Please Choose for Me

January 17, 2011

Posted in Web Industry.

My inbox is full. My feed reader is full. Twitter is overflowing with links, articles, blog posts, and other great content that I just can’t miss.

But I do miss it. The signal-to-noise ratio is low, and I need help. In the last five minutes, I’ve seen 11 articles roll by on my twitter feed. If I took the time to simply skim them all (say, 30 seconds each), I would end up needing 5 and a half minutes. In other words, I get exposed to more content than I could possibly ever read. I’m sure you get even more.

Strawberry picking in Japan by http://www.flickr.com/photos/rumpleteaser/3297271474/

Yet when I check my email and see a newsletter from Karine Joly or Bob Johnson, I always open it. When Nick Denardis posts his Friday links on his blog, I always read it. And when Twitter is ablaze with retweets of a link, I usually click through.

What do these have in common? I trust them to choose content for me.

Over time, Karine, Bob, and Nick have gained my trust by producing excellent content of their own. Next, they have taken the time to find and collect great content from our industry. Finally, they’ve demonstrated selectivity and shared the best of this content – the must-see links – with the rest of us. And Twitter? I may not click every link from every person I follow, but when something pops up often enough it’s probably worth checking out.

With so much content and too many sources to consider, it is impractical for most of us to keep tabs on it all. Rather than let things entirely drop, I seek out reliable curators who allow the best content to bubble up to me.

As choices continue to grow, we will not seek out the content but the trusted choosers who can narrow it down for us. And at some point, your relevance will be tied to whether they decide to choose your content to share.

5 Comments

  1. chas — January 19, 2011

    Thanks, Karine. I was worried you’d forgotten my name. :)

  2. Dave — January 19, 2011

    It’s interesting how the downfall of traditional media ties directly into your post. News organizations were responsible for weeding out the crap and brining “you” the most important information.

    The problem is that “you” was defined by the largest group that would care about the news topics… And well it still is.

    Internet media, blogs, and social media has created sub-audiences that are narrowly focused to cater to a more defined taste.

    Sadly, it’s hard to make money off such a defined (read: small) audience…. Why do I work in traditional media again?

  3. Karine Joly — January 18, 2011

    Happy you find the newsletter useful, Chad. That’s exactly its goal.

  4. Karine Joly — January 18, 2011

    And, obviously, I meant “Chas” not “Chad”

  5. Candie Woofter — February 02, 2011

    Appreciating the time and energy you put into your site and in depth information you provide. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information. Great read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.