Curation

The curator relationship operates at a fundamentally different psychological level than advertising. An algorithm might know you like blue Oxford shirts, but a tastemaker knows why a particular blue Oxford matters in a lineage of blue Oxfords. This contextual knowing, placing objects in historical and cultural frameworks rather than recommendation ... See more

A recommendation from Emily Sundberg's Feed Me isn't an endorsement; it's an anointing. The mechanism isn't mysterious: curators build trust not by being right but by being wrong in interesting ways. They earn the right to be occasionally mystifying because they've proven they're making actual choices rather than optimising for metrics. This explai... See more

The critical distinction is that today's gatekeepers derive authority not from institutional power but from demonstrated discernment. Cultural capital now flows to those who can navigate overwhelming abundance with skill and intention.

"The most credible form of advertising comes straight from the people we know and trust. Eighty-three percent of online respondents in 60 countries say they trust the recommendations of friends and family". - Nielsen 2015

Curation as a Service (or CaaS) - I believe, as the amount of content on the web increases, there will inevitably be a need for more human curators. People who are domain experts (or have an obsession with a topic) that can sift through the garbage and collect the gems.

The ingredients of ‘good’ curation

I think great curation comes down to five key elements that span the processes of searching, selection and contextualizing:

1. Preservation: Caring for, reviving or resurfacing things that might otherwise be lost or forgotten in archives or streams.


2. Connection: Inspiring moments of surprise –, “I didn’t think of that

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Give users of all platforms the right to customize or opt out of algorithms—choosing chronological or geographical or genre-based filtering or even human curation.