Although Instagram is blocked in China Mainland, many of the most active Chinese museums manage to register and operate an official Instagram account. Because of the different media landscape in China, Chinese museums spend most of their efforts on WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, RED and other Chinese social media platforms.  However, the adoption of Instagram by Chinese museums reveals their demand for international recognition. There is no doubt, Instagram offers a huge potential for Chinese museums to interact and engage with international audiences, cultural institutions and overseas Chinese.

ARTouch Consulting monitors the Instagram performance of 28 Chinese public and private museums, and introduces the first of its kind “Chinese Museums Instagram Index”.

This month we’ve been tracking the active level of each account, mainly by the number of new posts and usage of Instagram Story. Although nearly 1/3 of the accounts are dormant, Minsheng Art Museum was almost posting daily, generating 28 posts and several while the museum was still in closure.Zero new posts accounted for 32%; 1-5 new posts accounted for 22%; 6-10 new posts accounted for 25%; 11+ new posts accounted for 21%

The average number of followers of Chinese museum accounts increased from 5,485 of last month to 5,676.