NEW YORK—Leading the hype surrounding You Tube, Facebook and all things Web 2.0, the Rupert Murdoch-owned social networking site MySpace continues to rack up new users each day, and several New York museums are now among them.

Museum Web sites have traditionally been very straightforward. They keep visitors up to date on programming, host online exhibitions and provide a public catalog of collections. Although some have incorporated blogs in recent years, getting involved with social networking is something else entirely, and museums on MySpace have had widely varying expectations when they jumped in.

Some see MySpace as a convenient—and increasingly crucial—way to promote programming. They put together functional profiles with general information and a few images, and then send bulletins to their friend list to announce upcoming events and exhibitions.

A comparatively smaller group participates more deeply in the site’s social universe, using it as one part of an effort to create a larger, more-engaged online identity.

Museums in both camps, though, hope that their Web activities translate into higher real-world attendance figures and help them establish a foundation of next-generation visitors.

Basic Profiles

On the suggestion of Matthew Beaugrand, a young member of the museum’s development staff, the American Folk Art Museum introduced a MySpace page in September 2006. Beaugrand proposed it as way to advertise the addition of live music performances to the museum’s late hours and free admission on Friday evenings—citing his own friends as an example of who would be attracted by the profile—but it was originally more of a casual suggestion that a calculated marketing move.

The museum still maintains a basic, bare-bones profile, and while it may be getting the word out, a spokesperson said the institution does not actively track how MySpace posts impact attendance. She noted, however, that there has been a spike in Friday evening visitor numbers since the museum added live music.

Taking a more strategic approach, but still keeping it simple, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center set up a MySpace page in May 2006 to promote its annual “Warm Up” series—courtyard parties that host well-known DJs and huge crowds. Communications director Yng-Ru Chen engineered the page with help from two college-age interns, and P.S.1’s network of friends began with DJs scheduled to perform at the events.

Chen hoped to use MySpace to tap into the performers’ core audiences and reach fans who might not otherwise venture out to the contemporary art venue. “We wanted to continue to draw in a music-focused audience that then comes back for the art,” she said, adding that the response was strong in the first year. “I know because all the friend requests go to my e-mail,” she said, laughing.

Expanded Edition

Along with a handful of other institutions, the Brooklyn Museum has been more ambitious with its MySpace profile, regularly updating photo and blog content, encouraging visitor feedback and finding other ways to create an active presence in the virtual community.

“We have always had a community-focused mission, and it was a natural transition to take that to the Web,” said Shelley Bernstein, head of the Brooklyn Museum’s IT department. She set up museum’s MySpace profile in March 2006 and was immediately surprised by the amount of visitor feedback. “Visitors wanted to talk to us and that was a really nice side effect,” she said.

Since that revelation, the museum has become an active user of Web-based networking tools—and not just MySpace. It also posts behind-the-scenes photo sets on Flickr, maintains a Facebook profile, produces a series of blogs and is looking at ways to add more interactive content to its own Web site. All of this demonstrates what Bernstein calls a “post-or-die mentality.”

“I realized that you can’t just use social networking sites for advertising,” she said. “The community will see right through that.”

Keeping up that level of participation requires a major investment of time and resources, but Bernstein said that the museum’s Web activity has translated directly into museum attendance. In 2006, there was a surge of interest in a panel discussion held during a series of graffiti-focused shows, which Bernstein attributes to MySpace bulletins sent “right to that audience.”