Storify is a tool that allows you to collate content from the social web and other sources and present it as a narrative. It’s a really good way to curate content or to pull together the most relevant elements of a Twitter conversation, a Tweet chat or a news story.
Here’s how it works
Visit the Storify website and sign up
If you used Twitter or Facebook as part of the sign up process you will be offered people to ‘follow’ who you are connected to on those platforms. By following them you will see the stories you create appear on your homepage when you log in.
Before you start you may wish to review your settings, in particular the emails that you will recieve from Storify. I find that I get rather a lot so have unchecked many of the options.
Now it’s time to create your first story. Click ‘Create Story’
Give your story a name and a description. In the example I am creating a story from our recent #TalkingSoc tweet chat.
Now you can search for content to add to your story.
Choose the network you want to search and add a search term. I’m searching Twitter for #TalkingSoc
You can choose to filter these results by not including RT’s or Links, you can also filter by location or language.
Initially Storify returns the first 20 results it finds but if you scroll to the bottom you can ask it to load more.
Now just drag and drop elements into the timeline.
Once you have added an element you can add text to it or delete it by hovering your curser over it and choosing the ‘x’ to delete or the ‘click to add text’.
I find it easier to bring the content in first and then go back and write my commentary.
Once you have added your Twitter mentions you can add elements from other social networks in the same manner. When you have finished you can move elements up and down by just dragging and dropping them.
When you have finished hit the ‘Publish’ button on the top tool bar.
You will be prompted to tweet the link including the Twitter usernames of some of the people you have included in the storify. You don’t have to do this but it is a good way to let those involved in a chat to view the full story.
I like this tool. It’s easy to distribute your story and to get others to share on social networks. You can also embed it on your own website.
I found it a really good way of curating our Twitter chat, It meant that I could put more structure on the chat and thread conversations together where they were otherwise separated.
It’s also a really great way to log those impromptu Twitter chats you might have and want to return to at a later stage.
Some good Storify examples
Here’s four that grabbed my attention from my newsfeed today:
How to find out if a SKY rep is actually working for SKY
Outlining an example of interesting customer service on Twitter
Ukraine: Tension in Crimea as Yanukovych defends “Russia’s role”
Storify is a great way to follow threads of news stories. As you can imagine the Ukraine is the biggest world story at the moment and there were plenty of Ukraine stories to choose from.
An interesting look at the work of Mel Brooks through a discussed on Twitter.
Travel the Globe with @NatGeo Adventurers
National Geographic adventurers get to travel the world, this collated conversation with some of them is worth a read even if you do just end up feeling jealous.
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