That's a constant feedback we get at Scoop.it : people initially perceived it as a tool but its long term value is more to be a community platform, something we've seen happening and encouraged by introducing social features such as suggestions, follow, re-scoop, etc... (http://blog.scoop.it/en/2011/07/18/explore-the-scoop-it-community/).
And when you combine curation with a topic centric approach, this community aspect becomes even stronger as now people can identify similar interests.
Interestingly, I didn't discover this post myself but through Giuseppe Mauriello's topic, (which happen to overlap with mine to some extent while we both have our own editorial line and style). And looking further, I also realized Jan Gordon presented this post as well, also showing excitement on the idea of creating a community through curation, something I wasn't surprised by as I had a chance to discuss that with her at the last 140 conference. (See her post here: http://www.scoop.it/t/content-curation-social-media/p/457527605/creating-community-by-curating-content ). So from being initially the only curator on this topic, I had the pleasure and satisfaction to see a number of other curators cover it and add their own thoughts, context and vision to the subject, progressively building ties with one another and making connections and conversations.
This community effect is now fully at work. Not just on this topic but on many others.
Via Giuseppe Mauriello
thank you so much for sharing and mention!