The Question for Curation & Aggregation Continues

byRMcGrane

257 followers

10 years ago

I am still in search of a content plugin to assist me with content aggregation/curation. I am looking for one that works out of the box with minimal set up. The ones I’ve tested so far have by and large over promised and under delivered. I do a lot of reading on my own but do not always pull it together in a manner, which would make sense for my average reader. It is important for me to provide a curated stream of content supporting my thought process for my readers to reference on their own.

For those not familiar with aggregation/curation let me share the “text book” definitions of each:

1. Content aggregation is the act of bringing together articles on a similar topic, grouping them together with no additional commentary or annotation.
   • Google Reader or Google Alerts are aggregators.
2. Content curation is the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest with additional commentary or annotation.
   • Alltop.com is an excellent example of a curated content site.

You cannot curate content without some form of aggregation.

You can aggregate content without any form of curation.

In the past content aggregation was a go to method of “auto blogging”. One would simply pull RSS feeds to display as content on their website. That worked well when consumers were still in the true peruse mindset. Today’s consumer is looking for more answers & support with less time invested.

This means in addition to writing our own content and aggregating great content from others that we now must also include finding and rating content displayed on our website.

Doing a weekly curated blog post or newsletter is a great way to let your readers know you are not only thinking of them but also, actively engaged in finding tips, ideas, products or other resources to make their life better.

You can leverage the built in features of Wordpress to easily share your curated content with with subscribers of you can use other newsletter options.

I hope the extra information on aggregation vs. curation is helpful. I promise I will share the actual plugins as soon as I’ve found one or more that pass my test.

Be well!
Rebecca McGrane
Call/text me if I can help 513-760-6018