Before we can appreciate the benefits of content curation, we must first grasp just how much content exists online. You probably know this already, but the Internet is a very noisy place. The amount of data and content is astonishing, and people add more every day.
When I started writing this article on Saturday afternoon (4/12/14), I did a Google search for “how much content is on the web.”
My search produced a gazillion results, including a website called WorldWideWebSize.com. This is the one I chose to click, and it turns out this site provides a daily estimated size of the World Wide Web. I have no idea whether the information is accurate, but it looked impressive. As of today: “The Indexed Web contains at least 1.79 billion pages (Saturday, 12 April, 2014).” Wow.
But I’m not really here today to discuss how much content is on the Internet. Instead, I wanted to explain a bit about how content curation helps people filter through all the noise.
A lot of the “noise” comes about because so many businesses want to be on the first page of a Google search. They create content to help them get there, as do their competitors. Some of the content is good, and some…not so much.
With so many contenders – and with so few achieving the goal of landing on the first page in today’s noisy online world – we are left with pages upon pages of potentially useful information. It’s important for people to know that great content does exist on the 2nd page – and even the 102nd page – of a Google search.
Luckily, we have content curation, which gives everyone the power to discover some of the “great” content out there while sorting through the rest.
Content Curation, Defined
Content curation provides us with an excellent way to filter through the noise. So, what is content curation? Blogger and author, Beth Kanter, explains it nicely:
“Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme. The work involves sifting, sorting, arranging, and publishing information.”
Many curators use tools to dig up relevant content based on keywords and topics. After finding the content, curators have several options.
One popular choice involves sharing the content, via links, through social media. Another approach curators can take is to surround the link(s) with their own original content, and then share it as a part of their own content strategy. I demonstrated this second option in the paragraph just above, with Beth Kanter’s quote.
Curating is a labor of love
Think about how a museum curator painstakingly examines, collects, and then display works of art. They keep their specific patrons in mind and curate specifically for them. It’s a labor of love.
Good content curators work their magic in very much the same way as museum curators. In other words, they also think about their audience first, and they devote their time and energy to find the best content for them.
In a nutshell, curators take on the noisy internet, headfirst. They dive in and dig out the content that is valuable for their followers….and they make it seem effortless.
Content curation offers potential benefits for curators as well. For one thing, as curators provide their online audiences with quality and relevant content, they often pick up more followers. More followers means more online sharing and relationship-building. These activities help curators gain credibility as their audience gains knowledge. A win-win for all involved, don’t you agree?
Back to You
So, do you believe in the power of content curation for discovering great content? I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Please feel free to leave comments below.
Related Resource:
Search Engine Journal Your In-Depth Guide to Content Curation
Jennifer Hanford
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