Content Curation. So what is it?
In today’s internet soup It can means a lot of different things. To find a medium definition we need to think broad and possibly use a couple of metaphors.
Curation, is like creation, except the creator is creating by controlling the flow of already created things, pruning here and there, editing here and there, to create a concentrated, more beautiful output.
In a sense, all life is curation. We have this everflow of power and energy animating the material creation. DNA guides (curates) this energy into unfolding patterns. Digestive systems break up matter and the body system filters, edits, and curates new growth out of the food material, effectively directing content here and there.
Even when you speak to another you are curating content. Out of the pool of ideas in your head you grab and select  and use this content to create coherent strings of communication.
So you get the picture now and see the common relationships? Curation is alchemy in action, but in our case of focus, our medium is written content and our purpose is content delivery.
So to keep it simple, for us, the process of collecting, filtering, refining, and re-distributing content in a unique-ish package becomes what we call “content curationâ€.
Tools to help with Content Creation
GOOGLE READER
Before Google Reader fully integrated with Google+ they had a share setting that would allow us to send articles we read “with an attached note†to a customized public RSS feed. We could use this reader platform to follow all our blogs, sort through the crap, select the gold, and then use the shared items RSS feed to redistribute the hand selected content to the blog/platform of our choice using RSS importing. It was very powerful stuff!
We can still use google reader to curate content to Google+, which is still a very powerful feature for building readership, but we’ve lost the capability to use RSS to export to other platforms. For those who want to revive this capability, keep your eyes on the HiveMined Reader alternative.
BLOGSENSE AUTOMATION TOOLS (FOR WORDPRESS)
BlogSense automation is the parent software of this blog, and provides automation tools & solutions to self hosted WordPress blogs. Â Features that make BlogSense good at content curation are , like an RSS reader, you can store a wide variety of RSS feeds and then use filtering methods to block unwanted articles or use the direct importing mode to import select articles and add commentary to the articles you would like to pass onto your readers before publishing.
BlogSense also allows the user to post content to the ‘draft’ or ’pending review’ publish status for review before publishing, while additionally offering the option to have articles emailed to you email for manual approval before publishing.
Tweet Adder does not curate content, but instead curates readers (followers). With this tool you can use keyword based automated searches to pick twitter users out of the collective pool and arrange to make content with them, promoting a potential follow. One time I made a quick video introducing the Tweet Adder interface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhB5y7tC420
TUBE TOOLBOX
This software is similar to Tweet Adder in the since that it uses automation to connect with users through keyword searches. You can use keywords related to whatever topic you think worthy, and harvest user accounts that turn up in the results, and then use Tube Toolbox to auto-friend these people, share a video with them, message them, suggest them to subscribe to your channel, etc.
What are the different types of curation models for content? Could curation be considered autoblogging?
There are a couple of different types of curation models and each has it’s own level of internet respect. You could even say that these models could be ranked in order of superiority.
The first and weakest model is called the summary & link based curation model. It consists of a editor hand selecting and re-distributing articles in tact with the original summary and a link to the original source.
The second model is a little strong and it’s the excerpt + editorial commenting + link to the original article. This model consists an editor hand selecting content and then using it as a platform for writing your own editorial content. This is by far a stronger model then the prior own. It adds a personality to your blog and increases the chances of retaining readership loyalty.
The third model is the strongest and at the same time most professional model employed to date. It is the journalistic curation approach aka 90%+ original content usually the results of a complete re-summarization of a topic inspired by a hand selected article, providing editorial content and possibly, but not necessarily, citing the inspiring content source. This model usually emerges when a reporting firm has the money, talent, and readership to make the change.
Many popular sites such as TechCrunch , started out at level two content curation to end up at level three. Â Most reporting agencies (both local and internet based) operate at level three. Â Many small reporting/curation still exist at level two and experience loyal readers and have no aspirations to move into level three. Most all of Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc accounts operate successfully at the level two curation.
So you see, this is the current paradigm my mind sits at concerning content curation. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to add some more tools for both content and reader curation services.
Feel free to comment and improve!
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The BlogSense Guide to Internet Curation
