Calling All Moms! Make Your Mark!

My 18 year old son Matthew is visiting my 93 year old grandmother this week in Mississippi.  Last night I called him to see how things were going.  He interrupted me mid-sentence and said “I have to call you back.  Banma is telling me old stories.”  (Yes, we call our grandmother Banma – it’s got to be a Southern thing to call your grandmother by some silly name, which clearly we do.) Later he called me back and said “That was so awesome.  I just heard all kinds of stories about this house.  Did you know that my great, great, great grandfather died in here?” The house was built in the mid 1800’s and generation after generation was born there, all the way down to my mother.  (The tradition stopped when I was born due to the invention of epidurals.)   There were weddings and even deaths in that house. Banma told Matthew stories of how the house was framed on top of huge tree trunks that were brought up from the back woods.  He heard about my great, great grandfather who literally died of a broken heart upon hearing that his wife had just passed away.  He learned that my grandmother gave birth to my mother in the front bedroom on a cold Christmas morning. These stories, like many other generations of stories could one day be lost.  This is one of the main reasons why StoryMark was created…to capture those memories and stories before they are gone. Sit down with your grandmother or grandfather and have them StoryMark their old photos.  Use the camera on your iPhone to capture the images, and let the story telling begin. You may also find out interesting tidbits like we did. For example, following the birth of my mother, my grandmother got up and cooked Christmas dinner.  Boy times have changed. View the StoryMark   About the author: I am a busy mother of three kids (one of my own plus two step-kids), & wife to a hard working software programmer. I’m a triathlete, a cook who burns water, rookie blogger, obnoxious hockey mom, & CFO of my husbands paycheck. With one kid going off to college, one step-kid moving in permanently, camping, & training for the occasional triathlon, life around the McIntyre household always feels like a roller coaster ride. I am a co-Founder of StoryMark Life, a free iPhone and Android app released in May 2012.  Dana McIntyre dana.mcintyre@storymarklife.com http://danamcintyre1.wordpress.com @DanaMcIntyre1  

One of my favorite uses for StoryMark is the ability to share good news in a way that’s never been possible before.  That news can be everything from an A+ on a test to the life changing announcement, “We’re having a baby!”  No matter what you want to share, the addition of your voice or even a baby’s heartbeat makes the recipient feel like they are there sharing that moment with you. I left friends and family in the great state of Georgia three years ago to head to Washington DC to spend the rest of my life with my wonderful husband.  It has been an amazing three years full of adventure, learning and important milestones including a wedding, a first house… and now, our first child. Although I have always missed home, the moment I found out that I was expecting was made even more emotional knowing that my Mom, Dad, brother and friends weren’t just a short drive away.  My husband and I knew that telling all of our family in person wasn’t possible given the timing and travel, so   that’s when we turned to StoryMark to help share our wonderful news. At week nine, we headed to the doctor for a second checkup, knowing this time around we would be able to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the first time.  We felt there was no better way to share the news then to send a photo of our beautiful baby’s ultrasound with his/her heartbeat recorded over it.  It was such a beautiful moment, and I was thrilled that we were able to share it with our family, even if they were 1,000s of miles away.  

  This past weekend, StoryMark joined 400 bloggers at the beautiful Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne for the Mom 2.0 Summit.  With the official launch of StoryMark taking place last Wednesday, it was the perfect location to introduce the app and gain feedback from some of the most influential women across the country. The summit kicked off on Thursday with an event sponsored by StoryMark.  Our team met with key bloggers and led a four mile round-trip walk to Florida’s oldest lighthouse, Cape Florida.  The picturesque walk along the beach was the perfect place to explain the features of the app and allowed bloggers a chance to download and use the app immediately to send messages to friends and family.  Our mobile app was a hit and soon our Twitter account, @storymarklife, was abuzz of its features, simplicity and the fact that it is free to download. Later that evening, the StoryMark team attended a beach-side White Party with Mom 2.0 organizers, bloggers and marketers to explain the application and its variety of uses.  And believe us, there were more uses than we could ever imagine.  We look forward to seeing all the ways StoryMark users utilize their marks.  Throughout the evening, our videographers were out in full force capturing first reactions to the app.  We can’t wait to share with you our amazing footage in the coming weeks. The next day, our team focused its attention on meeting with bloggers at our Expo booth between panel sessions.  We were lucky to meet with the most amazing, intelligent women to gain insight into their individual blogs.  What was fascinating was some of the ways these bloggers were interested in utilizing the StoryMark app.  From virtual postcards, to recipes, and of course messages to family and friends, these women amazed us with their creativity and excitement.  We cannot wait to introduce more social sharing features in the coming weeks, as well as new functionalities. Our time at the Summit ended with networking events on Friday evening.  Again, we continued to be amazed by how many bloggers had already downloaded the app and were using it throughout the conference.  Overall, the Summit created new friendships, partnerships and we can’t wait for iPhone users across the world to make StoryMark their signature photo-sharing application. Download today and share with us your StoryMark ideas! Cheers!