Transmedia Storytelling and Lessons for Business Performance

Organization: Emma Approved /Pemberly Digital

References: Emma Approved on: Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, Facebook, Website

Emma Approved – at first glance, “Emma Approved” is a lifestyle coach and matchmaker.

Look again, and it’s a transmedia adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.

Transmedia storytelling “represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.”

Emma Approved is told primarily on Youtube, through a vlog which mimics the personal vlogs of real people. Characters from Emma Approved also have accounts on Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, where they reference events of the Youtube show in real time, and interact with each other and fans. The experience is immersive and diverse, which each element of social media engagement adding a new element to the story.

Transmedia storytelling is an element of the future of social media, because social media opens opportunities for fans to be much more deeply engaged in stories, sometimes as participants in the stories themselves. Storytellers are also still learning and exploring how to fully leverage social media to create these stories which push the boundaries of storytelling and what is possible with these tools continues to evolve as the tools themselves evolve.

Lessons for others

There are obvious lessons for content publishers, but there are also lessons for businesses as well.

Submitted By: Michelle Maw

To contact the author of this entry: @MichelleAMaw

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance