Unfold …

…is an iOS (and Android) app that allows the user to create stories. I became aware of it a few weeks ago as I was looking for ways to promote this very blog. 

Features

Simply put, this app provides you the opportunity to…

1. Create stories

2. Edit photos and videos within the stories you create

3. Choose from a variety of text tools and fonts

4. Export the stories you create to other platforms

This last feature is what caught my attention initially so I thought I’d download it and give it a try. It’s a free app with “in app purchases.” At this time I am only using the free version to create micro-stories, one page announcements if you will that I can post onto Instagram to promote my blog. The first day I downloaded the app I created a “teaser” micro-story. It was simple. Here’s what it looked like…

In Practice

I posted the micro-story in my “My Story” on Instagram to let followers know that I was playing around with a new app. I thought it would be interesting to see how many people saw the “teaser” story. It got 13 views in about 8 hours. That’s not a lot of views and I’m wondering if the effort it takes to create these micro-stories is worth the time. Granted…it’s not a huge investment in time. I played around with some of the free features (background color and a change in font color) and later that week, on the day I send my “teaser” tweet to Twitter promoting my next blog post I sent this “teaser” micro-story (including a screen shot of the blog post title) to Instagram…

I wanted to track how many people viewed this between posting the “teaser” and my blog post going live. That number was 16. A few more views than the first micro-story I shared above. Would the people that follow me on Instagram read my blog without these “mini-ads” I’m sharing?

Moving forward

Unfold is an app that I think I will, for now, continue to use for the targeted purpose of helping me promote future posts on my blog via Instagram Stories.