At first it sounded sickening, but the opening of a Facebook profile for the museum at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, just like the uploading of Museum videos to YouTube, is a welcome and appropriate step.
Despite the sense of momentary discomfort in the face of the Auschwitz-Facebook combination, the museum as well as other institutions are acting wisely by adopting new technology and the possibilities it offers in promoting its objectives.
The social network may assist the Auschwitz museum in conveying educational messages, serving as a means for dialogue with other diverse audiences, and make the Holocaust present in the lives of many people, including museum visitors and others.
The new medium of course requires special preparation: The social space online requires messages to be refined and designed appropriately. An accurate and sharp choice of message is also necessary. While other media means are a little more flexible and at times allow for the integration of several messages in one act, the social space is less flexible, also because of the audiences’ attention span, and therefore it necessities precise and brief messages.
The refinement and design of Auschwitz’s messages in the Facebook format present a complex challenge to the managers. In this context, they will also have to answer the following questions: What are the values of the Auschwitz “brand”? What does it mean being “a friend of” the Auschwitz museum and what does it say about the person? The answers for these questions may assist in the facilitation of fruitful dialogue.
The social space and the joining of many participants constitute an opportunity for connecting with diverse audiences. The Auschwitz museum's educational aims, be it in respect to promotion of tolerance or enhancement of the Shoah's memory, do not pertain to a homogenous address.
The educational process faces various audiences in demographic terms, in terms of worldview, and in respect to their basic position regarding the Holocaust.
The social network has the potential of creating segmentation that would allow for focused educational moves; different messages to members of different nationalities, different ages, or audiences with divergent attitudes towards the Holocaust.
The utilization of the social space as an educational tool is innovative and unique. The museum's decision to make use of Facebook points to its intention and obligation to reach all audiences by all means necessary. This move may certainly be worth a try. While the possibility that a social network will serve as an effective educational means for the Auschwitz museum may sound tenuous at first, yet it is highly tempting.
The writer is a lecturer and researcher at the College of Management Academic Studies and also guides trips to Poland
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