The good news is that a big majority of museum attenders use social media. And they act on their friends' recommendations (presumably via social media?)

The bad news is that most people aren’t aware that museums are offering social media communications.

Conclusion: you need to invest in basic communications to get the word out, to get the word out... if you follow our meaning. 

Here’s the MuseumNext blog:

"The following research was conducted on behalf of MuseumNext and Sumo in April 2011 by an independent market research company with a sample of 500 UK residents. This survey aims to provide some context for museums looking to use social media.

A few things which stood out in this survey:

• Social media usage was higher than I expected, with even the least engaged group, those aged over 65 revealing that over half of them use social media.
• A large percentage of those surveyed follow brands on social media platforms.
• Gallery and museum attendance was high, but only 18% were aware that museums use social media.
• Only 10% of those asked, are fans or followers of a museum on social media platforms.
• A desire to ‘support’ the museum was stated as the most popular reason for following or liking a museum on social media platforms.
• Most people think their friends would be ‘indifferent’ about their decision to fan or follow a museum.
• 83% of people stated that they would be more likely to visit an exhibition if a friend recommended it."

Lot os interesting graphs and charts on the web site.