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What is "CURATION" ?

by Ouroboros
36 replies
I've heard quite a bit about it lately, but short of buying someone's "brilliant" throwed together WSO on it, what exactly is curation?

I know it's a white hat way to avoid the panda/farmer stuff, but what exactly does it involve?

I'm thinking a curation site would be kinda like an article directory but specific and made accountable. Or maybe a site that brought in respectable reviews from the big dogs, and not afraid to give them a link out...

Any discussion?
#curation #wtf
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    It simply means that you look at a page, create your own description of the page, then link the description to the page.

    Think Google SERPs. :p

    Which really tosses a wrench in some people's assertion that curation is new.

    It was first called that in a book written in I think 2006.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Here are some commercial examples of this being applied:

      curate.us
      repost.us
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Here's an example...Let's say you have a site about dogs, so you monitor all the recent news about dogs you can find on the web. You write a review and/or a short description of the news, then link to the full article.

      You could have a site about "Dogs in This Week's News" where you simply gather as much dog news as you can, pick the best stories based on your own editorial criteria and publish them on your own site.


      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      It simply means that you look at a page, create your own description of the page, then link the description to the page.

      Think Google SERPs. :p

      Which really tosses a wrench in some people's assertion that curation is new.

      It was first called that in a book written in I think 2006.
      I first started selling "curation" software in about 2003 or so.
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  • Profile picture of the author Targeted Traffic
    Real content curation is a set of links and snippets to other material on the web along with insightful, expert analysis provided by the curator. To effectively carry it out, You absolutely must tie the content you curate into a post (i.e. links to different angles from different authors, bloggers, and news stories around the same topic) with original commentary. Commentary that makes sense and seeks to draw new connections, parallels, or shed new light on a topic others are writing and sharing information about.

    It takes less time to create a very high quality post when you curate and “riff” off of other thought leaders, adding your own spin to the topic and providing great information to readers, than it often does to write a post from scratch.
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    Originally Posted by Ouroboros View Post

    I've heard quite a bit about it lately, but short of buying someone's "brilliant" throwed together WSO on it, what exactly is curation?
    In a nutshell you take someone else's content, make a quick description of it, link to it and then provide your own (respected?) analysis of the link and its topic. Do that 20 times a day and you'd have a curation site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    A little site called Wikipedia is another example of curation.

    The Hilltop algorithim (which Google acquired) uses quality curated sites (or hubs) to help find the quality authority sites. If a quality hub linked to an article in a curated post then that article should also be quality. In theory, their results (which as Bill pointed out are also an example of curated content) will return both the quality hubs and authorities in their search results.

    I think a lot of beginners would be best to start out with creating a 'curated' collection on their micro niches rather than littering the search results with mutilated content that barely resembles english.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Think about a museum curator. They go through the museum's vast collection and select the most unique and interesting objects, and put them together in a themed display. A good curated website would have some commentary on the stories that it's linking to; it's a "best of" collection, with narrative.

    » The new thing: web curating

    Is Content Curation The New Black?

    4 Promising Curation Tools That Help Make Sense of the Web

    (This blog post has been curated by Dana Willhoit.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
      Banned
      It's what we used to call blogging.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ken Strong
        Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

        It's what we used to call blogging.
        That's so early-early 21st century...
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        • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Eldhuset
          A snippet from wikipedia about what curation can be:

          "the practice of finding, organizing, and contextualizing content"
          Humans have curated content for ages.

          If you make a blog post containing nothing more than 10 urls, and no other text, not even a title, you have not really curated the content.

          If you add a title like "The 10 best websites for medical students", you have added context to the URL collection, and you could maybe claim to have curated the content.

          But I think most people would expect you to add more than that, for example your opinion about each site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    On the blog portion of my website, I have a list of 25 free press release distribution sites. I have a paragraph explaining what these sites are and what they can accomplish for people in terms of SEO. This one page is responsible for about a third of my website traffic, it ranks really well on Google, and people spend several minutes on that page.

    Until I started hearing the terms "curated website" and "curated content" I never really thought of it that way before - basically those are just new ways to describe an old concept - but whatever you call it, having a list of useful links, with a paragraph or two of description, on your website, can bring in traffic like you wouldn't believe.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayo
    Here is a good thread with definitions, links and examples of Curation.
    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...word-then.html

    Have a Great Day!
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You find information that you'd like to post about. You offer an excerpt from the page that provides the information with a link back to the source. You then add to the page with your own thoughts on the topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author David A Griffiths
    For a good example of curation in action see 'Storify'. It's when you bring together content around a theme to create a site or a series of pages. Simply reposting isn't curation though, you need to add your own comments, presentation etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author blogcurator
    I am a writer. I am currently writing and posting for about 15 curated sites. Every post is hitting page one every day. It's working pretty good for us. It's more than just grabbing other peoples work and re-posting it.
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    • Profile picture of the author mediasme
      I just attended a webinar where Dr. Harlan Kilstein talked about blog curating. And wow! He even did a demonstration. A new curated blog post hit the top #1 position in Google in less than 5 minutes.

