What happened to Storify?

The next time you open Storify, you are in for a shock. The popular social media storytelling platform founded by Burt Herman has a brand new look, and I mean, a brand new look. You will still be able to tell your stories in the same manner, but now when you go to the Storify main page you will see snippets of Storify stories instead of the story. In other words, one of the tweets you put in your Storify will be on the cover instead of the Storify itself. To get to the Storify story, a user now needs to click on the arrow in the upper righthand corner. This flips the image of the tweet and reveals the link to the entire Storify.

The new format is also likely to prompt users to use the search function more because this morning, the only Storify stories featured on the front page are several versions of the Storify about the resignation of the Elmo puppeteer, and a handful about the unrest in the Middle East.  The search results will be based on how popular the stories are on Storify.

There are also changes to your profile page. You will find a panoramic shot which looks alot like the format on Facebook timelines. Mine defaulted to a skyline photo of San Francisco.

Here’s a blog post describing the changes which includes an interview with Burt Herman.

Do I like the changes? I will give it points for looking clean and crisp, however, I do not like the lack of variety on the front page. Today,  it highlights just two topics, when in the past, it provided 3-4 topics. Therefore, it limits the chances that your Storify will be featured on the cover at any one time. That being said, if you happened to hit the featured topics of the moment, you have a better chance of getting on the cover. Also, my guess is that Storify will switch out the cover more often than it has in the past.I would like to see Storify add more topics on the cover.  Finally, I find the cover busy and static at the same time. There are many Tweets featured on the cover, but then again, they are just Tweets, and so many of them look alike.

An improved search function is likely to be a good thing.

Bottom line: Give me a week or two to play with it. I have been a fan of Storify from its start because it provides a way to get many voices into a story which might not otherwise be heard.  Thankfully, that has not changed.   Meanwhile, let me know how you like the redesign.