This document provides an overview of how to use Storify, a social media curation tool. It explains that Storify allows users to tell stories by sorting through social media posts and embedding them in a timeline. The document then outlines the steps to create an account, search for relevant content on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, organize posts chronologically or by topic with connecting text, notify users if their posts are included, and share the finalized Storify story. Key recommendations include checking for an active conversation on Twitter first before starting a Storify and organizing posts into a cohesive narrative.

1. How to use Storify
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2. Agenda
• What is Storify?
• Why should we use Storify?
• When should we use Storify?
• How to use Storify
• Storify takeaways
• Conclusion
• Questions? Comments?
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3. What is Storify?
Storify is a web-based tool created by journalists for
social media curation. It is a website that helps you
tell stories in a timeline/narrative format by sorting
through and choosing posts from social media,
such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
• You decide what in the flood of information matters.
• Storify can be the story but more often we will use it
either as a placeholder until we can get the news and/or
to enhance a story by embedding it within our article on
our website.
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4. What is Storify?
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5. What is Storify?
STORIFY EXAMPLE: http://storify.com/KO_Reporter/kayla-harrison-wins-judo-gold
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6. What is Storify?
“We did not intend for people to just throw together
social media and create a scrap pile of tweets. The
name is ‘Storify’ because it’s about making stories.
It’s about changing how journalism works to
acknowledge the fact that everyone on the ground
is potentially your eyewitness, and it’s about
empowering journalists to draw from that source
material.”
-- Burt Herman, Storify CEO and co-founder
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7. Why should we use Storify?
• Storify can add new angles to a story you may not
otherwise have; it can show emotion connected to an
issue in a way an objective journalist can’t always convey.
• It has been proven in the field to be easy to use, to
enhance our coverage and to spread virally on social
media, which exposes us to new readers.
• It puts us on many of our readers’ turf. It shows we’re
playing on the same playground (Twitter, Facebook, etc).
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8. Why should we use Storify?
• In a sea of social media posts, you help the reader sort
through it all and highlight the information that adds value
to their experience.
• We can’t be everywhere all the time. Let the eyes and
ears of our readers help tell a story, especially when we
can’t, and in their own words.
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9. When should we use Storify?
Top national stories
Pop culture
Weather
Big local issues
(…but check Twitter first.
You can’t Storify if social
media isn’t talking about
it.)
SAMPLE:
http://storify.com/WickedLocal/hurricane-sandy-
blows-throw-metrowest
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10. When should we use Storify?
SAMPLE STORIES:
• Local judo Olympian wins gold
• Constant helicopter activity
alarms residents
• Local boxer to fight at Gillette
Stadium
• Bears in two areas of state
• Python found in yard
• Flags banned at condo, people
outraged
• Election turnout
• Hurricane Sandy damage
• Blizzard Nemo damage
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11. How to use Storify
1. Create an account
Use a paperwide username
and email address.
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12. How to use Storify
2. You may want to poke around Twitter first to see if
there even IS a conversation going on around a topic.
3. Log in to
Storify.
4. “Create
Story.”
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13. How to use Storify
The left side of the screen is your timeline. The right side is
where you find material.
headline
intro graph
5) On the left: write a headline in the first
box. Write an intro in the second box. You
could include the URL to your site’s story or
the homepage at the end of your intro. (for
those visiting from Storify)
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14. How to use Storify
6) On the right hand side, work your way through
the various social media sites.
• Plug in a keyword. Hit return.
• Drag the posts you want to your timeline.
• Save occasionally.
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15. How to use Storify: Finding content
Twitter: This usually yields the most content. There are sub-options
such as “User,” which is where you can find a Twitter account by user
name. Find local items by plugging your town, state into Near… and
choose a radius.
Facebook: You can intersperse the Facebook posts with the
Twitter posts or drag them all at the end of the timeline and
rearrange the order later as you decide how to present things.
YouTube: Take the time to watch the video. You can drag
it to the timeline, watch it and delete it if you decide it’s
inappropriate.
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16. How to use Storify: Finding content
Flickr: This is where you can find photos to break up text if you didn’t
already get some out of Twitter and Facebook. You can only see
captions after you’ve dragged on to the timeline and even then they
aren’t always that informative. Just delete the photo after if you
decide not to use it.
Instagram: Search by hashtag. This doesn’t typically yield a ton, but
folks tend to tweet their Instagram posts, so you may find the photos
over in the Twitter search.
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17. How to use Storify: Finding content
Google: This searches Google for websites. You may want to use
whatever the official site is for whatever your topic is. Or a link to your
homepage.
Embed URLs: This is intended for when you have an embed code
(such as from polls or maps). You can also use it to post a staff photo
from your site (right click on photo, “copy image location”, paste in
this embed URL spot). Play around with it.
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18. How to use Storify: Finding content
Think of all those elements you just gathered like you would
quotes in your notebook.
Now how should you string them together?
What story do these elements tell?
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19. How to use Storify
7. Organize the elements in a way that makes sense to a
reader from top to bottom.
Chronological?
By topic?
Weaving thoughts together?
As you’re gathering the posts, it will start to make sense how
you should present them.
To move posts around, just click on one in your timeline and
drag and drop it to where you want it to be.
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20. How to use Storify
8. You should add text between posts or chunks of posts to tie
everything together. As is the case with all social media, don’t
be afraid to have a lighter voice (if the topic calls for it).
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21. How to use Storify
To add text, simply
hover between posts
and a box pops up
asking you to “Click to
add text.”
Type your text.
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22. How to use Storify: Notify
9. When the timeline looks the way you want it to, click Save
one last time. Click Publish.
The first time you click this, a box
pops up to “Notify.”
Storify automatically lists the
people you included in your
timeline and lets you notify them
that they’ve been “quoted.”
This is a good practice, especially
for Twitter, because they often re-tweet
that notification which links
your Storify and exposes people
to your site if you included posts
in your timeline.
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23. How to use Storify: Share
10. After notifying Twitter accounts that have been “quoted,” you
can view your published Storify. The next thing you need to do
is to “share” your Storify story.
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Click “Share”
to post to
social media.