      Here's an example of a curated blog post:
      Meditation Techniques To Treat Anxiety

      It is 90% curated content and 10% original content.
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      • Profile picture of the author meenakshi0587
        Content Curation can be defined simply as the act of searching, assembling, arranging and sharing the most significant content on a particular topic on the Internet. This could include articles, newsletters, blog posts, videos, photos, wall posts, tweets, or anything related to a specific subject which has been chosen to match the needs of a particular audience.


        The basic idea behind content curation is that there is already a excess of information on the Internet and that for all of the information to become useful, it must be collected and distributed in a manner that is convenient.
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      • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
        Originally Posted by mediasme View Post

        I just attended a webinar where Dr. Harlan Kilstein talked about blog curating. And wow! He even did a demonstration. A new curated blog post hit the top #1 position in Google in less than 5 minutes.

        Here's an example of a curated blog post:
        Meditation Techniques To Treat Anxiety

        It is 90% curated content and 10% original content.
        You mean 90% stolen content and 10% original content. That is an example of copyright infringement, nothing more, nothing less.

        Anytime you repost four paragraphs of somebody else's work, without there permission, it is theft, regardless of what fancy word you use to brand it
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        • Profile picture of the author Harlan
          Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

          You mean 90% stolen content and 10% original content. That is an example of copyright infringement, nothing more, nothing less.

          Anytime you repost four paragraphs of somebody else's work, without there permission, it is theft, regardless of what fancy word you use to brand it
          Quick someone tell that to Ariana Huffington at the Huffington Post. Oh, excuse me call AOL because she just sold her site for 35 MILLION dollars.

          There is a difference between ethical curation and stealing content.

          And Google knows it.

          That's why our sites rank for chosen keywords at number one in 3-5 minutes.

          There are dozens and dozens of sites doing this such as Mashable and many many more.

          It's the future of the Internet. Get with the program.
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          • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
            Originally Posted by Harlan View Post

            There is a difference between ethical curation and stealing content.
            If this "article" (http:// meditationtechniques.co/3496/meditation-techniques-to-treat-anxiety/) is an example of "ethical curation," then clearly the difference between curation and theft is not a large one, if it exists at all.

            The original article is 634 words. The "curated" portion is 350 words. The original content in that example weighs in at around 89 words.

            And Google knows it.
            That could explain the declining quality of Google's search results.

            There are dozens and dozens of sites doing this such as Mashable and many many more.
            Is meditationtechniques.co supposed to be an example of a "curation" site? If so, it has little in common with Mashable. It seems more akin to a glorified scraper site than a site like Mashable. Its method of "curation" appears to be to copy half of an original article from someone else, and surround it with a little bit of fluff before and after so as to trick Google into thinking it's more authoritative than what it really is.

            It's the future of the Internet. Get with the program.
            If stolen content and glorified scraper sites are the future of the Internet, count me out.
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        • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
          Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

          You mean 90% stolen content and 10% original content. That is an example of copyright infringement, nothing more, nothing less.

          Anytime you repost four paragraphs of somebody else's work, without there permission, it is theft, regardless of what fancy word you use to brand it

          I dont know anything about curation but I find it funny that a person who advocates ripping others wp themes based on some technicality call someone out for copyright infringement.

          Here is the infamous WSO

          For the records I actually find your info helpful many times BUT just pointing out what I see as general hypocrisy on this forum.
          Lots of smart people around here and they can justify ANY position on a topic when it suits their needs.
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          • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
            Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose
            You mean 90% stolen content and 10% original content. That is an example of copyright infringement, nothing more, nothing less.

            Anytime you repost four paragraphs of somebody else's work, without there permission, it is theft, regardless of what fancy word you use to brand it
            Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

            I dont know anything about curation but I find it funny that a person who advocates ripping others wp themes based on some technicality call someone out for copyright infringement.

            Here is the infamous WSO

            For the records I actually find your info helpful many times BUT just pointing out what I see as general hypocrisy on this forum.
            Lots of smart people around here and they can justify ANY position on a topic when it suits their needs.
            You state that you don't know anything about curation, but you fail to state that you don't know anything about the WSO you pointed out.

            The WSO teaches you how to legally use GPL licensed products, key word being "legally". Using something that you have a license to use is not "ripping" anybody off as you stated, nor is it a "technicality". If you don't like the GPL, then don't license any of your products under it.

