Curators Resurface Creators
The combination of a creator and a curator’s work helps the right people see the right content at the right moment. And everyone wins.
There’s stellar content out there on the internet that you’ll never find. Not because you didn’t browse enough, but because that content is technically inaccessible.
There’s stellar content out there on the internet that you’ll never find. Not because you didn’t browse enough, but because that content is technically inaccessible.
Just like visiting the remotest area of a library, some of the best work you could find is buried somewhere in the depths of search engine pages. The chances of you coming across that content are slim, and I mean slim, like winning the lottery. Unless, of course, you’re willing to scavenge the web for hours on end. Yet, as we know, nobody has enough time or brain storage for that.
Just for reference, there are over 50M creators in the world. Fifty million. That’s almost the entire population of England if you need a reference. Now, suppose that each of those creators followed the recommended publishing schedule of at least two articles a week, besides other types of content creation like designing and posting visuals. This would amount to at least 100M of content in a single week. There’s no way in hell a human being would have enough brainpower, time, or patience to consume all of that.
However, the above statistics were just for illustration purposes. Surely, out of those 50M content creators, not all of them are good creators – and the average person only follows the work of a handful of them. That’s just the truth. Not to mention, the web is riddled with duplicate content, filler content, and just plain noise.
So, if there’s so much noise and so many “bad apples” on our way to seeking reliable information, how can we separate the commonplace from the outstanding? How can we make sure every piece of content we read gets many well-deserved thumbs up from authoritative sources?
This is a job for the best curators and creators of our generation.
Creators and Curators: A Mutual (and Essential) Relationship
Some say there are 300M+ curators for those 50M+ creators in the world. That means we have the gears turning in our favor: we have hundreds of millions of curators working hard to categorize the near-endless array of choices we have.
That said, are they being rightfully compensated for their significant work? For reference purposes, let’s take a look at a few more figures.
The average market size of the Creator Economy is around $100B+. As for the Curator Economy, I believe that it should have a bigger market size due to the hard work it takes and the results it provides. Although quality curation is a tough assignment, most of those millions of curators won’t receive a single penny for their job. For this reason, I estimate the market size of content curation to be $300B. If it were well-monetized, we could double this number.
Both curators and creators should be well-recognized for their jobs, which have increasingly simplified our lives. Creators provide us with valuable material with the click of a few buttons, while curators inject their masterful perspectives into them.
Let’s understand a bit more about these two fields and why they matter so much in today’s world.
What’s a Curator? What’s a Creator? And How Exactly Do They Help Each Other?
A creator is a professional who conceptualizes, develops, and distributes material to educate or entertain a specific audience or segment. They pore through research – as well as their inner repertoire – in order to create that material. Finally, they implement creativity and marketing knowledge into their work. This knowledge supplies them with things like what to say, how to say it, when to post it, and who to target.
As for curators, they’re the people who study that already published content and, based on niche and experience, select the most relevant material to present to that same specific audience. The difference? Curators will let their audience know all about the fundamentals through an additional expert or unique perspective. They’re the ones who will be connecting the best content to the people who need to see it.
The combination of a creator and a curator’s work helps the right people see the right content at the right moment. And everyone wins.
Without creators, curators wouldn’t have meaningful content to sort through.
Without curators, the important work of creators wouldn’t be able to be resurfaced.
Without both, a bonanza of content would still be obscured by the waves of fresh and sometimes unremarkable pieces that surface every second.
Did you know even the most recognizable author living today, Stephen King, couldn’t sell his additional works under the pen name of Richard Bachman? Every book King published sold millions, while Richard Bachman remained relatively unknown. King was a legend, while Bachman was a nobody… until when Steve Brown, a book store clerk in Washington, D.C., noticed the similarity of writing styles between King and Bachman. This phenomenon happened to J.K. Rowling, the world's highest-earning author, too. Curators resurface creators.
Knowing this is essential for readers to learn where to go. These would be platforms where creation, curation, and knowledge-seeking meet. Instead of relying on search engines and books alone, they’d strengthen their findings by consuming more of a richer selection in the right places, where the right people are.
