THE RISE OF VISUAL STORYTELLING 9 supplies and began sharing videos on its YouTube channel with the simple question “Will it blend?” One of the favorites among the consumers was the video that blended the latest iPhone into tiny pieces. The Evolution of Visual Storytelling Visual storytelling has not been an overnight sensation, but instead it has been the result of a continued evolution of social media platforms, along with user and company behaviors. From the late 1990s to mid-2000s, sites such as blogging platforms, Myspace, Delicious (formerly Del.icio.us), Flickr, and Facebook created early opportunities for visual engagement. If you look closely at these platforms, you’ll see that all of them were created in response to the massive flow of content on the Internet, much of which was visual. Even back then, blog entries with visuals performed better than those without. Myspace offered users multiple opportunities to personalize their user profiles, from the background to the music and content shared. Flickr rose in popularity as an early photo shar- ing site, and today it still houses a passionate community of photo enthusiasts, plus professional and hobbyist photographers. Besides the content shared, perhaps one of the most import- ant qualities these early social media platform leaders had was the ability to bring like-minded individuals together online. Just as today, when there are so many social media platforms to engage