Tokoni Takes Storytelling in New Direction - Getting Involved
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Before I forget to mention it, in addition to the various categories and links to recent items, you can find stories by putting a keyword into the search box. That's how I found stories from fellow diabetics, and even learned a few things I didn't know before. Also, as with other communities, users can give other members “tokens” if they like a particular story, or rate stories. As distinct from rating a story, tokens come in several different types (“Been there,” “Good to know,” “Thanks for sharing,” etc.) and are a way of letting the writers know that their stories are appreciated.
Joining is simple; all they want is a username, password and e-mail address. You also have to pass a captcha and read the terms of use. Here's a nice point: you retain all of your ownership rights in your user submissions; Tokoni gets a “worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicenseable, and transferable license” to your content.
After you join, a fourth link appears across the top of the page: my tokoni. Clicking that link took me to an empty profile page, which looked something like this:
Okay, again, I apologize for the lack of clarity. On the left, you can see one of the stock pictures the site provides; you can upload your own user pics. Below that there's an “About Me” section, with nothing in it (yet). Under that, under “My Tokoni,” I could update my profile, update my account, set my email notifications, email fans (if I had any) or create a hub. The three rows of tabs to the right concern stories, collections, and fans.
I figured I'd start by filling in some information on my profile, and then perhaps draft my first story. I also changed my stock photo and modified some settings. The filters on the site, when you search for content, can be set to high, medium, or low, and you can choose to permit viewing of adult content. (Users can flag content as adult; it's the kind of self-policing system I've seen on other sites, and it seems to work). Finally, I set my email notifications; again, as I've seen other places, you can be notified for a variety of events, and you can receive notifications instantly, in a daily digest, or in a weekly digest.
So how do you add a story? Well, once you're signed in, you see a bright orange link on the upper right hand side that says “add a story.” Clicking that link takes you to a pretty basic-looking editor; anyone familiar with a word processor or content management system will be right at home. Below the text box, there's a selection of stock photos you can use to highlight your story, or you can upload an image of your own.
Below the text box, you choose your story's category, genre, keywords (for that there is a small text box, unlike the other two, which offer checklists), tell where the story happened, and hit a checkbox to note whether it has adult content. You can then add the story, save it as a draft, or cancel.
And after telling my story and taking care of all the details, it showed up on Tokoni's home page:
Next: Monetizing Tokoni's Content >>
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