The Journey Continues

Over the past two and a half years, we’ve learned a lot. Personally, as the founder of Share More Stories, the experience has been extraordinary. Building this platform for you has been one of the greatest endeavors of my life, and I’m extremely grateful to you – our contributors and readers – for the opportunity.

Thanks to everything you’ve taught us, we’ve realized a few things – about what Share More Stories is really all about, how we create value, and what we need to do to grow. This is the story of how we learned from you and how we’ve evolved based on the insights we’ve gleaned from you.

In short, we’re focusing on helping people connect with brands and organizations through shared stories. More specifically, we’re working with brands and organizations to help them learn from people through personal narratives, to understand how they fit into the lives of consumers, employees and people in the communities they serve. Once they understand how they fit and what people expect of them, we believe they can “show up” more authentically, foster more meaningful relationships, and ultimately create more value for people like you.

So, what’s next and what does it mean for you, our user?

1. It means Share More Stories is still a place for you to share your personal stories. Our vision is a world of no more untold stories, and that hasn’t changed. You are the heart and soul of Share More Stories, and your experience – your sense of security, privacy, comfort, connection and support – are incredibly important to us. You are our brand community, and we will never stop working to improve your experience and honor the time you spend with us. And while we’re going to focus more on personal narratives instead of fiction, our platform will always be open to anyone who has a story to tell – as long as it meets our terms of use.
2. It means we’ll have more opportunities for you to share your story and get it out into the world. When we partner with brands and organizations like we have with Compass Group USA in our Food For Thought branded community, it’s an opportunity for you to connect with companies and organizations in a new way, on your terms, through your stories. And when you share with them, we help them share your story with others in their audience by promoting it across platforms. This can help you connect with more people and grow your own audience as well.
3. It means you’re staying in control. Of course, you can decide to share your story in any relevant branded community on Share More Stories. But if you just want to share your story with the broader Share More Stories community then rest assured, it will never be published in a branded community unless you say so. As long as it aligns with our terms of use, it will always be up to you where, when and how you share your story.
4. It means more stories from and about real, honest people just like you who have experiences and want to share them with others. When brands and organizations sponsor communities on our site, they’re inviting people with common interests and values to share their stories with them. So it’s always real. It’s always honest. Just like you.
5. Finally, it means we’ll be making changes on the site to reflect this new focus. We believe these changes will ultimately improve your experience – and they will also make it easier for our new brand partners to use Share More Stories to connect with and learn from people like you, through the stories you share with them. As always, we’re counting on you to help us figure it out, to tell us what works and what doesn’t, and let us know what you love and what you don’t.

So, that’s what’s next, and that’s what it means for you. Hopefully you’re as excited about the next phase of our journey as we are. If so, tell us what you think by commenting here or dropping us a note. We can’t wait to hear from you – and keep learning from you.