Everybody Writes, 2nd Edition



69Curate Ethically

Content curation is an ugly phrase, isn't it?

It suggests an uncharming factory on the side of the highway where blobs of colorless content are plopped onto conveyor belts and dropped into websites for mass consumption. It sounds 100% automated and 100% uninspired. Like we're assembling a school cafeteria lunch tray.

The truth is that the best curation has a human element to it. It might be harvested and organized via technology, but it feels fresh-picked. Its real value materializes when actual people add something new to it: when actual people add context.

If you curate without adding your take, that's not curating—that's aggregating. A robot can aggregate, but only a human can curate. Only a human can share why it matters to another.

Said another way: Your curated content might not be original, but you can deliver an original experience by adding unique value.

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Curated content is content created by others that you share with your own audience on your blog, social media accounts, or in your newsletter. It might look like a news round-up, a collection of selected quotes from thought leaders, a repost of a tweet or LinkedIn post … among other things.

Curating is an opportunity to diversify and augment your own content creation efforts while also signaling your expertise, your personality, your point of view.

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One of my favorite curated newsletters is The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings).

Twice a week, Maria Popova ...