digitalized media has brought not only brings significant challenges to traditional mass media but at the same time, it has created opportunities to grasp the future direction. Because of the fragmented nature of social media, and less time and physical location boundaries, Weibo has been widely popularized in the public. In terms of traditional mass media, they must step outside
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their limitations to survive and develop in the digital society. Recently, traditional mass media has continuously been integrating its resources into distributed digital media by linking media channels, and continually aligning with new media to form new products and formats. Weibo’s interpretation of the traditional television industry and the new media has brought changes in program production methods, communication concepts, and models, but also fundamental changes in television program marketing concepts.
According to the 44th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (CNNIC, 2019) released by CNNIC, by the end of 2019, the under thirty-nine-year-olds accounted for more than 65.1% of all netizens, of which twenty to twenty-nine-year- old netizens became 24.6%. At the same time, according to the 2019 China TV Rating Yearbook released by CMS, the audience of TV programs over thirty-five years old accounted for 54.5% of the total, while the audience of twenty to thirty-four years old are less than 30%. Both accounts indicate that the majority of people who watch television belong to middle-aged and elderly groups. It can be seen from this that the audience structure of TV media is unbalanced and tends to be aging. At the same time, digital media is more prevalent amongst younger groups. It also shows that if a TV program in China wants to attract more young viewers, it must pay attention to the development of the new media. The subject, There is Something New in the Palace Museum, also depends on Weibo for advertisement, to grow its audience and to spread the traditional museum culture at the same time.
2.1.3 The reason Weibo become the main promotion channel
Most organizations, including companies, government, etc. choose Weibo as their main promotion channel, for it is one of the most important social media channels in China.
In 2016, the followers of the official Weibo account increased to 1.3 million, and all of them are actively posting or holding activities. There is no doubt that Weibo has become the top social media in China. According to the Weibo financial report of 2018, the number of monthly active users increased to 462 million, while daily active users
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increased to 200 million. Weibo is not just a social media platform for sharing information and gathering news but is also an incubator for influencers. Influencers gain exposure and gain attention by sharing their personal lives and special talents.
Influencers with more followers and interactions will be more likely to get cooperation from other organizations, and cooperation will further increase the number of fans. As of 2018, the number of users with more than 100,000 fans reached 700,000, a year-on- year increase of 37%, and the number of users with more than 10 million fans was as high as 43,700, an increase of 60% (Weibo, 2018).
In addition to the number of users, Weibo's features are focused on the younger generations, comparing to other social media. According to data from the Weibo Data Center, most users are aged 23 to 30 have the highest proportion, accounting for 40%
of the total number of users, followed by users aged from 18 to 22, accounting for 35%, while users over 41 years old account for only 5% of the total number of users (Weibo, 2018). Because most Weibo users are relatively young, mobile devices are also the primary devices they use, with 93% of monthly active users have a mobile device. The data shows that if an organization wants to promote its products or services to young people, Weibo is the best choice. Effective brand Weibo communication can not only help fans to resonate with each other, but also promote a positive brand image.
In regards to information dissemination, Weibo's celebrity effect plays data a crucial role. There are four possibilities in the strategy of Weibo marketing of television programs. Firstly, find the audience's interest point and tailor the communication accordingly. Secondly, it is important to use Weibo key opinion leaders and influencers.
Continually, start an official Weibo account and make interactions regularly, for example, throw out new topics and continue to create awareness among the audience.
Finally, react to the negative comments promptly and accurately (Tao & Xie, 2013). In this way, official Weibo interactions play the part as an important channel for the spread of variety shows. For example, before a new TV program is broadcasted, the production
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team can interact with users on Weibo and make changes to the arrangement of the plate to cater to the audience according to their preferences. During the broadcast of the program, networks actively promote it on Weibo, and at the same time adjust the format and content in time according to the feedback of netizens to improve the ratings of the program.
2.2 The TV show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum
The TV show There is Something New in the Palace Museum is shot in the Forbidden City, which was the political centre of China for over 500 years. Like the name, it is a micro-city itself, where it has more than 90 palaces and surrounded by a moat.
Moreover, after the last emperor of imperial China was expelled by the National Revolutionary Army in 1925, the Forbidden City was transformed into the Palace Museum and becoming one of the most important cultural heritage in China.
2.2.1 General information of the TV show
With the development of the cultural industry and the rise of digital museums, the promotion of traditional museums in digital media has become the mainstream. In 2018, the new Forbidden City was broadcast simultaneously on Beijing TV station and in the Internet platform Iqiyi. From the beginning of the show to the end of the second season, it has received high praise and left a deep impression on the audience (Wang, 2019).
