Editor's Note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated InspireMore has 600M fans of social media, has reached 725M people, and has donated $101K to charities. The company has 6M fans, has reached 725M page views, and has donated $125K.
In recent years, depression rates, especially among teens and young adults, have been increasing – by more than 60 percent between 2009 and 2017, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. And new studies are showing a potential link between social media and heavy technology usage and worsening mental health outcomes.
Social media usage also means some people are interacting face-to-face less often, which can make people feel socially isolated and detached from the community, research has shown.
One Dallas media company InspireMore hopes to amplify the positive stories by providing inspiring, heartwarming stories to readers from the region and across the U.S.
“No matter who you are where you’re from... we’re all humans, and we have this innate desire to inspire others,” said Robert Neely, founder and CEO at InspireMore. “Just looking at the media landscape, I was kind depressed looking at it, and I just thought maybe there’s a space for a media company that does all uplifting news.”
InspireMore launched in Dallas in 2014. Its staff of 11 full-time employees highlight stories from social media, other news outlets, as well as through original reporting on events from different parts of the country. Neely said the goal is not be out there breaking news, but rather to be a digest for readers looking for something more uplifting than traditional outlets. The focus is on stories of hope, inspiration and community. For example, a quick scroll through InspireMore’s homepage gives readers headlines such as, “Deaf 3-Yr-Old Has Sweetest Breakdown When She Hears Parents for 1st Time” and “Woman Who Went From Janitor to Assistant Principal Shares Her Inspiring Journey.”
Hunter Stensrud, InspireMore co-founder and CMO, said that the company’s platform fits well with its mission of uplifting people and inspiring kindness, because of human nature’s love of storytelling. In all, the team at InspireMore hopes the stories it shares will help change the way people view the world and people around them.
“I think people want to feel safe, and so they want to see what’s wrong in order to feel safe,” Stensrud said. “We have a choice to view the world as scary or negative or I can choose see good to do good.
While most of the stories InspireMore shares come from other parts of the country, the company does have a DFW-specific newsletter, highlighting the good of North Texas each week. However, the company is working on closing on its first major capital raise, which it hopes can be used to help expand the reach of the platform and potentially bring in more newsletters specific to other metro areas in the U.S. InspireMore is also hoping to use the increased funds to develop more meaningful, engaging content, as well as develop an app to compliment its platform.
The company currently has about 500,000 subscribers to its newsletter, along with 6 million fans on its social media pages. Based on page views, InspireMore said it's had more than 725 million page views since it first launched. It has also had an impact through its work with nonprofits. InspireMore regularly features a nonprofit working to make a positive impact in the community, providing it with a marketing video and a share of revenue from the site. In total, the company has donated more than $125,000 to over 100 charities.
“What we love is we get a lot of notes everyday where people say I was depressed from reading traditional news… now instead of feeling down, I can feel up,” Neely said. “I think when we can get local… that’s very powerful because it’s a physical community you can have a say in. We’re thankful, and we just want to keep doing what we’re doing and bless more people.”
