Transmedia storytelling is most commonly defined as a story that is spread across several different media platforms, with each channel contributing its own unique flavour to the overall story. Many people with access to the web engage with transmedia narratives in one form or another ‒ whether they realize it or not ‒ as part of their favourite entertainment franchises, advertising campaigns, or fictional universes.
Transmedia offers vibrant learning opportunities for education. It immerses the audience in stories that make use of everyday media forms and encourages them to directly participate in the stories themselves. Transmedia storytelling also recognizes that people learn and engage in a variety of ways and strives to incorporate text, images, sound, video, and more. It creates a sensorium of human experience that makes learning intriguing and enjoyable.
Transmedia storytelling can be used to promote awareness of social issues, educate about particular causes and conditions, and encourage empathy, compassion, and awareness. It involves participants in a particular story in a radically different way than that of an academic article or textbook.