There are many reasons. Here are a couple of examples.
- Provide some background on the story and the images themselves before you share it. That can make it even more fun for your family members. If you were sitting at your kitchen table, and you pulled out the photos – what would you be telling them? What do you know already? Think of it as the “back of the photo” information. Who, when, where and what was going on. What is missing? What don’t you know? What puzzles you? Ask specific questions that might trigger other to respond. Many elders may look at old photos that are familiar to them and not realize that their younger family members don’t know what is going on. Prompt them to say what they know, and encourage them to use the audio “push to talk” commenting method to capture their own voice.
- As a surprise gift to a family member! Think how wonderful it would be for your mother or family elder to receive a birthday present of “Growing up on the Farm”! Keeping it private allows you to build it and work on it and then share it for the surprise.
- As a mirror of how you organize your photos on your desktop. If you are an archiver of family photos, TightKnit is a wonderful place for you to use private “stories” as the place where you keep all of your photos, organized by the same folder names that you have on your computer. Then, pull from your TightKnit digital collections to build stories, and share those with your family and friends!
In the end, you choose who sees your photos!