The show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum, is jointly produced by the Palace Museum and Beijing TV Station. Different from other entertainment shows, the show is recorded live and shots inside of the Palace Museum without post-production.
In addition to the places that tourists can visit, the program also filmed many areas in the Forbidden City that these places are not open to tourists. Besides, the show also sets up a plot where celebrities observe and discuss the cultural relics in a close way in each episode so as to eliminate the mystery to the audience.
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The first broadcast had a high rating of 0.99, ranking first in China's 35 provinces' channels, and top one among all the online entertainment programs, with an impressive score of 8.3 out of 10. The number of views on the show’s Weibo official channel about the There is Something New in the Palace Museum, exceeded 1.3 billion. What is more, crowdfunding of cultural and creative products exceeded 10 million within two episodes, creating a sales wave for entertainment shows. Most of the profits generated by these media products will be used to restore and protect the cultural relics in the Palace Museum.
2.2.2 Brief introduction about the episode
In terms of program content, There is Something New in the Palace Museum is a cultural entertainment reality show. At least three celebrities host each episode, where one theme about a historical story is interpreted in multiple ways. First of all, the celebrities will find the location of the palace where the episode is taking place based on clues.
Each episode takes a palace or a historical story of the Forbidden City as the theme, and then celebrities will explore the stories of buildings or characters in the Forbidden City according to the theme. In this part, apart from celebrities, experts and scholars working in the Palace Museum are also a very significant part. While the celebrities are searching for clues, experts will explain the questions that the stars do not understand and announce whether they have found the correct answer. As the show continues, a more detailed historical narrative is made from a professional perspective. Such a design not only has suspense but also allows relevant cultural knowledge to be effortlessly transmitted. This setting breaks away from the pattern of monotonous and tedious form of documentary shows, and achieves entertainment and educational function. Compared with the traditional punch-in visit with the introduction, this arrangement can create a sense of participation among the audience.
The second part is the celebrities' interpretation of the historical story. Each episode is interspersed with historical story acting made according to the data from the historical
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records. The stars will change into ancient costumes to show the scenes of the royal figures at that time, restoring the historical fragments of the time, reproducing the historical scenes, and creating a narrative for the story. The props and costumes used by the actors in the play are all restored based on the historical record. Within the two interpretation methods, the audience can gain a dual experience of logic and emotion for better understanding the culture and history of the forbidden city.
The third stage of There is Something New in the Palace Museum is about designers and students who major in design-working together to create a cultural and creative product through the cultural elements that appeared in the episode. This cultural and creative product will be sold in the online store of the Palace Museum. For example, in the first episode of the There is Something New in the Palace Museum, the cultural and creative product is about makeups. The show cooperated with a national skincare brand and published a series of makeup with the package of the Palace Museum elements.
More than 5,000 sets were sold in a single day. During the second episode of the There is Something New in the Palace Museum, the cultural and creative product is a pyjamas series with historical patterns on it, which designed by a famous designer, received millions in fundraising.
19 Figure 1. The cultural and creative product in the second episode, a pajamas series
In addition, the show has a significant highlight. In addition to the celebrity hosts, there is a cat in the show as a science cicerone, connecting the show from the perspective of an ancient cat. The identity of this cat is set as a royal cat from ancient times. Its name is Luban, and it serves as a narrator in the show (there is also a dubbing behind the scenes). This cat appears in various parts of the program. For example, when introducing historical background or knowledge, this cat will appear in front of the screen and begin its narration. Also, all the Weibo text content of the show is released in the tone of the cat, giving people a kind of feeling that this cat is one of the program staff. Narrating historical knowledge through the perspective of cats is more lively, vivid, and relaxed, conveying more information and triggering the audience's imagination.
20 Figure 2 The cat, Luban, working as a science cicerone in the show
2.2.3 General opinions of the show
The audience's opinions on the show, There is Something New in the Palace Museum, are mixed. Some critics believe that this TV show incorporates too many commercial elements (Peng, 2018), such as the use of famous celebrities for marketing and promoting of the cultural and creative products, which is to use the advantage of celebrities to attract their fans to watch the show and then induce them to pay for the product. It can be seen as a shopping show to some degree. Therefore, they think that the show is to make money under the guise of spreading history and culture.
