Two things I think I think

1.) The New York Times as Cliffs Notes. If you've read the LAT or MAN on MOCA, you already knew everything that was in the NYT story, and you knew it days/weeks ago. (On the bright side: I congratulate the NYT on finding a direct way to educate its own chief art critic on MOCA's import.) In a related story, this probably means that any day now the NYT will 'discover' the financial troubles at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

(Meanwhile, Lee Rosenbaum scoops the NYT on the biggest NYC art story in months. Oops.)

2.) So, Twitter... (If you don't know it, here's the skinny.) I've noticed that lots of museums, from the stodgy Met to hipper museums such as Seattle's Henry, have started tweeting. That's a good thing. Connecting with your audience where they are is always a plus. (Related: Carol Vogel has noticed only Brooklyn. Stunner.)

Unfortunately way too many museums are unclear-on-the-concept. As usual, art museums are stupidly shy about using new technologies to feature what they're all about: Art. Instead, museums tweet about all kinds of preposterous silliness, like party pix. Exceptions: The Whitney. MoMA, sometimes. More typical is the Hirshhorn, which has never once tweeted about an artwork.

Motivating factor behind this post: This morning, the Walker Art Center offered up what might be the dumbest tweet ever:

"Wondering what people would like us to tweet about more. Got suggestions? Reply!"

Moments later, a brilliant response from schmelzenfreude:

"Tweet about snow shovels! Or great botanical gardens of the world. Or quantum physics. Or fisheries biology. Or yarn."

The Walker Art Center is one of America's best contemporary art museums. Its building is full of modern art and contemporary art from its permanent collection of art. It hosts art exhibitions, and it employs art curators and other smart art people. I'd bet that its offices are full of art. The place exists because of art. And the Walker Art Center can't figure out what it should be tweeting about? (I mean, you know it's time to lay off the entire web/interactive/whatever staff when...)

Tweeting about art couldn't be easier. I often wander into a museum and 'tweet' my visit, posting 140 characters or less about the great Emile Bernards in Indy, or about Carleton Watkins at the Getty. (My feed from a recent visit to the Indianapolis Museum of Art is in the jump. Thanks IMA.) And it's not just me: Former Whitney and SFMOMA director David Ross just started tweeting. His recent Met visit resulted in a van Eyck-related tweetgasm. 

Bottom line, museums: If you blog or tweet, make sure at least half of your blog posts are about art objects.