Remember: First-to-Minds Always Win. Especially When Combined With the Social Aspect.
Does it really matter that a piece of content is unique, relevant, and expertise-based if the people who need to see it don’t have access to it? From the viewpoint of achieving something, we could say “yes”. Now, as far as reaching the right readers, the answer is a sad “no”.
Even established creators need expert help to have their content recognized. That’s why there are practices such as SEO and content marketing available today: so people can continuously fight for higher relevance and rankings. That’s also why curators exist: so they can point out content as reference pieces on a certain topic, increasing its chances of being shared over and over again. The more it’s shared, the better. In the end, first-to-mind always wins.
Through curation, it’s easier to leave one’s learnings, interests, and help others find a tribe or community they should belong to. However, as “easy” as it may sound, it also takes qualifications and work. You’re not simply suggesting random articles or videos to someone – though that’s a widespread notion about what curators really do.
As a nature of curation, it should contain a social aspect. That means curation can help other people find something or master something in less time and with greater focus. The main role of curation is that of facilitating our lives: by sifting through the most enlightening material out there and helping us digest the most useful bits through comments, highlights, and references.
Both Creators and Curators Need the Same Thing to Succeed: Exposure and Marketing
The keyword here is “connections”.
Curators are natural learners. They want to connect themselves and other people to their favorite creators. They also want to bring their readers closer to top-quality content that supports facts and field knowledge. It’s their job!
Yet, for them to be known as a reliable source, curators need to work on their web presence. Being active on social media and following people in their niche are smart ways of achieving that. The social aspect matters. A lot.
As for content curation as a marketing strategy, it's extremely effective to start conversations about the things that interest an audience. Due to this, so many people include content curation in their content strategy: to generate engagement and become an authority in a certain field.
Curators and creators should meet in the middle. Amazing creators put research and talent into their work, marketing their content well enough to have a solid online presence. The curator – who’s also looking for amazing content to analyze and reference – finds the creator, and is able to further explore their body of work.
Interestingly, the creators in question could have published a certain piece years ago. It doesn’t have to be fresh! As long as they leave their findings and those findings are accurate, the right people can still resurface and source those pieces. Even better, the curated work can be analyzed and transformed into a learning footprint for posterity.
“Learning footprint” is something I like to use to describe the steps followed throughout a learning process – be they notes, highlights, scribbles, or anything that helps a future reader contextualize that learning experience.
The relationship between a creator and a curator is a mutual one, and both sides need work to get there. For learners and readers, the fastest path to experience the best of both worlds would be to meet those experts at their popular spots.
Where Do Readers, Creators, and Curators Hang Out?
The three specimens above tend to hang out where they’ll get to speed up their learning process by communicating with like-minded people.
Newsletter platforms like Substack are a great example of that. They’re also an example of how much selective group creators and curators are a part of.
Substack is a platform that makes it easy for creators to monetize their email subscriptions. On the flip side, it’s where readers go to receive great insights and roundups from writers they like.
As an avid reader, you may find that fascinating. However, someone who isn’t keen on reading would likely wonder what’s so interesting about that. Why would anyone pay a monthly subscription fee for a weekly newsletter…if that’s something they can get on their inbox for free?
The answer to that question: those people are extremely particular about the content they choose to consume. Just like readers of The New Yorker or Forbes, they’d pay big money if that meant receiving high-quality content from people they value. They’re not there just for the content, by the way – they’re there for the creators, as well as the exclusive knowledge they’ll have access to.
Speaking of hanging out, another great addition to the mix is Glasp. Glasp is a Social Web Highlighter (emphasis on social) where users can highlight and leave notes on articles. Their learning footprint is then made public, so other users can benefit from their unique learning experiences.
Are You a Reader? A Creator? A Curator? Or All Three?
Creator or curator, everyone's a reader first. Ideas and inspiration don’t simply manifest themselves like a muse – they must come from somewhere. Or rather, from someone.
Whether you’re looking to put your content in front of the right people or simply trying to find better sources of information, your journey will be shorter if you just go where the knowledge-seekers spend their time.
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See you next time,
Kazuki