When the internet — and website, video-sharing and social media platforms — made it easy to publish stories online, stories became the preferred communication format by almost every audience.

The resulting Storytelling Boom

Personal storytelling is a communications strategy where an organization tells stories about a person’s life — whether a member of the organization or a recipient of its activities — to the benefit of the organization. Stories can be told by the subject (first-person) or by a spokesperson of the organization (third-person).

Storytelling boomed when the media landscape changed. Previously, it was difficult to publish or distribute stories at scale — but digital media and Web 2.0 changed that. Initially, the press began asking for more personal stories to complement news coverage — competing for attention in the digital media landscape — until personal stories became the norm in all communications about an organization.