Micro-Media & The Future of Narrative

Micro-media platforms are now dominating the way we connect with people in our social networks. These are the media of text messaging, status updating, and micro-blogging that reduce the richness and complexity of life to sound bites.

Central to the conversation about the future of narrative is the question about the impact of micro-media on our capacity for telling and listening to our stories. In the realms of linguistics and cultural anthropology, sound bites are the opposites of stories.

Storytelling is the practice of informational generosity, giving us meaningful insights into characters, understanding of contexts, and appreciation for how things unfold and come to be. Sound bites are stingy tools, depriving us of the richness of stories and giving us only crumbs from of an otherwise lavish meal.

This being so, the logical conclusion on micro-media is that it will be the bane of storytelling and the sustainability of a narrative culture.

In practice, micro-media is demonstrating two observable trends. People who tend to be stingy communicators anyway, are using it in the way they naturally express themselves—in sound bites.

At the same time, people who flourish in a narrative culture are using the same sound bites as conversational hyperlinks to accessing all kinds of stories they would never have heard without micro-media. People see a message or posting from someone in the morning and later that day, or the next, they run into the sender. This offers an instant opportunity to inquire into the whole narrative and back story, something they'd not have been able to access without micro-media. The haiku brevity of micro-media can do as much to spark a revolution or fan the flames of inspiration as anything of greater bandwidth or volume. Micro-media services are already figural players in the instigation of business resurgences and new collaboration opportunities among people who thrive daily in the micro-media spaces.

As the hyperlink has become a profound metaphor in hyper-connected times, micro-media tools can become both serendipitous containers of hyperlinks and rich hyperlinking invitations through which we tell our stories.

Here are 5 easy things to do to increase the power of your stories and leverage the possibilities of your connections.

1. Build your narrative portfolio

Start creating a collection of your stories, building a portfolio of stories that have the power to amuse others, endear them to you, and engage them in topics you’re most passionate about.

2. Turn experiences into stories

The only stories you have are the ones you intentionally create. Start a journal where you take your life experiences and craft them into the structure of stories.

3. Lengthen your stories

Use details, companion stories and vignettes to make any of your stories longer. Make sure whatever you add increases the delight of anticipation inherent in the fabric of the story.

4. Change your sharability footprints

Recraft some stories in ways that allow you to tell them to more people; decide which stories you want to stop telling and retelling because they don’t add value to your connections with others.

5. Tell every story better

When listening to stories, ask any questions that will glean more details and insights so that you can tell the story better than you heard it.

Jack Ricchiuto is a writer and mentor engaging people in the kinds of conversations that have the power to create change. His clients are leaders, organizations, and communities seeking new approaches to leadership, strategic planning, project management, and engaging people in collaborations based on their strengths and passions. For 30 years, Jack's work with groups spans 24 industries and as many urban, rural, and virtual communities. Jack continues teaching and curriculum design with undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctorate programs in colleges and universities including Kent State and Vanderbilt Universities. He has been a leadership mentor to post-doc scientists at UC Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, and Tufts Universities. Jack's books include Collaborative Creativity (1997), Accidental Conversations (2002), Project Zen (2003), Appreciative Leadership (2005), Mountain Paths (2006), Conscious Becoming (2007), and Instructions from the Cook / Recipes for New Conversations (2008). In 2009 he will release "The Stories that Connect Us." Jack’s undergraduate degree is from John Carroll University (1974) and graduate degree from Goddard College, Vermont (1980). He continues teaching and curriculum design with undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctorate programs in colleges and universities including Kent State and Vanderbilt Universities.

Welcome to Social Media

An Educational Project of the
Cleveland Social Media Club

Welcome to Social Media, Volume 1

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