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Video Clip of the Month: Fast & Easy Story Curation

May 1, 2011 by

UPDATE: About 45 minutes after posting this article, I (like a million other people around the world) learned via Twitter that Osama bin Laden had been killed. That was about 45 minutes ahead of President Obama’s official announcement. Compare The New York Times’ writeup on how the news leaked out with Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Storify version to get a feel for the curation tool’s ability to provide context in an entertaining way and help readers make sense out of a social media information flood.

My May 2011 video clip of the month is a demo of Storify, a new online tool to turn what people post on social media into compelling stories. With Storify, you drag and drop the best content from Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites to make a single, dynamic narrative that you can embed almost anywhere.

Storify, which opened to the public this week after months of limited availability during a private beta period, solves a problem facing all social media users today. Information overload? No. In the words of technologist Clay Shirkey: “There is no such thing as information overload, there’s only filter failure.” Storify is filter success.

The tool is ideal for live-blogging during significant events to help your readers make sense out of the avalanche of information. Here are some examples of Storify in action:

For now, Storify remains a free service, but its founders are considering charging for advertising and the use of the site by brands. Levi’s and Samsung, for example, have already used it for marketing campaigns.

You can check out Storify in the video below. If you’re still wanting more, view this 20-minute interview of its founders, the runner up for video clip of the month.

What do you think about Storify? Is it a friend of journalism? Or does it pose a threat? Share your thoughts in the comments section.



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About Monica

Monica specializes in strategic communications, web and new media, and print materials with an international or multi-cultural context. She has worked on national public outreach campaigns targeting multi-cultural audiences and has conceptualized, written, and/or designed multiple websites. Monica also has written, edited, and/or designed high-profile newsletters, brochures, and reports, including some prepared in collaboration with the White House. She holds a bachelor’s in journalism and a master of international service with a focus on international communication. Monica is based in Washington, D.C.

Comments

  1. Monica says:
    May 2, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    Check out this TechCrunch article about a Pakistani IT consultant who unwittingly live-tweeted the raidon bin Laden’s compound. He tweeted about helicopters overhead, a big bang and gunfire. Along with Keith Urbahn’s leak, this incident shows controlling the news in the Web 2.0 world is impossible. Eyewitnesses using social media will most certainly break news first.

  2. Stew says:
    May 16, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    That’s the best asnewr for story curation of all time!