However, there is another view that because of the severe shortage of outstanding intercultural property in the Chinese cultural and creative market, and infringements situation is serious with difficulties in rights protection, the There is Something New in the Palace Museum has added to the production process of cultural and creative products on the stage to promote the creative industry. Direct interactive communication is produced between creators and consumers (Peng, 2018). Feedback from show’s the official Weibo reveals interest from viewers who want to learn more about the products and stories presented in the show. Integrating the product into the historical storyline allows the audience to become interested in the product in the process of understanding the history, which invisibly increases the cultural value of the
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product and while promoting the Chinese history and culture.
To sum up, although, There is Something New in the Palace Museum can be seen as a reality entertainment show, it is a documentary style and educational elements, realizing the combination of education and entertainment. At the same time, the business logic is combined with life in the Forbidden City; in other words, the cultural and creative products are inspired from the royal life. And it can not only increase the commercial value of the Palace Museum but also better convey the historical and cultural knowledge of it. It not only shows the strong cultural vitality of the Palace Museum, but also integrates creative curiosity and imagination from a young perspective, allowing young forces to give the Museum new cultural energy.
In the 2019, Shanghai TV Festival in China, the There is Something New in the Palace Museum won the Best TV Variety Entertainment Show Award (xinhuanet.com, 2019).
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3. Literature Review
Nowadays, museums around the world are forced beyond their physical collections if they want to remain relevant to modern audiences. Consequently, museums around the world are digitalizing their collections and exploring social media as spaces to engage with their audiences. So in the following chapter, it is mainly about the museums' adaptation in the digital world, especially for the museums in China, for the study is about the Palace Museum in China.
3.1 Museums adaptations to changing times
Museums can be traced back to 280 BC, ancient Greece, and it was for the study and the art. By collecting and preserving so much information, the museum has the responsibility to preserve the culture and history. However, in the beginning, entering into a museum collection has to fulfill a set of criteria. A qualified artist should be
"learned and curious and have the recommendation of a trustee." That is, originally, museums were spaces intended for the elite.
However, with the increasing focus on nation branding, curating pieces of national heritage is becoming a key priority and especially in a non-democratic context. In the 20th century, museums were recognized as repositories of humankind's heritage (Dan, 2018). According to the ICOM (The International Council of Museums) Statues in 2019, it defines that museums are non-profit, permanent institutions in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates, and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for education, study and enjoyment (ICOM, 2019). The role of the museum focuses more on the education, so how to increase audience engagement rates has become the priority of the modern museum. Engagement is not only encouraging people to visit but enhancing every visitor's experience to get more recommendations.
However, the traditional museums are limited to time and space, which means the
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collection only shows in a fixed space and time and depends on the reviewer's or curators' explanation. The only way to experience a museum is to go there and visit. If there is an exhibition you want you to see, you have to go there even it is another country.
Moreover, for most of the tourists, the museum becomes a must-see activity.
Under this circumstance, the traditional museums face an urgent time to transform. The attempts at building a new type of museum are based on a more sophisticated understanding of the complex relationships between culture, communication, learning, and identity" (Hooper-Greenhill, 2007:1). The traditional museum is more like a one- way communication, and the audience can only receive the message but no interactivity.
Nowadays the museums become an exhibition space that opens for dialogue and communication instead of conservation and restoration in general. Museums are repositioning themselves by changing their function (van Aalst & Boogaarts, 2002).
Internet-based systems are now considered essential for many museums, and the high- speed access to the internet has led to a proliferation of digital content, delivered to users worldwide (Hughes, 2003). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2013) also implies the importance of the digital heritage. Digital heritage emanates from different communities, industries, sectors and regions. Not all digital materials are of enduring value, but those that require active preservation approaches if continuity of digital heritage is to be maintained (UNESCO, 2013). Even though it is a necessary activity, but the employees in the museum become a concern. The museum needs to ensure that employees have the skills required to share that knowledge in the digital domain (Mulrenin, 2005 and European Commission, 2002).
Compared to the concerns, the benefit of the digitalization of the museum has gained more support. The primary advantage of the digital process is that it enables access to all types of collections, which allows searching and browsing, to both traditional and
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new audiences via the internet, who are interest in culture, history and art but do not have a chance to travel to the top institutions.
