Social Media for Architects in Five Easy Steps

On May 22 I participated in the panel More than 140 characters: social media + architecture at the Boston Society of Architects. You can read a write-up of the event on the Payette blog, More than what you ate for lunch. For everyone else, here’s what I said were the three reasons architecture needs social media, and the five things architects should be sharing.

In January, I made fun of Bjarke Ingels’s Instagram. After my article was published his Instagram went dark for a few weeks, but then it started up again. When I checked in on it in May, these were his last few posts: blurry photo of New York City from a plane, BIG’s LEGO House project rendered in LEGO, construction selfie, Bjarke and Martha. So basically, more of the same.

The only signs that he might have listened to me were a newspaper clipping from his childhood, heralding the first design competition he won, and a nice, clear photograph showing the first few completed stories of his building on West 57th Street. The first nods to an Instagram hashtag game known as Throwback Thursday (#tbt) – everyone posts embarrassing photos from their youth – the second provided insider news on one of his projects from an angle most of us can’t get. They show understanding of how social media can be used for conversation, rather than simply self-promotion, and how it might illuminate the life of the working architect in useful ways.

As I said then: you don’t want to be boring, do you? I’m going to use my ten minutes to explain why architecture needs social media, and to give you some ideas of ways to get started. It’s also supposed to be fun. If Twitter is a chore on your to-do list, you’re doing it wrong. Social media should have personality and playfulness, introduce you to new people and let you see new things. Let me try to explain how.

Why architecture needs social media.

Because people don’t understand you. What do architects do all day? Nobody knows, least of all your clients who probably think they pay you too much, when the opposite is true. Judging by the movie portrayal of architects, they are men, who are sensitive, who design pretty houses, who wear white shirts and carry rolls of drawings. Social media offers an opportunity to show and tell more. Not your lunch, but the sketch you made at your meeting. Not your shoes, but the new paving that just went in. Whether with pictures on Instagram or words on Twitter, you can provide signposts.

Because you are at your desk all day long. Many architects spend all day at their desks, just like writers. For you, social media can become the water cooler. What are people talking about, not just in architecture, but in culture? What are people buying, making, cooking for dinner? You need to stay connected to wider streams, streams that are broader than the architecture magazines you subscribe to. Your family needs you to have good ideas for meals as well as flashing details. Social media has the right mix of high and low to allow you to dip in.

Because architecture should be part of the conversation. Which conversation? All of them: news about cities, news about culture, news about Mad Men. (I laughed out loud on the Sunday when one character gave another an Erector Set, “America needs engineers,” he said.) Architects have a specific lens on all sorts of projects and prospects for the future, and by meeting their audience where they are – hanging out on Twitter, posting vintage architecture photos on Instagram – you can add that perspective.

What architects could share on social media.

1. Self-promotion. I know, I said you shouldn’t do this, but really, you shouldn’t do this too much. One quarter to one third of your posts should be about the lectures you give, the awards you win, the projects you complete. Try to make those posts useful: link to the video or the live feed, to new construction photos, to the list of everyone who won. People wouldn’t follow you if they weren’t at least somewhat interested in what you do.

2. Influences. What building did you make a pilgrimage to on your last vacation? What new design book did you buy? What classic text are you listening to on audiobook while you draw up that set? Do you have a real inspiration wall? An inspiration tote bag? All of these are interesting to other people – really – and tell us more about what goes in to your design. It’s also a chance to tip your hat to what you consider excellent in other fields. Or even your own. It would be nice if architects could compliment each other.

3. Details. When I started talking about architects using Instagram a friend joked that her feed would just be handrail details. Every time she goes to a museum, a park, a transit hub, she is checking out the hardware and the miter joints. Well, I responded, that would be a great Instagram feed. Obsessions, rendered in artistic photos, are just what Instagram was made for. It’s no sillier than bouquets or fancy coffee foam. Show us the city (or the country) through the eyes of the architect. It’s funny what you can become known for. I get tagged for anything Marimekko, and outrageously bright floors. What aesthetic choice would you like to be known for?

4. The critique. What needs improvement? Show us that sad public space, that neglected modern monument. Think about what architecture can do and show us where it is needed. Maybe such a project is beyond your scope right now, but by sharing it, thinking about it, making digital connections, you may be able to expand your territory.

5. Protest. We make architecture. Can we also protect it? Architects need to be out in front articulating what can be saved and why. Social media gives you a platform in the larger marketplace of ideas to share what’s important over the long term.

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