24. How to use Storify: Share
A box will pop up with your sharing options. To share your story
on Twitter, click the Twitter button, and so on.
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25. How to use Storify
11. The next page is pretty useful. It’s where you get the embed
code, a URL link and later where you get stats.
You will find the URL at the top of the page, in the browser
window.
You can also click on Edit to make changes.
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26. How to use Storify
CLICK TO GET
EMBED CODE
COPY FOR URL
SHOW TOTAL
VIEWS
FYI-Stats listed in Storify usually don’t align with the
article’s Google Analytics. They’re fun to track anyway!
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27. How to use Storify: Add to Saxo article
1. Copy the embed code out of Storify.
2. In Lite Editor, click on the HTML button.
Click “HTML”
button to open
pop-up editor.
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28. How to use Storify: Add to Saxo article
3. Paste the code at
the end of the
article text.
3. Click update at
the bottom left of
the pop-up box.
4. Post story as
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usual.

29. Storify takeaways
1. Check Twitter first! You can’t Storify without buzz.
2. Be proactive – ask your Twitter followers to comment on a
topic. Give them a #hashtag to use so you can find their
Tweets (by plugging into the Search section). Tell them the
best ones will be included in a Storify.
3. Notify people that you “quoted” them. It’s gratifying for those
you had invited to know their post was used, and it alerts
others of your existence. Then they re-tweet!
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30. Storify takeaways
4. Don’t have a scrap pile of Tweets. Organize them like you
would a story, adding text among the posts to move the
narrative along. At the very least, consider headers or
section labels.
5. Try to build the Storify soon after the event – that’s when
you’ll easily find “original” posts and when the conversation
will be hot. But if you poke around and don’t see a lot of
buzz, check again later. Sometimes it takes a bit for people
to react.
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31. Questions? Comments? Ideas?
Carlene Cox
Director of Newsroom Development
ccox@gatehousemedia.com
(630) 310-9567
@Cox4GHM
Nicole Simmons
Regional digital editor, GH- New England
nsimmons@wickedlocal.com
(508) 626-3923
@Digital_Nicole
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32. Social Media Curation
Tools
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