For example, in 2010, the American Museum of Natural History launched the app
"Explore" and began to try to enrich the user experience in the museum by using cultural relics narrative and virtual games. When the user opens the app to explore the marine life, the application will promptly pop up the latest news and at the same time can also have the recordings of marine animals. In 2014, the British Museum published another app, where users can get a complete tour guide. The app of the National Gallery in London, containing 1635 pieces of art among over 500 artists (Chen, Wang & Liu, 2019). Apart from that, many museums have cooperated with Google culture institute That uses digital technologies such as vision technology and 3D technology to allow the public to enjoy the cultural treasures of museums around the world online. The project cooperates with 17 famous museums around the world, including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery in London, and other well-known museums. Google panorama technology is used to shoot the real scene of the museum, and High-definition pixels capture historical paintings in the museum, optimize the search function of the App (Chen, Wang & Liu, 2019). Users can find works according to location, genre, colour, etc.
3.2 Introduction of the new museology
Bennett in his book, In the Birth of the Museum, writes that museums are pursuing similarity with the popular one to get more visitors, instead of distinguishing themselves as they used to (Bennett, 1995). Furthermore, another popular theory in the digital age for the museum is the constructivist theory. It was first raised by a psychologist Jean Piaget and later applied by George Hein. According to him, the museum's knowledge and meaning are based on the visitors' background, interests, and experiences. The visiting process can be seen as part of the learning process, and the transformation of the knowledge for the visitors depends on this process, not the traditional transmission
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approach (Hein, 1999). So the new museology focuses on how to attract more visitors, as well as exerting its educational function. The entertainment function has become a cover for the museum’s aim.
The technology has changed the museum presenting the way to people. Not like the old-time, where visitors have to be at the physical location, the mobile services represented by mobile phones, allow people to visit and discuss the transference of place anytime and anywhere (Bautista, 2013). We are where our devices are, claimed by Gordon and de Souza e Silva (2011). Because of the mobile devices, the museum became less connected to place; items became "vehicles for the delivery of experience rather than as ends unto themselves" (Karaman et al., 2016).
With the mobile tour, visitors may never need to go to the physical museum. However, it is not the museum's intention to block people away from physical exhibitions. All the methods the museum use can be seen as part of the way to get more traffic so that the museum can have more fund or even profit. By using technology, the museum can extend its service to video games; for example, the Palace Museum has published several games to attract young people's attention while gain profit from the program.
Other than that, the museum can build their social network connections or even sell cultural products online, and it is what the thesis focus on, the social media network of the TV show of the museum. Particularly with the young generation, digital technology has primarily increased their initiative. From the case I use in the thesis, the museum cooperates with the TV show. By building a social media account, both the museum and the TV show have decreased the knowledge barrier for the audience, with the visual immediacy and the abundance of the public information, the audience feels more comfortable to understand the obscure history and culture. It is a successful balance between the traditional culture and the need of the public (Bautista, 2013).
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Today's museum is more accessible and democratic than predecessors (Bautista, 2013).
The digital technology the museum using implies that how the museum, under the new age, responds and adapts to a changing society, which is the most critical factor in the new museology (Bautista, 2013). Moving it online and launching a new digital program.
3.3 The process of digitalization for the Chinese museums
The Chinese Museum appeared in the early 20th century. The Nantong Museum, which was established in Jiangsu province in 1905, is considered to be the first museum in China. After more than a century of development, the number of Chinese museums is currently around 3,000. The digitalization process of the museum also started later than museums in other countries. In 1998, the Henan Provincial Museum had its website, which was also regarded as a digital signature of Chinese museums (Li, 2008). The website has also become the first development of the digitalization of Chinese museums.
The second stage of Chinese museum digitization is the digitization of museum collections. Many influential museums have independently developed their collection management software (Li, 2008). Later, with the development of information technology, digitalization has entered various aspects of museums including but not limited to collections, office management, and digital museums, such as the Palace Museum and Nanjing Museum. Besides, digitization is also used in the research of museums. For example, the Dunhuang Research Institute digitized the murals and other cultural heritage of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and also digitized the research results and materials scattered around the world to realize digital Dunhuang.
Today's digital museums have three main characteristics. First, the museum's information resource construction implements a complete frame of digital technology;
collections are digitally managed. Second, museum exhibitions make full use of digital technologies, such as projections, virtual images, and movies. Third, the establishment of the cultural heritage information management system was established to manage the
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interaction and dissemination of history and culture.
