Why curation is here to stay
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What comes to mind when you think of curation? If you’re not familiar with its newer meaning, chances are you might think of museum curators, who have the full-time job of sifting through and painstakingly selecting the most outstanding works of art for a particular collection or show. Their sole job is to present the best possible collection to the public, making sure each piece is relevant to the theme and connects to the others in a way that is cohesive and powerful. We may not be interested in seeing every impressionist-era work ever painted thrown together in a room, but when we know that someone has taken the time and effort to select only what they think is the best of the best, we flock to see the collection, trusting that the curator has done their job and done it well.
Little do most people realize that the same process is applied on the Internet all around us. If you are a Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest user, you are a social curator in your own way, collecting and sharing the content you find most relevant and important. While that may be stretching the typical definition, individuals, brands, and publishers are all curating on the web in one way or another, perhaps even unintentionally.
The Internet is a crazy mess of data and content that is only growing larger by the second. How do we possibly find the information we want? Either we discover and curate it for ourselves, or we get content from our Facebook friends, brands we follow, or favorite news sites that curate it for us. Consumers have long been eager to curate for themselves – see the likes of Pulse, Flipboard, Pinterest, and Storify – but brands and publishers have been more reluctant. Most brands and traditional publishers have pushed themselves into the social sphere, sure, but how many of them are curating content that is most relevant to their followers whether it comes from them or elsewhere? Those braver souls are few and far between.
The web has spoken, and curation is here to stay – whether traditional media proponents like it or not. RealClearPolitics is a publisher that has decided to offer original content as well as popular content from around the web, and Pepsi Pulse is a branded destination for pop culture stories, but most companies simply tweet their own content, share the same content on Facebook, and pin the same stuff to the company Pinterest account. These brands are missing out on the opportunity to become a trusted source for relevant content through curation. When readers see that a publisher is bringing them only the cream of the crop of content, no matter who created it, that publisher becomes a content authority – a curator they can trust.
Just like the museums we visit, consumers will flock to where they know that content is being presented with thought and care. No matter your area of expertise or publishing niche, Trapit can help you easily curate the content that is most relevant to your audience. Check back tomorrow as we delve into how Trapit’s tools can help you fine-tune a curation strategy and present your content in the best way possible.
-Kelly