A Review of Cowbird, a Free Storytelling Platform

By Wei Cen

Cowbird is a free digital storytelling platform on the Web where users can publish their stories as well as reading, seeing, and listening to others’ stories. For a free user, called as a Nomad by the website, a typical story consists of two pages—a photo and a page of text with an optional audio accompanying the story. Users can also choose to pay $5 a month to become the website’s Citizens to enjoy more features, such as slideshows, collections, custom URLs, and colored pages.

The mission of Cowbird is to build a public library of human experience told through stories. It is a place for deep thinking and expressing of the meaning of life and for people to share stories and form communities. Cowbird treasures personal, authentic stories that will still resonate in 100 years for future generations.