Even though the digitalization of the museum has brought many advantages, it could not make up for the shortcoming of the physical museum. First, for the digital museums in China, they still belong to the government, so all the contents will be monitored. As Winston Churchill said, history is written by the victors. So it is hard to find the documentary or reflection of the mistake that the current government made (Wong, 2018). For example, the content related to the cultural revolution and the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, visitors cannot find any collections or materials related to them in the museum, because it is considered as the mistake of the government. Other than that, because of the substantial differences in the level of economic development across China, various museums have a different investment in talents, research and marketing, resulting in a low overall level. Moreover, because the museums in each region work independently, they can only proceed from the needs of the museum, which is prone to waste of resources and difficulties in resource sharing and other situations (Li, 2008).
The digitalization of the Palace Museum (the Forbidden City)
The Palace Museum, as one of the largest museums in China, is one of the representatives of Chinese history and culture. Through the development of the digital process of global museums, the Palace Museum also spreads the culture and history through digitalization. In July 2016, the Palace Museum officially signed a contract with Tencent to form a long-term cooperative relationship. Based on historical and cultural stories, the development of digital products and related digital talents training will be completed in the next few years (Sun, 2016). It mainly refers to the digital storage of various collections of cultural relics on the website for the public to appreciate through technological means (Cai, Liu, Yu & Xu, 2017). At the same time, within the Palace Museum, digital means are also used to increase the interaction between cultural relics and visitors.
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Inside the Palace Museum, many digital projects are used to increase the interest of history and culture. For example, the palace of the emperor, a digital film viewing project. Because not all palaces in the Palace Museum are open to tourists, visitors can learn about the different uses of different palaces through the film (Cai, Liu, Yu & Xu, 2017). Secondly, in "SanXiTang", the emperor's study room, there is a 4D experience hall, which uses automated virtual environment technology and audio commentary to enable visitors to experience the historical stories in the room from the emperor's perspective. Besides, there are also touch-screen experience items. For example, visitors can zoom in, zoom out, and adjust the angle of cultural relics by operating on the screen to carefully observe the exquisite cultural relics.
Unlike other tourism apps developed by other museums, the Palace Museum places the app's focus on cultural relics and historical and cultural content of the Palace Museum (Pei, 2015). Since 2013, the Palace Museum has produced more than ten apps, including guides, culture, and games apps. Cultural apps focus on just popularization, use multimedia visual technology to explain the collection, and users can enjoy the collection by dragging with their fingers. The game app pays more attention to the user's experience, and the advancement of narrative clues gives players a sense of substitution.
For example, the app "Emperor's Day" is based on the emperor's day's diet and daily life as the mainline, allowing users to play the role of emperor, and to feel involved by unlocking different tasks.
29 Figure 3 The app “Emperor’ Day”
In addition to immersive experience apps, the Palace Museum also starts from users, allowing users to produce content and maintain cultural activity. For example, the
"Forbidden City Community" app, everyone can build their own house and create their own online digital life. In detail, you can complete the corresponding tasks by publishing articles, reading or liking others' articles, etc. After the tasks are completed, you can earn points, and use the points to upgrade your architectures (Xinhuanet, 2017).
Figure 4 The app, Forbidden City Community
In the Forbidden City community, individuals obtain, and output knowledge and users' ideas collide with each other in the community and upgraded during communication and discussions, thereby forming new knowledge (Chen, Wang, Liu & Liu, 2019). This
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new knowledge also has the opportunity to be used by product developers or content producers, saving a lot of content creation and R&D costs for the Palace Museum and other companies or other cooperative organizations. Through the process, the products and services they create can get much closer to users' preference.
3.4 Museum and Edutainment
Education is used to be equated with schooling, more focusing on the outcome, such as results or grades (Leichter, Hensel and Larsen, 1989:25). However, contemporary educational research suggests that learning is a natural and lifelong process and that the most fundamental outcome of learning is personal meaning (Hooper-Greenhill, 2007:
45). Salomon and Almog also think that knowledge should be constructed through the process of combining old and new information (1998, cited in Okan, 2003: 256).
That is why edutainment is more prevalent nowadays. Edutainment is events, programs, and attractions where the entertainment qualities are the primary draw, with the educational content being a byproduct. It usually consists of two parts, which are equally important: entertainment format, like some kind of fun or entertaining experience, and pedagogy, the educational content (Jegers & Wiberg 2005).
Edutainment is beyond creating an engaging experience. Instead, it is used in combination with an education in order to create a motivating and thriving environment for learning (Jegers & Wiberg, 2005). Furthermore, nowadays, it is easier for education and entertainment to be combined because of the new technologies with a double effect.
One the one hand, multimedia applications can enrich the educational content in a new virtual environment so that can attract more viewers, however, on the other hand, it increases the entertainment content at the same time, which may decrease the educational function (Jegers & Wiberg 2005).
