Social Media Club Book Review: “Curation Nation” by Steven Rosenbaum

I am grateful for the opportunity to be participating in the Social Media Club Book Club and to share my thoughts on the May selection, “Curation Nation” by Steven Rosenbaum. After reading this, I encourage you to add it to your reading list. Move it to the top if you can.

Before receiving the selection, I had been struggling both professionally and personally with the context of conversations I was having with people. This new obsession with context professionally, made me go back and rethink the strategic planning around my client’s brands and their audiences.  Personally, this led me to question whether or not I had let the ease and simplicity of digital tools such as text and email dilute the meaningful conversations I could be having with my family and friends. 

I have to admit that where I started this and where I landed after reading it were two very different places. I started a little overwhelmed and in a place of sheer panic by the vast sea of data and content and how to make this content more meaningful or create more context around the volume. In less than 300 pages, I moved closer to a place of feeling like I have an opportunity to balance the aggregation of content with the human element of curation to create the missing context which is so meaningful and really the gold. So, maybe I am yet a master curator (btw, that should be a degree) but I now feel like I have some additional tools, solid knowledge and additional best practices to help my curation practice and my clients brave the waters together.

Through a curation process of his own utilizing a network of digital strategists and brand leaders, author Rosenbaum lays the foundation for the need for curation of the massive amounts of data out there and the importance of the human element in the curation of this data. He also helps to define the role of the curator with clarity around both amateur and professional curation and the place for each.

“Curation Nation” also walks through the steps, tools and techniques supporting the curation process for those readers bold enough to take the leap and some real life examples of brands impacted by implementing the curation process.

What is beautiful about this book is that it is neither a “how to guide” or a “you must do it this way” instructional. It clearly opens the readers eyes to the opportunity for the role of curators to be more than an editor. “Curation Nation” shines a light on the need for more “human collaboration” and Internet Curators to create more meaningful context around Internet content. Rosenbaum identifies the role of emerging Internet Curators that “require a sense of the relationship between words, images, spaces and shapes”. The Internet Curator will put humans back in charge and changing, not eliminating the role of aggregation and the clear lesson learned that “you can’t supersede human editing”. Amen!

There are many great examples of this throughout the book, but my favorite chapter talks a lot about the development and success of The Huffington Post model of curation.  The Huffington Post model allows content makers to now become content curators and their curation model is phenomenal. I could go on, but just dive into this chapter and you will be inspired. Huffington said is best, “people don’t want to just consume information. They want to participate. Recognizing that impulse, is the future of journalism”.  You have to read the book to really appreciate this. As a graduate from journalism school now working in the digital world, I found this inspiring.

This book resonated with me in many unexpected ways. First, it called out what I had been afraid to admit out loud to my colleagues for a long time. I have been feeling overwhelmed by the volume of digital content and data and the volume of sources. How much is too much? But it’s not only the volume, but also the voracity of the speed in which this data is hurling towards us.  “Curation Nation” points out that in 2003, five exabyte's of data was created. In 2011, this much data is created EVERY TWO DAYS. For those of us working to build solid and meaningful content strategies, it’s like drinking through a fire hose.

Being a digital and social media strategist in the sports and entertainment industry, I find that the more my clients become educated (self or with the help of firms, advisors, etc.) in the online content world, the more they think they need to be everything to everyone in their area of expertise or brand. Interestingly as a strategist, I gravitate more towards turning down the volume and believe that less is more. “Curation Nation” has helped me to understand that this crossroad is where curation steps in. Brands can now find a balance between telling their stories and the very public ways consumer conversations about their brands are being had.

Read “Curation Nation” and attend the webinar when the information is posted. Rosenbaum and his team of curation experts artfully open the door to the changing world of creation and aggregation to a new world of curation.

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