Here is an interesting post by Aaron Kahlow. He writes about the information curation potential of
social media in his post, 2010: Social Media Removes the Dam of
Gutenberg-Google. We certainly agree with his message.
Aaron begins with the effect of the printing press. It certainly opened up content distribution way beyond what the monks doing hand written work could accomplish. However, it established new controls over what content got out. You still needed to have the resources to set up a printing press, print and distribute works.
Now we have the Web and you might think the dam is broken. In one sense it has, as there are very few barriers to getting content out on the Web. In 2008 there was more content created than in the entire prior history. The trick is finding this content, especially the quality stuff. This is where Google has both helped and created a new bottleneck. As Aaron writes, “With only 10+ organic results and a similar number of paid results, consumers will only find content they seek in those 20 places -- with less than 20 percent being relevant as it relates to information they seek.” For example a search on “green card” will get you a lot of services that want to charge you money for what the US government does for free.
Aaron goes on to comment that social media can help break this new dam. Now we can “get good information through tweets of those we follow, Facebook Sharing, and from others within our networks who are usually connected online. We have a new discovery outlet and a new way to find stories, whether mainstream or from an unknown blogger. We find things based on recommendations of trusted colleagues, friends, etc.” This is how I found Aaron’s post.
Peter Cashmore raises a similar point in his predictions for 2010 than we commented on earlier (see Reflecting on Peter Cashmore's Web Trends to Watch in 2010). Peter wrote that, “The Web's biggest challenge of recent years is that content creation is outpacing our ability to consume it: "Information overload" has become an increasingly common complaint… In 2008, the answer revealed itself: Your friends are your filter… Increasingly, your friends are becoming the curators of your consumption.” I certainly agree here and Twitter has served this role for me. Much of what I write about on my blogs comes from my Twitter friends, including the link to Peter Cashmore’s predictions.
Aaron offers some good points to make effective use fo social media to get your content out. Instead of having to contact a prominent journalist to write a story about your company, you can use your own channels such as blogs to consistently write good content worth tweeting and sharing. You can also leverage your own social networks to start sharing content. These are all reasons that we write this blog and participate in Twitter and other social media.
Darwin Ecosystem Awareness Engine™ is designed to address this issue of finding relevant quality content without having to go through the filter of Google or other search engines. Unlike Google, it does not decide what content is most relevant but rather lays out the content related to your topic of interest in clusters of themes and lets you explore what themes interest you. (see: A Comparison of Google Web Search and the Darwin Awareness Engine™).
Darwin allows you to become your own curator for topics of your interest. You can also go beyond this to act as a curator for friends or colleagues You can set attractors on your topics of interest: people, places, concepts, and more. Then you can see what emerges. This can be especially valuable for niche areas. You can create your own online magazine. It can cover a much greater array of source than Google News and it will show the relationships between news items that emerge rather than simply displaying them. You can adjust your filters to further focus you’re your curation efforts. We see content curation as one of the major applications for the Darwin Awareness Engine™.
I like Aaron's conclusion about the effect of social media, "In the end, the winner is content. Good content, sharable content, and consumer-driven content will allow us all to have a broader spectrum of information and, for the marketer, an easier way to connect with their base." We hope to contribute to this outcome.
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