Entertaining experiences today become in focusing more on the traditional areas, especially for the museum institutions, for example, focusing more on the process of
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learning than on the outcome and more in-depth exploration of experience (Hooper- Greenhill, 1999: 142).
Today, leisure time is not just for fun, but an opportunity for self-improvement and productivity (White, 2004). The museum is the right way for life-long learning purposes.
To achieve this goal, the museum has to deal with a significant amount of competition in the area of education and entertainment, and it is easier today because of digital technology. With the help of technology, people can achieve learning under the circumstances of enjoyment (Hooper-Greenhill, 1999: 141).
However, with the new practices that museums are adapting, there are also problems with the process. One of them is that it is hard to find the balance so the museum could quickly become a theme park. It is hard to find the balance between the education and entertainment function, for the entertainment ask the museum to decrease the educational part, while the educational function will eliminate the entertainment part (Goodlad & McIvor, 1998: 12 cited Spalding, 1991: 63). In order to have a sustainable development of the future generations, the museum has a significant job in understanding the balance of the heritage preserving and presenting to the young generations in a fun way.
3.5 Engagement in social media
3.5.1 Brief discussion about social media
According to Mayfield, social media has the feature of engagement, openness, communication. It is a new type of online media that gives users great participation space (2008). According to McLuhan, the development of new media does not only refer to the birth of new communication tools, but the technological extension of human expression and communication, and the expansion of new ways of human interaction instinct (1994). In traditional media, the propagation direction of the transmitting body and the receiving body is one-way and does not have the characteristic of interaction.
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Although the process of interaction can be completed through the audience's phone calls or letters, these interactions need to be achieved through other media. This interaction is also delayed and indirect (Zhang, 2009).
In social media, netizens can communicate and interact online immediately through text, pictures, and videos. Any users of social media can become a part of the information dissemination process and maintain equal interaction with other communicators, which means that social media does not have absolute authority (Han, 2014). Take Weibo, the research object of this study, as an example. When a person posts information on his or her Weibo homepage, his or her followers will use their background information to understand and dig out their understanding of the information. Through reposting, commenting methods to convey their views to others. Moreover, this view itself is also information, an important part of the original content in the dissemination process.
3.5.2 Engagement in social media
Engagement is defined as a multilevel, multidimensional construct that emerges from the thoughts and feelings about one or more rich experiences involved in reaching a personal goal (Calder, Isaac, & Malthouse, 2016). Engagement, in the social media area, refers to interdependent social interaction activities between individuals, individuals and organizations or groups information dissemination (Deng, 2009). The engagement depends on the context for everyone, but in general, social media engagement is an emotional experience that people undergo when using a particular medium at a specific moment (Voorveld, van Noort, Muntinga & Bronner, 2018). Compare to the traditional media era, the engagement in social media has shown some differences.
First of all, in the era of social media, the boundaries of communication subjects have become blurred, which is one of the most significant features of social media engagement. In the interaction of social media, there are no two definite objects of
"communication subject" and "audience". Each party may become a recipient of the
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content and opinions of others. The process of information dissemination is the interaction of the entire social network, and it is also the exchange of reciprocal information (Han, 2014). The low cost of using mobile networks maximizes public participation. Everyone can share information and experience in comments and forwarding and gain more opinions. Every communication has a chance to reproduce content and meaning, which not only allows users to get emotional resonance in engagement but also enhances users' stickiness to social media (Han, 2014). At the same time, multimedia forms such as voice and video, also strengthen the breadth and depth of interaction to a certain extent.
Secondly, the time and space constraints of engagement are also approaching zero on social media. Because of advanced communication technology, social media has the characteristics of immediacy. Only a mobile phone is needed to enable users from different regions to realize instant communication and shorten the spatial distance between users (Gong & Li, 2017).
In addition, social media is also more life-oriented in content and can attract users' participation. Different from the authority of traditional media, social media is more casual in disseminating content. It is for this reason that the interactive section of social media also has more daily, personal and casual characteristics. Compared with the traditional public platform, social media communication can reflect the actual life and communication status. Users can be immersed in the scenes rendered by social media during watching, especially the popularity of video formats in recent years (Li, 2014).
User interactions can be sent during watching the video in the form of bullet-screen comments and thereby increasing the intimacy between oneself and the creator (Yuan
& Gao, 2020) compare to sending likes, comments, and reposts.
