CONTENTS
3 ••••••••••••••••••••••• What is Storify?
3 ••••••••••••••••••• How to Get Started
6 •••••••••••••••••••••••• Uses for Storify
6 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Tips WHAT IS STORIFY?
Social media is beginning to take a bigger role in the professional world. The new wave of technology is focused around curating and creating your own content. One of the newest tools that is helping ease the transition into the curation world is called Storify.
Storify is a tool that allows users to pull pieces of content from all over the web, and compile it in a storyline format. Using real-time streams from sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Instagram, you can create a chronological narrative that can then be accessed and shared by your followers.
HOW TO GET STARTED
1. Create a free account with Storify. You can do this by creating a username and password, or by logging in using Facebook or Twitter.
2. Once you’ve logged into your account, click the button at the top of the page that says “Create Story.”
3. You will be taken to a blank template where you can create your story. Add the title of the story in the first box followed by a small summary of what your story is going to be about. 4. When it comes time to add the content to your story, all you need to do is consult the toolbar on the right side of your web browser. You can search for a certain aspect on a social media platform in order to find what you’re looking for:
a. Twitter: On Twitter, you can search for basic topics and hashtags, or you can search your own personal account for content. You can pull content from your timeline, as well as images, lists, and your favorites.
b. Facebook: You can search for comments that are made on Facebook.
c. YouTube: You can search your favorites or videos.
d. Flickr: You can do a basic search or search for Flickr users.
e. Instagram: You can do a basic search for keywords.
f. Google: You can search the web, the news section or images.
g. Embed: You can take a link from anywhere else from the Internet, and embed it into your story using the embed link tab. 5. Once you’ve selected which pieces of content you want to use, you can simply drag them onto your blank template to add them to your story.
6. After adding everything that you want from the web, you can rearrange your story elements by simply clicking on them and dragging them into their new position.
7. You can also add text boxes to your story by clicking inside your story template to create a text box. Once you’ve typed out what you need, you can drag the text to any point in the story using the navigation tab to the left of the text box.
8. Once you are finished with your story, you can decide to save the story as a draft or to publish it. 9. When you publish your story, a window will pop and ask you if you would like to notify the sources that have been included in your story. You can either agree and it will send out a tweet to your sources, or you can click a box that says “Do Not Notify.”
10. Once your story has been published, you can copy the URL link, share, and enjoy.
USES FOR STORIFY
Storify can be used in a multitude of different areas. If you are a journalist or someone who works in the world of news reporting, Storify can be your best friend. It can help you cover ongoing events (like the Olympics), and easily provide up-to-date information about the event, and the response people are having to it on different social media platforms.
Storify can also come in handy if you work in the public relations or communications world. If you have launched a campaign for your company and you would like to see how your customers react, storify can help you compile a collection of the different responses that people have had. This can help you to improve your product or campaign with very little effort.
TIPS
• Less is more: Although Storify is a great tool for collecting content from all over the web, your story should not serve as an Internet dump site. You want your story to have a constructive purpose, and adding tons of information can just clog up your story.
• Bookmark it: Storify offers a tool called the “Storify Bookmarklet.” This tool allows you to add a button to your bookmarks toolbar, so that if you come across an item you would like to add to your story, all you have to do is click that button! To access the links that you bookmark, all you have to do is create a new story and click on the Storify button on your toolbar.
• Break it up: when creating a story in Storify, remember that just having pictures and tweets isn’t always enough. Adding some text can help break up the constant stream of pictures and tweets, and help your audience better understand your story.