Platform Description and User Guide

Introduction

This guide describes the structure of and use of the Star Bright Community Stories online platform. It is a collaborative project creating and supporting a social media platform for public benefit groups. It is inclusive of formal pro-social non-profit organizations, churches, businesses, and informal good-deed-doing groups and individuals. We work to encourage inter-group collaboration, to increase support for our member organizations, and promote active participation in our member groups.

Think of it as a Facebook for groups, where the focus is not merely on events or news updates, but on the human stories behind them. This initiative does not seek to rival or replace traditional event calendars or journalistic reporting; instead, it aims to enrich our understanding of the positive human elements shaping a community’s quality of life.

Overview

How It Works

The diagram below shows the flow of stories. Stories are placed on the Star Bright Community Stories platform. Subscribers to the stories platform are automatically notified of new stories through email or their prefered social media channel. The process is automatic. Writers and participating organizations need only post to one place.

Each story encourages reader engagement via like, dislike, and comments. Readers can also submit photographs and videos. The resulting statistics are available to participating organizations and authors.

Why Stories

Building Community Through Stories draws inspiration from a 60,000-year-old tradition, where our ancestors gathered around campfires to share stories. Star Bright Community Stories employs various storytelling formats. These stories may take the conventional text form, be enriched with multimedia elements such as photos, videos, and infographics, or be presented in engaging podcast formats for consumption during commutes.


In essence, Star Bright Community Stories aspires to be a digital campfire, bringing people together to share, learn, and celebrate the positive contributions shaping our communities.
Join us in this journey of storytelling, collaboration, and community building.

Our Vision

To support the building of a better world on the foundation of strong communities and to demonstrate we are meant for more.

We are deliberately vague about what constitutes a better world and what we are meant for. We are here to tell the stories of those who are building a better and who are showing us what we are, perhaps, meant to be. We are not here to tell them these things.

Our Mission

To increase support for and participation in community public benefit activities.

Our Strategy

  1. Tell short, behind the scenes, human interest stories. (See a list of more story types below.)
  2. Tell the stories that highlight the benefit of participating in and supporting our communities.
  3. Help draw people into the life of the many communities that surround us. (See detail below on reader engagement.)

Story Types

This Week’s Top 10 Stories: A list of the ten most read stories.
The Community Spotlight: A story about an individual from the community selected for their community envolvement. These are persons selected by our readership or editorial staff.
Success Stories: Narratives highlighting the positive impact of a social benefit organization’s initiatives. These stories showcase real-life examples of positive change and success.
Founder’s Journey: A story that explores the motivations, challenges, and personal journey of the individual or group that founded the social benefit organization.
Beneficiary Stories: Narratives that share the experiences and transformation of individuals or communities positively affected by the organization’s programs and services.
Collaboration Stories: Stories that highlight successful partnerships and collaborations between social benefit organizations, businesses, governments, and communities to address social issues.
Innovation Stories: Stories that highlight successful partnerships and collaborations between social benefit organizations, businesses, governments, and communities to address social issues.
Advocacy Stories: Stories that focus on advocacy efforts by social benefit organizations to bring attention to specific social issues, drive policy change, or promote awareness.
Volunteer Experiences: Personal accounts from volunteers who have contributed their time and skills to support the organization’s mission.
Community Engagement Stories: Narratives that highlight community involvement and empowerment facilitated by social benefit organizations.
Impact Reports: Comprehensive stories detailing the quantitative and qualitative impact of the organization’s programs and interventions.
Crisis Response Stories: Narratives that showcase how social benefit organizations respond to and address crises or emergencies, providing aid and support to affected communities.
Education and Awareness stories: Stories focused on educating the public about specific social issues and creating awareness to drive positive change.
Sustainability Stories: Narratives that emphasize sustainable practices and long-term strategies implemented by social benefit organizations to address social and environmental challenges.
Personal Transformation Stories: Stories that explore how individuals involved with the organization, whether staff, volunteers, or beneficiaries, undergo personal growth and transformation.
Challenges and Solutions: Narratives that transparently discuss the challenges faced by socal benefit organizations and the creative solutions empoyed to overcome them.
Global Impact Stories: Stories that illustrate the global reach and impact of social benefit organizations working on international issues.
Human Interest Stories: A default type of story for anything that does not fall into the above list.

Reader Engagement

To be written

Accessing the Stories

To be written

Submitting Stories

To be written