It's been said that everyone has a story. But many people never tell them, and a great majority are never written down. StoryPress.com is a social network that intends to change that by making it easier for people to tell their stories in digital format. Users can upload pictures or videos, narrate, and then save them, thus preserving family histories, life stories, and digital photo albums for future generations and others to see. And if your computer crashes, your story will be safe.
At Thursday's RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City, Mike Davis, CEO of StoryPress.com, discussed the importance of not just telling our stories, but preserving them in a format that can't be lost or destroyed: storing them in cloud format (saving them on software or services that run on the internet). The internet is brimming with photos and videos that tell us the day's news, catch us up on the shows we've missed, and keep us connected with old friends. Davis states that by 2017, up to 70% of all internet traffic will be in video format. People prefer watching and listening over reading, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. Think of the stories that can unfold—and that otherwise might have remained untold. With StoryPress, which, like Facebook or Pinterest is completely free, you can upload family photos, add audio commentary or video, and save your stories in different “libraries” like boards on Pinterest. These stories can have chapters added to them, be revised or edited, and even be categorized by genre, for example, “first dates” or “childhood pets.” Users can invite family or friends to follow their libraries, and can also follow other people's libraries and storyboards.
In short, says Davis, StoryPress.com users can now easily create media-rich stories for their families, can link or embed stories with family trees (making it easier for relatives to share and keep family stories online together), and even choose the right software for them. We all have stories to tell. What do you think of the idea of telling your personal stories on a social network? Leave a comment below and let us know what you're thinking.
