Thrive on Campus

Thrive Global on Campus FAQ

Make your stories stand out on Thrive with these pro tips.
Mallory Stratton

Mallory Stratton

10 Min Read

Hello, Thrive Global on Campus community! We’ve been thrilled to share your voices and bylines with the wider Thrive Global audience to change the cultural conversation about mental well-being.

We also appreciate you continuing to share our Campus Editor-at-Large opportunity with your friends and peers who are passionate about promoting mental well-being on campus and beyond.

Here, we’ve outlined some key tips and how-tos to help your stories look amazing and reach the widest audience. Read on for some guidance and inspiration to spark your creativity!

Setting Up Your Byline

Please make sure your byline is formatted according to one of the following conditions for our student writers:

  • If you’ve been confirmed as a Campus Editor-at-Large: Thrive Global Campus Editor-at-Large from TK College/University
  • If you’re an undergraduate or graduate student contributor not part of our Campus Editor-at-Large program: Thrive Global Campus Ambassador from TK College/University
  • If you are younger than 18 and have submitted parent/guardian permission to be published on Thrive: Thrive Global Student Contributor

You can make any necessary changes in the “Title” field when editing your author profile.

Thrive Global on Campus Glossary

Hed: Media speak for “headline.” This is the main title of your piece — make it clear and catchy so it grabs the reader’s attention! (See “Initial caps/capitalization” below)

Dek: Media speak for “subhed,” or “subtitle.” You can see this in italics between the hed and featured image on your article. Should be one or two complete sentences. (See “Sentence case” below)

Byline: Your author title on Thrive, as set up in your author profile.

TK: Placeholder text to be replaced by real text before publishing.

Initial caps/capitalization: Proper headline formatting. Capitalize the first letter of each word, excluding articles and prepositions of three or fewer letters. For example: “5 Reasons You Will Love Being an Editor-at-Large for Thrive Global on Campus.”

Do capitalize:

  • Is
  • Am
  • Are
  • From

Do NOT capitalize:

  • the
  • a/an
  • and
  • but
  • to
  • or
  • by
  • for
  • if

Sentence case: Used for deks. This is the way you normally capitalize sentences in an essay. Capitalize the first letter of the first word of a sentence, plus any proper nouns, like names, within the sentence. Always include end punctuation. For example: “This opportunity is so exciting!”

Featured image: The primary image at the top of your story. You’ll see this field on the Settings toolbar on the righthand side of the story editor interface. Note: Do NOT paste your image into the story body above your article text, or your image will not pull through correctly on the site. More guidance on this below.

“Well-being”: This is a key term we always hyphenate on Thrive.

“Hed”/Headline

The “Hed” is the first thing readers see on your story. The most effective heds captivate the reader’s attention and tease what the story’s about, without giving too much away. Instead of a literal, newspaper-like headline, or a title you’d give to a paper for class, write something that will stand out on screens.

Have some fun with this! Think about headlines you see across the internet and on social media — model yours after your favorites.

Use initial caps, e.g. “5 Reasons You Will Love Being an Editor-at-Large for Thrive Global on Campus”

“Dek”/Subtitle

The “Dek” is the large, italicized font that appears between the headline and the featured image on your article. This should be one or two complete sentences.

Give the reader an idea of what they’re about to learn, without giving away too much away. One strong strategy is to play to readers’ curiosity, e.g. what they need to know or will be surprised to find out from your story.

This should be one or two complete sentences in sentence case, e.g. “This opportunity is so exciting you’ll want to share it with your whole school.”

Some of Our Favorite Thrive Global on Campus Heds/Deks

How to Marie Kondo Your Schedule — Do the commitments in your life spark joy?

—Brittany R. Collins, Editor-at-Large from UMass Amherst

I Got a Black Eye and It Taught Me a Thing or Two About Sexism — But definitely not in the way you’d expect.

—Maddie Howard, Editor-at-Large from N.Y.U.

How to Succeed With Your New Year’s Resolutions — Following a New Year’s resolution is no easy feat — here are a few tips to help stay on track with your goals with a fresh and happy mindset.

—Linda Lee, Editor-at-Large from Harvard University

Hey Teens: Tell Your Parents to Let You Sleep In — Turns out, your biology demands it.

—Gideon Dunster, Campus Ambassador from University of Washington

Featured Image

You must upload an image in the “Featured Image” field at the bottom of the “Settings” toolbar along the right (if you don’t see this, click on the gear icon to expand it). This is your main image that will appear on the Thrive Global on Campus page, as well as when people share your story on social media.

Please select only horizontal, rectangular, royalty-free images for your Featured Images. This means no vertical images or square images. No visible brand logos. And please don’t pull an image from Google Images and attach it to your story — this is stealing someone else’s image. Not sure where to find great royalty-free images? Check out these free image resources.

Remember to give credit to your image’s source in the “Caption” field. For instance, if you found an awesome image from Unsplash taken by a user named “Thrive Global Superfan,” you would write, “Courtesy of Thrive Global Superfan / Unsplash.”

