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Digital Takeover Day

Digital Takeover Day empowers young people to make their voices heard by taking control of museums’ social media accounts for the day.

Begun in 2014 as Teen Twitter Takeover, our Digital Takeover Day empowers young people and gives them a platform to engage with museums, galleries, historic houses, archives, heritage sites, cultural and arts organisations across the UK.

Young people’s #TakeoverDay tweets have reached hundreds of thousands of people and the hashtag even trended on Twitter.

Digital Takeover Day enables young people up to the age of 25 to take over a wider range of digital platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, organisation websites and YouTube channels.

How can young people take over my organisation’s digital channels?

There are many ways young people can take over your museum’s digital platforms. They could:

  • take over your Twitter account for the day showcasing their favourite objects
  • create an Instagram story with pictures and videos from around your museum
  • film a Facebook Live event or tour of your museum
  • make a short film to post on YouTube
  • write a blog
  • create a podcast.

When is Digital Takeover Day?

There will not be a separate Digital Takeover Day in 2024.

Our annual Takeover Day will take place on Friday 22 November. Please see our Takeover Day web page for full information.

You can still hold a digital focused event as part of Takeover Day in November or you can whenever suits your organisation throughout the year – just remember to register your event on our website.

Why should my organisation take part?

Digital Takeover Days provide a great opportunity for museums to see their collections in a new light and gain a better understanding of their younger audiences. They create a platform for museums to communicate their relevance to young people to those outside of the sector.

They empower young people by giving them:

  • a digital platform
  • trust and confidence to speak in public
  • the chance to exchange ideas and opinions with their peers across the country
  • experience behind the scenes with museums and their collections.

Young people have fed back to us that they were more interested in getting involved in other museum activities after taking part.

They can also be great starting point for a larger organisational Takeover Day and doing more in-depth activities later in the year.

What happened on previous Digital Takeover Days?

  • Digital Takeover Day 2023

    Young people took over the social media accounts of around 50 museums across the UK and in Romania on Friday 7 July 2023.

    Embracing our national theme of Let’s Play!, some of the creative content young people created and shared on social media included:

    • an interactive Instagram tour of National Trust Chartwell
    • a song inspired by morse code at PK Porthcurno
    • a trial of VR headsets at the National Civil War Centre
    • new playful activities at Leighton House and Jane Austen’s House
    • a visit to The MAC Belfast from a toddler’s point of view
    • a Reel about the Day in the Life of Engagement Intern at the Barber Institute.
    • blogs about their experiences as an Intern at the Museum of English Rural Life.

    Our Youth Panel Member Lydia also created some incredible artwork for the Linen Hall in Belfast.

  • Digital Takeover Day 2022

    On Friday 1 July 2022, almost 70 museums and heritage organisations put young people in charge of their digital content for Digital Takeover Day. Their #TakeoverDay posts reached almost 4 million Twitter users, spanning everything from drag queens to dinosaurs, Viking poo to video games!

    Young people held a Q&A with the CEO at the Mary Rose Museum, shared a Twitter thread of Drag Queens as museums, learnt about life as a Victorian firefighter with London Fire Brigade Museum, discussed the role of video games in education with The Story Museum and National Videogame Museum, and much, much more!

    Many focused on the event’s national theme of wellbeing, sharing their favourite museum spaces and how museums are supporting their mental health.

    Several museum sector leaders handed their personal accounts over to young people, including Hedley Swain, CEO of Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, and Elizabeth McKay, COO of London Transport Museum.

  • Digital Takeover Day 2021

    Around 75 museums, galleries, archives and heritage sites handed over their social media accounts to young people for Digital Takeover Day 2021 on Friday 25 June 2021.

    Over 660 young people of all ages were involved, from primary pupils and Scouts to university students. They shared their favourite places and objects, helped museums to improve their offer for young people, created TikTok content, hosted behind-the-scenes tours and much more!

    Our hashtag #TakeoverDay trended on Twitter in the UK, reaching over 3 million people.

  • Digital Takeover Day 2020

    In 2020, Teen Digital Takeover became Digital Takeover Day to open the event up to young people up to the age of 25.

    Despite museums being closed due to the pandemic, 65 museums still handed over their accounts to young people on Friday 26 June 2020. 80% of survey respondents felt the event was a good way to keep in touch with young people during lockdown.

    Highlights of the day included a yoga class at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, a 3D printing demonstration at Oxfordshire Museum and creative posts from the Royal Academy Young Artists who explored how they would change the galleries. Young people’s tweets reached 2.9million people.

    We also held a competition with our President, Philip Mould. Young people were invited to complete one of our digital challenges and post it with the hashtag #TakeoverDay to win £50 to spend in a museum shop of their choice.

  • Teen Digital Takeover 2019

    In 2019, Teen Twitter Takeover becomes Teen Digital Takeover to allow young people to take over different social media channels. In February 2019, we trial holding our first Instagram takeover.

    On 16 August, 50 museums handed over the control of their social media accounts to young people. Their #TakeoverDay tweets reached over 5.2million people.

    Our Youth Panel took over the Arts Council England Instagram, sharing their takeovers at Borough Road Gallery, No. 1 Royal Crescent Bath and the National Coal Mining Museum.

    We wrote a blog for the National Lottery Heritage Fund on how our digital takeovers help museums to actively involve young people.

  • Teen Twitter Takeover 2018

    On 3 August 2018, 67 organisations handed their Twitter accounts over to teenagers in the fifth edition of Teen Twitter Takeover.

    Young people’s tweets reached 350,000 people and #TakeoverDay trended in the UK on Twitter.

    Ed Vaizey MP, then Culture Minister, had his Twitter account taken over by a young person from Vale and Downland Museum, who shared images from a live gig at the museum.

  • Teen Twitter Takeover 2017

    In the fourth edition of Teen Twitter Takeover, 67 organisations across the UK and beyond were taken over by young tweeters on 11 August 2017.

    Around 321,000 Twitter users saw tweets from teenage participants.

    Highlights of the day included a Game of Thrones themed Twitter Takeover at the Horniman Museum and the Heritage Lottery Fund youth ambassadors, the DustKickers, sharing their recommendations for heritage days out.