Last but not least，audience has new feelings from social media engagement. For example, the entertainment function can be used to fill an empty moment of the
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participant, and they can also gain identification from the interaction (Voorveld et al, 2018). In the meantime, social media can also give empowerment to the participant because they believe that social media enables people to influence others (Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011).
3.5.3 Engagement in different types of the post
There are mainly two types of posts in the previous study about engagement in social media, emotional posts, or brand-related posts (Lee et al., 2018) and rational posts or direct, informative posts (De Vries et al., 2012). In general, emotional posts usually generate more engagement than the rational one.
For the emotional content, the followers or the audience can gain their social and psychological needs from it (Ashley & Tuten, 2015), so that stimulates their emotion that is associated with the brand or the social media content (McKay-Nesbitt et al., 2011). It usually appears with entertaining content, such as teasers or wordplay.
Furthermore, by engaging with these types of content, the followers gain a means to express their feelings and fulfill their needs that they want to share the information (Swani et al., 2014, 2017). So the social media operator usually uses emotional content to trigger “stronger feeling” among followers, enabling them to have more responses and connecting with consumers on an emotional level (Tafesse & Wien, 2017).
As for the rational content, the engagement is usually less than the other. Because the post itself already reveals much information, so it does not require followers' personal experience to interpret it. Another reason is this type of content usually alone with a specific aim, such as selling, so that users can easily click the selling link instead of making engagement with the post (Lee et al., 2018).
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4. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework in the following is first inspired by the book Television fans and participatory culture (Jenkins, 2012). This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the theories related to the engagement used in the analysis. The topic is about the social media account of a museum TV show, and therefore, it is complex and requires various perspectives to develop a comprehensive understanding of users' engagement factors. First, the participatory culture presented by Jenkins (2012) reviews the characteristic of participatory culture in the digital age, and it is the basis of engagement. In the second part of the chapter, the discussion focuses on the edutainment, since the Weibo account is about delivering museum knowledge in an entertainment TV show.
Meanwhile, the celebrity effect is highlighted in this part, and connected with the fan community as well. In addition, at the end of each section, criticism or disadvantage is mentioned because every coin has two sides. The last part of the chapter is about the framework of analysis and finding in the following chapter. Also, a small summary and reflection are expounded in this part.
4.1 Participatory Culture
4.1.1 The overview of the participatory culture
The theoretical framework is inspired by Jenkins Henry's book---- Textual Poachers:
Television Fans & Participatory Culture. In the field of politics, participation is regarded as a critical concept involved in democracy. Participatory democracy in general is to ensure that citizens can have the opportunity to participate or be involved in decision-making on issues that affect their lives (De Vos et al), such as voting to the social policy. It emphasizes citizen participation. Nevertheless, the participatory culture in the study does not refer to political participation, but the aspect of the relationship among the fan group, mass media, and popular culture, so I only use the theory that relevant to the topic. The participatory culture among media and fan group has been
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gradually changed after web 2.0. It mainly exists in popular culture. On the one hand, it gives users more rights and channels to break communication barriers. On the other hand, participation in participatory culture is not equal. The establishment of new cultural patterns also means that new rules and values are required. The system is needed to stabilize this rule structure. Under this kind of participatory culture, the participants are from individuals, communities, and society as a whole and at the same time, these engagements are continually shaping the participatory culture.
Based on the theory of Jenkins in the Textual Poacher, first of all, he believes that there is a positive interaction between fan groups and media texts rather than the single output and passive acceptance of traditional media in the past. A fan can dig out meanings and explanations that are in line with their own beliefs or their own community's philosophy by means of reading media content. In Jenkins' interpretation of the term Poacher, it also mentioned that in the process of socialization, the individual interpretation of the text could be strengthened or reshaped by discussing with others. At the same time, this new act of interpretation is changing the relationship between the fan community and the text, making the meaning of "poacher" more fully integrated into the lives of fans (2012, p45).
"Fan reading, however, is a social process through which individual interpretations are shaped and reinforced through ongoing discussions with other readers. Such discussions expand the experience of the text beyond its initial consumption. The produced meanings are thus more fully integrated into the readers' lives." (2012, p45)
Secondly, Jenkins believes that the fan community is also a member of content producers. The critical feature of this participatory culture is to "poach" from different texts, that is, after reading and digesting their favourite popular texts, fans will draw inspiration from them, while adapting and reproduce them. In the end, the fan will develop into something that belongs to themselves. For example, based on the content in a TV show, fans can create songs, cut and pieces and make a new video, Etc.,
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transforming from a passive consumer to an active cultural producer. This approach makes producers and consumers not wholly separate. Any fan can recreate according to original media materials, which blurs the boundary between fans and content producers (2012, p46). Besides, fans also use the same methods and channels to share their works and their interpretations of the media text as the original producers. In this process of self-creation and re-creation, fan's social network and social group are also established. The process of transforming consumption into a new content production is participatory culture (Jenkins, 2012).
