Have you ever sat in an interview, and have been asked the opener ““ “tell us something about yourself’?” I have, and I can say straight away that I fumbled the first few times. Very few of us are good storytellers. Even an impromptu story of our own life.

Given a piece of time and a piece of paper, we can stitch together a clear enough story in words. But give us a scrapbook and we can add much more to it. Pictures make storytelling a whole lot easier (and also more interesting).

Now, let’s take this entire argument and give it the platform of the World Wide Web. Given a choice between starting a text-only blog or a multimedia showcase, which one would be the easier pick? I think you would head towards multimedia.

If you want to bring in the coolness of multimedia to your story, take a look at Panraven.

Panraven is like a free online scrapbook that helps us tell our stories in pictures, videos, sound and of course, words. But you will also discover that Panraven is more than a digital scrapbook that helps with photo-stories.

With Panraven, The Story Begins With Rich Media

After you log in, this is the first screen you will see in your account. Bunch all of your media into Panraven with any of the options that’s provided for it. There’s Panraven’s own app and one made for Picasa. Or you can upload it from your HDD or directly from Flickr.

I chose Flickr and so my Flickr photostream opens up in Panraven’s media window for some organization and final editing. Before that the media has to be imported into Panraven. Panraven gives 1GB of storage space for your media needs.

With the editor, a range of touch-ups and special effects can be applied.

The media window is also the window to shared albums and public photos. Panraven encourages sharing with a dedicated Friends tab.

This is a powerful feature because you can collectively share in experiences like a trip taken or the recent birthday party. The circle of friends can pool in their content to create a really rich photo story, like a large and collaborative free online scrapbook.

Time For Story Telling

With the photos gathered up, it’s time to start weaving it all into a story.

You might reach a roadblock after a “˜Once upon a time in a distant land”¦’, but Panraven ensures you reach a happy ending with its step by step approach. Here’s how the big picture looks like”¦

Choosing a story type is about choosing the right look for your kind of story. Consider what your story is going to be all about and click on one of the many options that are provided. If undecided, you can opt for a Freeform style. Each story type also has many Styles that give you the final styling for your photo story. You can check them out in their thumbnail previews.

From this starting point, it’s now about choosing the content from your media sets that you want to put in the story. A quick feature is Autofill“¦use it to specify the number of images you want in each page.

The Story Editor is the first canvas for applying some creativity. Panraven provides all the tools arranged around your “˜storyboard’.

You can continue with some more personal touches like an audio background in the next stage (Online Options). An audio narration could be more helpful in taking the viewers through the photo story.

Story telling is about sharing it with an audience. The audience can be the readers of your blog, your social community, your circle of friends, and the Panraven community. The final stage addresses all this with the many social sharing options.

My first attempt at a Panraven photo story was an attempt at learning the ropes. The flair of creativity will take some more doing. But if you really want to check out the potential of Panraven as an artist’s canvas for appealing photo stories check out the cool public stories (like this one here). Some of them are literally like coffee table books.

Does The Panraven Story Have A Happy Ending?

There are many ways to share your life stories online with a photo album or free online scrapbook. Panraven is just one of the more eye catching ways. It makes the creative process a breeze with easy to configure templates and helpful instructions every step of the way.

The auto-fill feature that can fill up the pages with photos automatically is just the thing for newbies. You just have to pick the right media file and the sequence you want to show it in. Even before signing up, you can view the public stories and get the picture. Panraven also offers the photo stories as printed books at a cost.

As a free web application, would you let Panraven tell your story to everyone? Let us know”¦

Tagged: microblogging • photo albums • photo sharing • scrapbook • social media