            Copyright infringement is ripping people off. Using products licensed under the GPL in ways allowed by the GPL is not. I stand by both of those statements, as would a judge in a court of law.

            Get your facts straight before making accusations.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
    I personally don't think Wikipedia as Curation.

    I think of RealClearPolitics.com as a prime example of content curation. They've also mixed in some of their own content as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author raven007
      Is there any software that automates the process of blog curation ? If so, what is the best out there ?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
        Originally Posted by raven007 View Post

        Is there any software that automates the process of blog curation ? If so, what is the best out there ?
        Oh I'm sure someone is or will sell something like that but then you're not really curating content you're scrapping content.
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      • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
        Originally Posted by Targeted Traffic View Post

        Real content curation is a set of links and snippets to other material on the web along with insightful, expert analysis provided by the curator. To effectively carry it out, You absolutely must tie the content you curate into a post (i.e. links to different angles from different authors, bloggers, and news stories around the same topic) with original commentary. Commentary that makes sense and seeks to draw new connections, parallels, or shed new light on a topic others are writing and sharing information about.

        It takes less time to create a very high quality post when you curate and "riff" off of other thought leaders, adding your own spin to the topic and providing great information to readers, than it often does to write a post from scratch.
        Originally Posted by raven007 View Post

        Is there any software that automates the process of blog curation ? If so, what is the best out there ?
        The software is called BRAIN.
        See what I quoted above - and read it very carefully... until you understand it!
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        • Profile picture of the author Harlan
          Some of you clearly do not understand curation.

          It is not the same as blogging.

          It is not the same as auto-blogging.

          It is not scraping content.

          The Huffington Post is a great curated site.

          So is Mashable

          So is Ski & Snow Report, Ski Deals, Skiing Reviews | OnTheSnow.com for that matter.

          A curated site means you go out and find the best and most relevant content in this niche and add your own original content to it.

          If you follow the guidelines of ethical curation, Google will love your site and boost it high in the rankings for the keywords.

          Note: we prefer to go for BUYER keywords and don't care that much about niche keywords.

          That's why we chose Meditation Techniques for Anxiety but could care less about the phrase Meditation Techniques.

          Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I just finished reading "Curation Nation" by Steven Rosenbaum which explains more about curation.

    But, for those of you that think curation is going to be an easy push button solution like autoblobbing, I can tell you it isn't.

    It actually takes me longer to create a curated post than to write a 500 word article because I am choosing the best content out there on the topic (ok, maybe if you chose crappy stuff it wouldnt take so long). But, it's actually a lot more fun searching for the content and adding my comments than writing a boring article so, for me, it is much preferred.

    PLUS, while you are finding the content, you are also finding other great blogs in your niche that you can comment on and maybe even develop relationships with.

    Curate.us is a great tool to use and there is also a tool that is very helpful inside the membership at Make Money Blogging - BlogSuccess.com

    Lee
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    I have to say...after checking out the example post I can see why people accidentally confuse this "curation" with what most consider modern autoblogging.

    Dont get me wrong, I'm all for a more modern version of autoblogging (which is somewhat similar to that example) but to be honest, if that's "curation" I will stick to my semi-autoblogging.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Marzinzik
    It appears to me that "Curation" is nothing more/nothing less than writing a book and placing the proper credit bibliographies in it to give credit to sources from which the material came. HELL what do you think the API and Reuters have been doing for the newspapers. I don't see how anyone could call this theft as this information is continually being shared... Just give the credit, don't copy it 100%, make it great readable content and the world including Google will love you for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven W Johnson
      Some other types of curation:

      Joint Venture partner curation (taking care of your JV partners)

      Customer curation (aka appreciation marketing) - bonuses for long-term loyalty, etc

      Hitter curation (one of my favs - taking care of big players - I started out fixing big marketers digital products and web copy - editing - almost entirely unsolicited - and moved into becoming an affiliate, suggesting new products or subtle changes in existing ones, writing or fixing press releases, becoming a forum moderator, etc. - sort of an unofficial virtual consulting role - it's paid off BIG over the years, in ways I can hardly measure...

      Affiliate Curation - one of my long-time JV partners once admitted his biggest asset was NOT his employees, or his products, or even his mailing list - it was his AFFILIATE ARMY - properly curating that army should be every marketer's top priority
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  • Profile picture of the author MarilynT
    What is your preference curate.us or storify and why? They look pretty similar.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyke
    Curation seems to have gone quiet for a while; now it appears to be roaring back! WSO Of The Day today and also Chris Munch involved in a webinar about it the other day. Something seems to be simmering.......and I'm not talking Pinterest!!
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  • Profile picture of the author ebuyer123
    The content (sources) we want to use for site curation is very often NOT belongs to GPL licensed products though. Thus we only have our rear/back 50% covered in the terms of copyright issue.
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