Deeper Dive - The Changing Characteristics of Story - June 28, 2022

How are we telling our stories now? How will we in the future?

Tell Me a Story….

There have been a lot of thoughts rattling around in my head the last few days as I think about the future of our nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and how these industries will inevitably change in the future. Perhaps nothing better illustrates these changes than the fundamental shift that is going on in one of the tried and trued methods of getting attention….the story.

Go to any conference or seminar in our line of work and we are constantly and consistently told about the power of stories. The emotional connection we can create between a potential donor and our organizations can help open up new bonds where funds and a feeling of joy are reciprocated between two parties. Yet, story telling (or at least attention getting) is going through a tremendous change.

The traditional story arc is something we all learned in high school English or Literature class. There is the introduction, the rising action, the climax, the resolution. And that was a formula that seemed to work.

Or Just Get My Attention…

The idea of the story arc comes at a time when my own son is trying something new. A few weeks ago, my son wanted to start his own YouTube channel. Instead of just opening up that pandora’s box, my wife and I asked him what he wanted to do with it. He said he wanted to make videos about his Lego Storm Troopers and teach folks how to put them together.

In my mind, it seemed quite silly to be honest. Who in the world would want to see a video of a teenage kid play with Lego figures? Together, my wife and I gave our son the green light. As long as few safety rules were put in place, we believed that there was no harm in him showing the world how to play with Legos.

Well, about a month in and a dozen videos later, my son’s channel is actually growing. 25,000 views. 300 plus subscribers. Dozens of comments. All of this from videos that last no more than six minutes and have no story. It’s just a set of hands playing with legos. Don’t believe me? Just check it out for yourself.

Perhaps what makes my son’s videos so potent is that they are checking a lot of the boxes of good youtube video production. Short intro, straight forward material, simple steps all put into a simple five minute package. No overproduction, no discussion on why we want up UPGRADE the 501st clone trooper, heck, we don’t even know if the 501st clone trooper is a good guy or a bad guy (I am thinking they are bad).

Enter Parasitic Storytelling….

I am not the only one to be thinking about these things. I recently came across an interesting article on medium by Dasha Borysov. This piece linked here talks about a new type of storytelling, something that gets right to the point in a short period of time. It’s called Parasitic Storytelling.

That might sound like a strange name but Borysov does a great job explaining the term:

Consider YouTube, the leading video Superplatform’s storytelling best practices: “The emerging story arc starts fast, keeps up the pace, and delivers messaging with unexpected surprises until you fade out — no more build up, climax, and pay off. Go fast!” Rather than cultivate an emotionally meaningful connection, it tells us to hit the audience with the best up front and continue to bombard them at a fast pace until they ‘fade out’. This, at its core, is a parasitic approach to storytelling, because it encourages the storyteller to exploit its host and cause a change in their behaviour in order to enable its transmission, which often affects the host’s decision-making abilities altogether.

Over time, this encourages us to adopt an always-on, continuous partial attention (CPA) mindset, where we exist in a constant state of alertness that scans the world but never really gives our full attention to anything. It’s been suggested that this may be harmful to our long-term mental health, because the constant, frontloaded story ‘hits’ increase our stress hormone production (adrenaline and cortisol), which knocks out our feel-good neurotransmitters cortisol and dopamine, provoking a sense of addiction in us that can only be reined in temporality by checking our notifications.

How we understand the world is changing

All of this to say that the way we see the world is changing. As nonprofit and philanthropy professionals, we are just another voice in a cacophony of sound trying to get a donor’s attention. It can very well be true, that we just don’t have the luxury to try to develop a deep relationship with a donor and take them on the traditional story arc.

My biggest fear is that if we go down the parasitic storytelling path, we open ourselves up for emotional manipulation. In the parasitic storytelling world, there is no time to tune out. We have already been emotionally burdened with the problem. We have little time to think about the consequences. We need to make decisions now! Give! Volunteer! Advocate!

A Return to Responsible Storytelling and Ethical Fundraising?

What does all this mean? Well, I am not sure. Maybe we are in a world that is priming itself for a new storytelling model that isn’t built on a trusting relationship between a story-teller and story-listener. Maybe we are entering a world where stories and calls to action are quick, certain and direct. Perhaps with the new technologies we have, there is no going back. I think we all inherently know that if the latest parasitic story doesn’t captivate our attention, the next one will. These are the dangers living in a scroll-down, swipe-right world.

Maybe we need to take a more measured approach. Faced with the possibility of losing a donor, but gaining a relationship, maybe we need to start focusing on building relationships. Granted, it may not allow us to achieve our short-term goals, but long-term, I feel confident that a strong relationship can help both parties prosper.

Good fundraisers don’t put donors in uncomfortable positions and we certainly don’t try to use emotional manipulation to try to get a quick donation from an open, but still unsure donor. The stories we tell our donors, and ourselves, should be open, honest and clear free of all types of manipulation.

I have had my say, what is yours? Let me know what you think about this idea in the comment section!

Also, please feel free to share this with friends and colleagues. At the very least, “hit that heart” below! It would be much appreciated!

Stay Well,

Bill