13 Nov 2009

The Next Big Trend? It's All About Curation

Fact: Information sources are exploding. More information will be created in 2009 than all prior years.

Fact: Attention is finite. We're becoming media agnostic, but when we're interested in something we dig down into our interests.

This is why I and others like Robert Scoble are really excited about digital curation. Facebook and Twitter lists are one level of curation. However, there are others. Posterous and Tumblr are fantastic platforms for soliciting contributions from groups of people around a shared interest. And they're platforms that will enable all of us to curate together.

Here are a handful of places where you can see curation at work (more in the gallery below as well) ...
  • My Parents Were Awesome is a group-contributed tumbelog that honors our elders. It has received national recognition.
  • PopURLs Brown by UPS curates information all around business news (UPS is an Edelman client but we didn't build this site)
  • Microsoft and Nissan have built entire brandstreaming sites that showcase conversations around their brand (Edelman built the Nissan site)
  • Sawhorse Media is creating a next generation media company by curating tweets in different topics like pets and now lists too
  • IBM is using Tumblr to curate ideas for a smarter planet
Do you agree that curation - both automated and human-powered - is the next big thing? This isn't just aggregation. As I wrote in my initial post on the subject it's about separating art from junk online.

           
Click here to download:
The_Next_BIg_Trend_Its_All_Abo.zip (1779 KB)

2 Nov 2009

Julio Ojeda-Zapata on the Potential for Newspaper Storystreaming

via Posterous powers "storystreaming" at the Pioneer Press

Julio Ojeda-Zapata explainsl how the St. Paul Pioneer Press used Posterous to solicit photos from readers in reporting the Packers-Vikings game over the weekend.

11 Oct 2009

Posterous Catches Friendfeed

Data via trends.google.com

Since it was acquired, I have basically abandoned Friendfeed. I love the service, but I am waiting to see how the team integrates it into Facebook.

Unsurprisingly, traffic to the Friendfeed site has plummeted since the acquisition in August. And Posterous now has nearly as much traffic (Posterous is the red line above), but trails Tumblr by a wide margin and Twitter by light years.

What does this say about the future of lifestreaming services? I still see a big space in between in between blogs and Twitter that allows you to have a hub and spoke strategy and post in multiple formats. That's one reason I am bullish about both Posterous and Tumblr.

30 Aug 2009

Lifestreaming: Newspaper Uses Posterous to Solicit and Publish Reader Photos

You're probably sick of me talking about Posterous, but it's been about a year since I have been this excited by a new platform and its potential to change how we publish. I don't know what the future is for the company (and no, they aren't a client), but I love its simplicity, its hub and spoke model and its collaborative features. But don't just take my word for it. Check out how others are innovating.

John Bridges, a reporter with the Austin American Statesman, today is using Posterous to solicit and publish reader photos documenting a "day in the sun." Readers can submit their photos via email to post@austinheat.posterous.com and then approved images get added to an aggregate Posterous site you can find here. Brilliant.

I bet that others in the media will catch on soon and realize what you can do with this elegant, simple platform. We often overlook that the media helped Twitter go nuclear. Friendfeed was a bit to geeky to engender the same response, but Posterous I bet is simple enough that the media will start to put it to use in creative ways. This is the first example I have seen.
28 Aug 2009

Lifestreaming: Follow Your Posterous Peeps with RSS

As I mentioned last night, as more of my friends join Posterous and use it as a hub to populate their I am becoming a huge fan of their built in reader. It's helping me discover all kinds of new, substantive content that is hard to find in Twitter or even multiple blog RSS feeds. Today I found out you can actually subscribe to the Posterous peeps you follow via RSS. Here's how.

First, visit posterous.com/reader in your browser. If you're using Firefox, Safari or IE, the RSS icon should light up. Then all you need to do is subscribe to that feed. I am wondering if this one day will become my preferred input channel - especially if Posterous becomes as real-time as Friendfeed, Facebook and Twitter. It still feels slow right now, like blogging. Then again, much of the content already finds its way into all three sites. So this might be moot. Still, for now, it's cool for me.
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Steve Rubel's Posterous

Steve Rubel (bio) is SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, a division of Edelman - the world's largest independent PR firm.

He is charged with helping clients identify emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing communications programs. Rubel also explores these topics on his site and in monthly columns for Forbes.com and Advertising Age. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Steve can be reached via email at steverubel@gmail.com.

Note: Everything posted on this site is Steve's personal opinion. It does not represent the views of Edelman or its clients.

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