Curated Content: 7 Tools for Bright and Beautiful Beginners

Curated content is something you hear about from online marketers and content strategists, but you may not know what it means.

Content curation is an emerging and growing field because, as Mitchell Kapor said so aptly, “Getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant” and people need help sorting through and organizing it.

There are literally hundreds of of websites and apps you could explore. As I’ve said before, my go-to is to set up Google Alerts on topics I want to keep track of, such as my brand name and the phrase “tech savvy” to find quality content for my Friday Tech Savvy Roundup.

What Is Curated Content?

Curated content has been pre-selected, usually for a specific audience, to deliver high quality. Content curators love to do research and find all of the gems that, because of the sheer volume of information on the web, are hidden.

Once you tap into high quality streams of content, your life will get simpler and simpler.

Great Content

Here are two examples of awesome content curation:

Check them out for state-of-the-art web content.

7 Tools to Get You Started

I’ve test driven (read: curated) the following 7 tools so that you can begin to find and organize content that you love.

  1. Scoop.itLike Pinterest for posts and articles, Scoop.it features social sharing prominently. One cool add on is the ability to integrate with MailChimp for free.
  2. List.lyList.ly provides you with a cute way to social share lists of content that you curate. It has a slightly Twitter-like friendly vibe.
  3. Paper.liFun, stylish and easy to use (what more could you ask?), paper.li also serves a purpose. You can use it to provide an attractive daily stream of content to your audience.
  4. feedlySign into feedly with Google and organize your RSS feeds in a variety of attractive ways.
  5. ReduxThis is a cute idea gone a bit wrong. Unfortunately, when I used the site it was slow, slow, slow. Still, it’s like a personal YouTube channel but much smaller and friendlier.
  6. ContentGemsA little like Google Alerts, this app will send you a daily email digest of links based on an “interest” you select based on keywords you select. Handy.
  7. PearltreesFor a bit of a brain scramble, this site is best for two things: stream of conscious research and visually organizing your own brand. This is what you do: set yourself up as a pearl and then discover and add pearls around you.

The Good News

You can begin, with these tools, to curate your own content. Before you know it, you will be a resource, at first for fellow bright and beautiful beginners and then for the internet community as a whole.

The key is to get started and stay consistent.

Your Turn

What do you think? How valuable is curated content?

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