The fundamental issues as perceived on my own and by peers I have spoken to are as follows:
- As curators we want web tools to be as flexible as possible in terms of what portions of content to save. So far this is a goal to pursue and not a reality.
- Search. Whatever tools we use need to have the ability to search for content across all platforms on the internet including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, news sites, streaming media, etc. The curation tools that best search and deliver relevant content will be at the top of my own list.
- Customization. I want the ability to design the page of content I am presenting in a variety of formats akin to customizable templates in Blogger or Word Press.
- Support. As long as a company has a timely response support team, I feel comfortable both using web tools and recommending them to others.
- Longevity. I would really like to feel the tools I am committing to using for forward facing marketing projects will still be around in 5 years.
Keepstream is one of the tools I believe could end up delivering the level of flexibility desired in a content curation tool. Personally I'd love to see the guys from Cleveland get the opportunity to continue the project. Professionally I am urgently awaiting the type of web content curation tool that makes my life easier and my clients happy at the same time.
See a recent collection embedded below using Keepstream's auto-generated embed code below. Connect with Greg Ackerman here.
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 | Sooner or later, something hit's the ground #80's #mumbling #thebeat #notheotherbeat #theenglishbeat #itunes | |
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 | Gonna havta miss #theenglishbeat tonight...:/ | |
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 | FREE-FOR-ALL SUNDAY: The English Beat - "Save it For Later" This tune has been bouncing around my brain since I... http://fb.me/u8cr0EKT | |
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 | Wow, my old Ladies from the 80s Barbie doll slideshow is 4th top slideshow on Examiner Austin right now and English Beat is #1! | |
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 | The official Bad Manners and English Beat after party is here at Bull Mc Cabes after the thursday night Emos... http://fb.me/GHLTtTpx | |
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 | @leebert oh rock on - you're coming too? I'll be there until I leave to see The English Beat at Emos. | |
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 | RT @g_ack: Check the great pics @germanfrancie posted w/ "English Beat and Bad Manners play at Emo's in Austin, TX" http://exm.nr/8XO3I ... | |
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 | RT @g_ack: Check the great pics @germanfrancie posted w/ "English Beat and Bad Manners play at Emo's in Austin, TX" http://exm.nr/8XO3Ir | |
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 | English Beat plays at Emo's in Austin, Dave Wakeling chats with Examiner http://bit.ly/cqhD7n | |
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 | English Beat plays at Emo's in Austin, Dave Wakeling chats with Examiner: The current English Beat US lineup featu... http://bit.ly/bDpONy | |
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 | (Dont) Save it for Later: The English Beat's Dave Wakeling, Interviewed: You had songs like "End of the Party," wh... http://bit.ly/dnfbYV | |
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 | http://bit.ly/rvguY English Beat plays at Emo's in Austin, Dave Wakeling chats with Examiner http://bit.ly/cR6O19 | |
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 | (Dont) Save it for Later: The English Beat's Dave Wakeling, Interviewed: The movement became known as the second w... http://bit.ly/abuW2f | |
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 | (Dont) Save it for Later: The English Beat's Dave Wakeling, Interviewed: With some water under the bridge, you hav... http://bit.ly/9ZRn8C | |
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 | English Beat plays at Emo's in Austin, Dave Wakeling chats with Examiner: The English Beat played on Thursday, Sep... http://bit.ly/9ozpT0 | |
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| @jenkcunningham LOL! It's ok. Dave Wakeling comes to Austin fairly often. He'll be back in ATX sooner than you think. cc: @germanfrancie | |
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| Here's my Examiner article about the English Beat and my interview with Dave Wakeling! http://exm.nr/beatinaustin http://fb.me/H6XPrEKk | |
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| This is a classic interview with Dave Wakeling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFpqZMKZ4YI | |
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| Greg took this awesome pic of Dave Wakeling and I http://twitpic.com/2kv6jn | |
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| At Emo's. Just left Dave Wakeling's tour bus and now I'm hanging out on the bleachers. | |
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| @mikesnavely Yup. Just ate dinner with Dave Wakeling. Great guy. #TheEnglishBeat | |
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 | @g_ack as in "mirror in the bathroom" and "save it for later" English Beat? | |
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| Dinner w/ @germanfrancie and Dave Wakeling (@ Habana Restaurant & Bar) http://4sq.com/91bA4f | |
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| Photo: Dave Wakeling and the English Beat ~ Soundcheck — at Emo's http://gowal.la/c/2qkuu?139 | |
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| #nowplaying General Public with Dave Wakeling & Ranking Roger - Tenderness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmoHQ2DC3zo | |
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 | RT @DumbingAmerica: Check out our interview with Dave Wakeling from The English Beat who are appearing @emosaustin tonight! http://bit.l ... | |
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 | Check out our interview with Dave Wakeling from The English Beat who are appearing @emosaustin tonight! http://bit.ly/6YDyc6 | |
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Great post Greg. My comment has more to do with content curation on the whole, and less about Keepstream, which I don't have any experience with, short of meeting its very nice founders.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that it's essential to have tools like this that help you find what you're looking for faster, but I do get nervous when it comes to having a narrow viewfinder. Maybe it's a bit theoretical, but I get concerned when we're exposed only to highly customized info- edited by ourselves or a curator.
It reminds me of that Googlezon video on customization of content (youtube EPIC2015 if you don't know what I'm referring to). If we throw our blinders on and move forward only keeping the relevant in focus, we limit ourselves from being exposed to challenging/opposing ideas.
Not to mention, curation brings up issues of attribution, and editorializing people's content that this Mashable article oh-so-briefly mentions: http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/content-curation-creation
As a PR/marketing person, I too share the need to collect data to show a client, but I just worry from a larger personal/non-professional standpoint what curation will mean for the internet in the long-run.
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for commenting. I value your opinion.
I HAVE seen that disturbing Googlezon video. It made me think of the film, "Idiocracy". Will our media be dumbed down or up?
I understand your concerns about filtering (I read the Mashable post). That is why I suggested that folks like ourselves depend on people we TRUST and respect to curate content for us.
My example is Ian Greenleigh of Bazaarvoice who I respect professionally and know personally. Although he is not the only person I read, I both enjoy reading content he creates AND curates. I trust that he'll pass along information that is both relevant and of value.
Think about how society shared news prior to the advent of the internet. Who was making the decisions about what is news then? How do those "filters" differ from content curators?
My point is simple. We are exposed to constant flows of information in real-time. We cannot possibly consume all of the data, therefore we rely on people to tell us what data (news) to pay attention to. Is that any different than letting program managers at TV news stations tell you what is news? Or a newspaper, online news site, etc. I believe the scenarios are similar.
The big advantage we have today is we KNOW there are alternatives to where we get our information. The question then becomes how discriminating are content consumers? Any more so than TV watchers? Maybe. Maybe the popularity of blogs and regular people as news sources will mean content consumers are more intelligent about evaluating data. Maybe that's wishful thinking.
In any case, we're still free to blog/write about whatever we choose. We're creating our OWN news in Austin via people like Tolly and Jennie Chen, etc who influence established media locally by their content creation (and amazing events).
I think the opportunities (for writers) are wonderful and I wish I had not had to wait until now for technology to catch up with the idea of the information superhighway. But I'm sure glad it did. I'm having a blast. :)
Nice work Greg! I really like the post & loved how you included the usage of @keepstream below you actual blog post. Nice tie-in. The comments here are really good too. Thanks for taking your time to help out the community & I look forward to see what the keepstream does in the next year. I will have to check'em out now.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog posts. I've read a couple already. I have a hunch you're going to be as good a blogger as you are Twitter user and human being.
That is all. :)