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This guest post is by Beth Kanter for Socialbrite and this is great for curators just starting out or a refresher for those of you who have been doing this for a while.

 

She tells you why curation is an important tool in your content strategy and gives you some good suggestions on how to do it effectively which I'm going to focus on here. Curation requires time and energy, and Beth's process really works because I'm doing this myself.

 

Here's what caught my attention:

 

Manage you attention, not just your time

 

**Don't just create a to-do list; lay it out on a daily and weekly schedules, breaking down key tasks of the project into chunks.

 

**Consider the level of concentration and focus that each type of task or chunk requires and schedule accordingly

 

**Establish rituals: Rituals in your work life are valuable. A mindmap offers a lot of good suggestions for rituals

 

**Managing email and other distractions: Turn off notifications that pop up on your computer, iPad or moble.

 

**Just say no - it's important to engage with your community on social networks but you have to find the right balance. When you're curating, it requires focus, it's best to schedule this first, then do your community management, check your email unless something requires your immediate attention. When you have a plan, it makes everything easier.

 

Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Curation, Social Business and Beyond"

 

See full article here: [http://bit.ly/MyQ1Nw]

Via janlgordon

Beth Kanter wrote a very complete and interesting piece in NTEN's latest edition of their quarterly journal for non-profit leaders. You have to download the journal but it's worth it and it's free (you just need to register). 

 

Jan Gordon: I agree with Guillaume, Beth Kanter knows what she's talking about and her article is definitely worth reading.

 

Guillaume Decugis wrote this commentary:

 

"It's been fascinating for me to see how non-profits seem to embrace Social Media in general and Content Curation in particular - Beth of course being a key advocate in that move.

 

The broader take-away that I see for those of us in all sorts of organizations, as independant professionals or SMB-owners is the validation it brings to the model. When tightly-budgeted NPO's embrace a practice as a group, you can bet they're not wasting their scarce resources on a hype. They have to be efficient and as Beth puts it in the article: "Putting content curation into practice is part art form, part science, but mostly about daily practice. You don’t need to do it for hours, but 20 minutes every day will help you develop and hone the skills."

 

This is precisely where we see the opportunity with curation for professionals: building up a good practice that fits with one's daily routine and that -as Beth puts it - brings great "unexpected benefits".

 

Selected by gdecugis and Jan Gordon covering "Content Curation, Social Business and Beyond"

 

Read full article here: [http://tinyurl.com/75ucphe]

Via gdecugis, janlgordon