Now that you’ve created your community, you’ll want members to join so that they can share their interviews with the community! There are different ways to go about this, depending on how your community is set up and your plans for your community. In this article you’ll find instructions and suggestions for inviting members to join your community for each of these situations:
- If you are sending invitations by email
- If you’ve found an interview already in the archive you’d like to invite to your community.
- If you have a community code (advanced feature)
Important note: Unless you have paid for advanced features, individuals can only join your community via the web at archive.storycorps.org. They cannot join your community through the StoryCorps App. However, once they have joined, they’ll have access to interviews shared with your community through both the app and archive.storycorps.org.
If you are sending invitations by email
Anyone who goes to your community page that is not yet a member will see a button that says “Join Community.” (This is in the same place where the owner will see the “Edit” button.)
You can invite people to join your community simply by sharing the URL of your community page, which you will see in your browser’s address bar when viewing your community.
Here is sample text for inviting new community members:
“[Name of Group] has established a community on archive.storycorps.org to help our members share stories. You’ve been invited to join the [Name of Community Page] community on archive.storycorps.org. Please follow this link to create a StoryCorps Archive account and join our community. Next, download the StoryCorps App to record and share your story with us.”
Pro Tip: If you are inviting individuals who do not already have accounts on archive.storycorps.org, you can add “/register” to the end of your community’s web address to take them to a page where they can create an archive.storycorps.org account and join your community at the same time!
If you’ve found an interview already in the archive that you’d like to invite to your community
While archive.storycorps.org does not give you the ability to message other users, you can send an invitation to the owner of any interview you find in the archive that you’d like to invite to join your community.
- First, log in to the account that owns the community on archive.storycorps.org.
- Then, navigate to the interview for the user you’d like to invite.
- When viewing the community, you’ll notice a gray button that says “Invite to Community” on the right-hand side of the description.
- When you click this button, it will display all the communities you own. Select the community you would like to invite them to.
- This will send an email to the user who owns the interview. If they accept your invitation, that user will become a member of your community and their interview will appear on your community’s page.
If you have a community code (advanced feature)
Advanced features are a paid option for your community. One of the features available is a community code. This code allows users to join a community directly from the StoryCorps App without logging into their account from the web.
When contacting individuals to invite them to join your community, you simply need to tell them to download the StoryCorps App and enter your community code when they create an account. If they already have an account, they can still use your community code to join. Instructions for users on how to join using a community code are in this article.
Here is some sample text for inviting new community members using a community code:
“[Name of Group] has created a community on the StoryCorps App to help our members share their stories. You’ve been invited to join the [Name of Community Page] community on the StoryCorps Archive. Download the StoryCorps App through the App Store of Google Play to record and share your stories with our community. Use the community code: [Your Community Code] when you recreate your account to join [Name of Community Page]."