4.1.2 The participatory culture in the digital age
Jenkins' research on fans and participatory culture began in the early 1990s before the Internet became popular. However, with the development of technology and the increasing popularity of digital media, participatory culture has developed new ways of communication, formed a new digital media community, and fan communities can produce and exchange knowledge with others (Jenkins, 2006). Due to the explosion of digital media technology, it has also become an essential channel for fans to spread amateur content, which is different from content produced by mainstream media.
Furthermore, their active participation also makes the fan culture status gradually improve, which was initially a subculture, but gradually move into the mainstream.
Besides, participatory culture also shows some unique characteristics in the digital age.
First, it is dependent on digital media communication technology. Weibo, podcasts, and all other social networking sites developed from digital media have leaped the barriers of geography and time, building a platform for extensive participation, and created an open, flexible and natural communication and atmosphere. This platform facilitates the display and exchange of personal ideas, thereby promoting the development and dissemination of the entire participatory culture.
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Second, the subject of participatory culture is extensive (Yue, 2010). Taking the platform used in this paper of- Weibo as an example, registering a Weibo account does neither require any technical background, nor need to write programs or purchase a domain name, and there is no additional consumption except time cost. Such a low threshold means that with the current mobile phones, computers and other portable devices, everyone can participate, read, share, and exchange any information about what they like on this platform. It makes the subject of participatory culture broader.
Besides, the open platform allows participants not only to be the contributors or free riders (Yue, 2010) but also to have multiple roles so that each participant has a sense that their engagement can influence others or events. The sense also becomes one of the factors that promote participatory culture.
Finally, in the era of digital media, participatory culture also shows robust interactivity, explicitly referring to the communication and interaction between content producers and audiences. Content producers need to produce media such as texts, pictures and videos that are infectious enough to attract more people to participate in, that is, audience engagement. However, what is different from the traditional mainstream media before is that participatory culture cannot be compulsorily constructed, and content producers cannot control the expressions of participants, discussions, criticisms, or arguments. Furthermore, the participatory culture is mutual, which means the discussion from the participant can also make an effect on the producer and may also have an impact on social or cultural life.
For the development of participatory culture, Jenkins believes that this is a cultural transformation. He is fundamentally optimistic about this process, believing that participatory culture can promote the development of cultural diversity. In other words, there are opportunities to promote cultural commodification and grassroots culture.
Although many scholars believe that the emergence of digital media is an erosion of
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the cultural field, the characteristics of digital media that a fast-paced and easy-to-share platform make all kinds of "nonsense", speech popular, such as some posts on Twitter.
While on the streaming media like YouTube, there are very few valuable videos or music (Keen, 2007). Nevertheless, the development of digital media does facilitate people's participation and engagement, which is noncommittal. On the one hand, it can produce real-time streams with hashtags, so that the discussion can attract more audience to join the communication. In the aspect of the format, a microblogging tool can be uniquely deployed to induce viewers' instant reactions in real-time (Elmer, 2012).
On the other hand, participation in digital media can be seen as a strategy for content producers to keep track of program opinions and change marketing or PR strategy if it is necessary. This way commonly happens in the TV shows and its related social media account(Moe, Poell & Dijck, 2016). In the analysis and finding part of the thesis, more factors that affect engagement will be mentioned taking into consideration participatory culture theory.
4.1.3 The criticism of participatory culture
There are also many voices criticizing Jenkins for participatory cultural theory. For example, Fuchs believes that Jenkins' views only express the cultural level, how to participate, create, share, and experience, a lack the application in real social and cultural life (Fuchs, 2017). The participatory culture in the digital media era has not only involved cultural aspects, but the political economy is also an indispensable part.
Nowadays, digital media cultural communities are increasingly controlled by large organizations, such as giant companies or governments. Hence the concept of participation needs to be questioned. Taking some questions as examples“ Who should be involved in the decision-making process? Which side is influencing the expression of culture?” Digital media provides a public sphere, but it is not ideal. Not all citizens can share their ideas and express opinions in public equally (Habermas, 1991).
What is more, some scholars have doubts about whether this participatory culture can