Embedding Multimedia (Like Video and Audio) Into Your Posts

You can embed video, audio, social media posts, and even GIFs within your stories via the Thrive platform (you can also embed multiple images in addition to your Featured Image). At the moment not all media pulls through correctly, and we’re working on some backend tech fixes to ensure you can use this capability to its fullest!

To embed media:

  • Hover your cursor over the top of a text block, right in the middle. You should see a “plus” sign within a circle appear, with text popping up that says “Add block.”
  • Click on the plus sign and you’ll see an “Image” option and one that says “Embed,” as well as some platform-specific embed options, like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Soundcloud.
  • Add the embed link code, then submit your piece and make sure the media appears correctly.

FAQs

What does an editor-at-large do again?

You’ll contribute at least one piece of content per month to Thrive’s media platform — but you can write as frequently as you want!

You’ll invite other Thrive ambassadors to contribute (they can be from any campus, not just yours, or they can be grad students or recent alums), with the hope of two additional pieces of content you referred per month posted to Thrive.

What topics can I write/post about?

You can contribute pieces on any subject related to mental health and well-being — so, a pretty broad range! Some examples of topics we love:

  • Strategies that have helped you boost your mental well-being, happiness, or productivity
  • Specific pressures at your school/in your major/within your culture/at your job, etc.
  • Dealing with depression, anxiety or other mental health issues while in college
  • Supporting a friend or loved one through a challenging time (or writing about someone who has supported you)
  • Your relationship with technology and how/whether you make time to unplug
  • The culture of social comparison and how that has impacted you
  • How you’ve improved your relationships with other people in your lives
  • Sleep
  • Self-care
  • What brings you joy and/or inspires you
  • How you tap into your sense of wonder and awe
  • What is or isn’t being done on your campus about the mental health crisis
  • Your take on any pop-culture or celebrity news about mental well-being
  • Your take on current shows, movies, music or books and how they depict mental well-being
  • Any other trends you’re noticing or experiencing in your school or peer group

NOTE: The more specific and personal you can be in your stories, the better. Rather than writing generally, describe specific anecdotes, experiences, and emotions so we can picture the moments you write about through your eyes.

What types of content can I contribute (and encourage other campus ambassadors to contribute)?

Content can consist of original pieces you create for Thrive or pieces that you have already created/published somewhere else that you’d like to cross-post to Thrive. Same goes for other campus ambassadors you invite to join the conversation. Some examples of content types:

Written stories

Written stories can be any length, although the sweet spot is between 500 and 800 words. We welcome stories in a variety of formats, including:

Photos

We welcome photos or photo essays (collections of photographs on a theme) that tell a story, with some intro text and/or longer photo captions.

Videos/Audio

We welcome videos and podcast audio, which you can embed or link to in your pieces, along with an explanation of what the media is about.

Visual Art/Collage/Illustrations

If you are a visual artist, we welcome your stories in any number of formats: art, illustrations, and beyond!

How do I invite Thrive campus ambassadors to contribute?

You can invite anyone you want to post to Thrive on any topics around mental well-being. Start with friends and fellow students who are also passionate these topics. If someone says something interesting in a class or when you’re out and about, tell them they should write about it for Thrive. You can even invite your professors to contribute. Also: Feel free to post on your social media outlets about the opportunity!

How do I post to Thrive’s platform and instruct others to post?

We encourage you to publish your posts on Thrive’s platform on your own time. Here, again, are our guidelines for posting to the platform.

Please share the same link with others when inviting them to post to Thrive, so they can post on their own as well.

Here are some guidelines for finding great images for your posts.

IMPORTANT: When you post or invite others to post, please make sure to include the keyword tag ThriveOnCampus when submitting your stories so we know to look for and promote your posts!

It’s also helpful to email me ([email protected]) with the link to your story after you’ve posted so we know when you’ve contributed!

[NOTE: We know how busy you are, so if you can’t find the time to publish your post yourself, you can send it to me and I will publish it for you!]

Is there any content that’s off-limits?

Here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind:

  • If you cite any research studies, please link to them.
  • Do not post anything you’ve been paid by a third party to post.
  • We don’t publish pieces that serve to promote a product or service, or offer prescriptive medical advice.
  • Please don’t accuse anyone who is identifiable of wrongdoing in your post.
  • If you have questions about what’s appropriate, email me!

Anything else to remember?

Yes! Make sure to use the keyword tag ThriveOnCampus (or Thrive on Campus — either works) when posting your pieces so we make sure to add them to our Thrive Global on Campus section.

Got more questions?

I’ve got answers! Email me.

Author(s)

  • Mallory Stratton

    Director of Content Operations at Thrive

    Mallory is Director of Content Operations at Thrive. Prior to Thrive, she was Associate Editor on “It’s All In Your Head” by Keith Blanchard (Wicked Cow Studios, 2017), an illustrated brain science book, and worked closely on its accompanying cross-platform partnerships with Time Inc. and WebMD. She spends her off-hours curating playlists, practicing restorative yoga, and steeping new teas.