Less noise and better content!

Monday, 4 june 2018 | Redacción CEU

There has never been so many media and channels as there are today. Neither has there been so much information published on the Net. Everyone seems to agree on the certainty of the overused phrase "content is king". But many forget the proverb that says "less is often more" when they follow the principle of "something is better than nothing". This commitment to the production without measure of content is having serious consequences on the Internet, like the infoxication or the viralization of fake news. Content curators are one of the main characters that landed on the Net to combat the evils of overinformation and the lack of quality in digital media. The mission of these digital "superheroes" is clear: searching, filtering, elaborating, adding value and sharing content, but withou t causin g more information noise.

Last year was marked by the proliferation of fake news and the debate about the arrival of the post-truth era, that it is still open. There are more and more voices that warn about the possible risks of the lack of quality in the dissemination of content in digital media. For example, according to the latest update of the report of the ONTSI (Spanish Telecommunications and Information Society  Observatory) called Ciudadanos ante la e-sanidad (Citizens before e-health), more than 60.5% of Spaniards use the Internet to consult information about health and 22.3% do it through social networks. If this health information is not treated properly, it can cause ser ious pro blems. Anti-vaccination movements or news about produ cts that prevent or cause cancer have caused alarm to those professionals within the health industry.

Journalists are also aware of the need for greater contrast and verification of the content that is circulating on the Internet in the health field, but also in the rest of the fields. They warn of problems such as the lack of investment in newsrooms, the risk of going with the flow of the speed that this new digitized age demands or the dangers of false news spreading.

Thanks to the Internet and social media, brands now also have a voice on the Internet, just like ordinary citizens. On the other hand, the overinformation and the production of low quality content have become a constant on the Net. This is one of the reasons why the figure of the content curator becomes so crucial in the management of the current social media.

Content that makes the difference

The content curation became popular as a result of an article published by Rohit Bhargava in 2009 called Manifesto for the content curator that predicted the important of the professionals focusing on the appropriate care of the content in the media in the near future. He was not mistaken. In fact, this profession bears the name proposed in his manifesto. However, this new job has remarkable precedents in journalists, documentarists and marketing professio nals. It could be said that the content curators' final mission is based on the previous experience and knowledge of these professions.

A simplistic view of content curation would reduce it to a mere information filtering. But the exercise of this profession involves more than an adequate selection of content, it also requires good judgment and an adequate adaptation of the content to the strategy, the editorial line and the target audience, without ever losing the focus, the quality nor generating more noise.

On the other hand, the presence of a brand on the Internet does not always pursue direct sales. A solid and consolidated reputation on the Net also makes it possible to persuade a greater number of clients in the offline terrain. A brand is distinguished by the content that it publishes. If it becomes a source of information for users, its prestige and authority in the sphere can grow. A good care of content generates trust between users and grants personality to the brand.