Storify Comes To The iPad
Storify (Free) by Storify is a social media app based on the popular website of the same name that lets you sit in the reporter seat. Instead of consuming stories, you can write and publish them with a few simple steps.
Upon opening the app for the first time, users will be asked to sign in to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Once the accounts have been authorized, the creation process can begin.
Users can select tweets from their own account, or search for general posts. For example, if you want to create a story about iPad news, type it into the Twitter search engine and see what comes up. Tap and drag tweets right onto the page and watch the story develop. In addition to quoted tweets, users can add Twitter images by dragging and dropping them.
On Facebook, users can only add images from their “Photos of You” album, which is really useless. Especially considering most people exchange news information through Facebook. From the developers’ own Facebook page they are working on a way to allow users to do more. But for now, that’s all you can do.
Don’t let the lack of Facebook stop the creative inspiration. From Instagram, users can upload their own personal pictures, their friends photos, or search from Instagram’s entire collection of images.
YouTube and Flickr don’t need account verification. Users can add images and videos from searches on both social media sites with no effort at all. Unfortunately, if you were hoping to create a photomontage from your own Flickr account, you may have trouble finding it through the app.
To round out the final draft, add stories from Internet sources for additional reading. Just type the key words into the search engine and see what comes up. One problem with the Web browser is that whenever you leave it, it forces you to restart the search.
Once the story is complete, publish it to Storify.com. After it is published, it can be sent to Facebook and Twitter and quoted tweeters can be notified of your creation.
This app needs a bit of polishing, but it is well designed and a decent first attempt. I’d like to see the option to access personal YouTube and Flickr accounts, and more Facebook features. Also, the browser should not revert back to the Google Search every time, but other than that, it is great. Download it for free in the App Store and start your own social reporting today.
