StoryFire

Last updated
StoryFire
Storyfire logo.svg
Type of site
 Video hosting service, social networking service
Available inEnglish
FoundedJuly 10, 2017
Headquarters Los Angeles, California,
United States
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s) Brian Spitz, Jesse Ridgway
Industry Internet, online video platform
URL StoryFire.com
Registration
Users 780,351 (2021)
LaunchedJuly 10, 2017;3 years ago (2017-07-10)
Current statusActive
Content license
Uploader holds copyright (standard license)

StoryFire is an American video-sharing and storytelling service founded in 2017 by Brian Spitz and Jesse Ridgway.

Contents

StoryFire allows content creators to upload and share videos and written stories. Unlike YouTube, uploads are curated and the site imposes slightly more quality control. [1] The platform aims to compete with YouTube and Twitter. [2]

History

Prior to co-founding the company, Ridgway (known on YouTube as McJuggerNuggets) was a content creator on the site, who created his YouTube channel in 2006. He gained notoriety for the Psycho Series, a four-year-long series of videos documenting a fictional, dysfunctional version of his family. According to Ridgway, StoryFire was prompted by dissatisfaction with YouTube's "corporate interests". [1]

Brian Spitz, born in San Francisco prior to being the alleged majority stake owner of the StoryFire business, and founder, was a director and actor, having credited roles for motion pictures such as: “The Rocket (2008), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), Psycho Family (2017)”. Spitz had been appearing in co-founder Jesse Ridgway's YouTube videos since April 2016. [3]

In November 2016, Brian Spitz allegedly sent Jesse Ridgway an email, introducing the scheme of StoryFire. They concluded to, Ridgway being the lead financier and Spitz being the lead software engineer. StoryFire was publicly announced by Ridgway himself on April 10, 2017 through his personal Twitter profile, and launched on July 10, of that year. [ citation needed ] [4]

On January 24, 2021, Ridgway announced on Twitter that the platform would be shutting down on February 1, 2021. [5] He cited a lack of funding and lack of support as reasons for his decision to shut the platform down. In a related YouTube video uploaded to his primary channel the same day, Ridgway claimed that despite putting millions of dollars of his own money into StoryFire, Spitz never gave up a fair value of equity in return. He also alleged that Spitz had siphoned funds intended for StoryFire and used them for himself without Ridgway's knowledge, which created an irreparable rift between them.[ citation needed ] [4]

On StoryFire's initial shutdown date, Ridgeway announced that the platform would continue due to him allegedly putting in enough of his own money to last for another year. However, with Ridgway’s past of portraying scripted videos as real, many of his fans believe that StoryFire was never in danger of shutting down, rather that the videos were either a publicity stunt for the platform and/or another one of his narratives. Ridgway also deleted the shutdown announcement video shortly after. He later addressed aforementioned concerns on February 5, 2021. Fans still continue to see past this however, as they saw this as a form of betrayal and saw it as Jesse using them.

Site

StoryFire features a "likes" system and comment section similar to Twitter's feed and follower-gaining similar to YouTube.[ citation needed ] The site also uses an in-app currency called "Blaze" that is earned by watching ads on the platform which can be then used to tip creators, including the tweets. [1] Blaze can also be used to facilitate teasers and partial paywalls, such as offering one chapter of a "story" for free and charging 10 Blaze for access to each follow-up chapter. [1]

StoryFire relies on a business model of pre-approving videos before they are posted, typically requiring trailers or text describing content down to minutes. Advertisers enable running ads on "edgier" content while content that is "[overtly] sexual, offensive, or violent" is outright rejected by StoryFire. [1]

To gain permission to upload videos on StoryFire (as of October 2020), users first be approved by StoryFire staff. [6]

Notable users include KidBehindACamera, [1] Boogie2988, [1] and LeafyIsHere, who announced plans to use the site after being banned by YouTube. [7]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hale, James (October 24, 2019). "Jesse Ridgway Spent 13 Years Making Content On YouTube. Here’s Why He’s Leaving — And Building Its Competitor.." Tubefilter. Accessed Aug 31, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Jackals prowl as clock runs down for TikTok". 2020-08-09 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  3. ↑ “Brian Spitz Biography.” IMDb. Accessed Jan 25, 2021.
  4. 1 2 StoryFire is Shutting Down
  5. ↑ Ridgway, Jesse Tyler (January 24, 2021). "It is with a heavy heart that I must announce, StoryFire has been unable to secure financing. After struggling for many years to financially bootstrap the platform myself, I can no longer sustain it. As of February 1st, 2021, the StoryFire platform will be shutting down. 💔" . Retrieved January 30, 2021– via Twitter.
  6. ↑ "StoryFire Video Series Submissions". Google Docs. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  7. ↑ Alexander, Julia (Aug 24, 2020, 3:00pm EDT). "YouTube permanently bans controversial creator LeafyIsHere." Vox Media . Aug 24, 2020.
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