Content curation isn’t a new idea but the practice has exploded in popularity in the past year. Thanks to the never-ending flow of information on every subject imaginable in social media, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There’s a lot of quality writing going on, but how do you keep up with what you need to know?

I rely on my favorite content curators to showcase information that’s relevant to me, and I try to do the same thing for my network of followers and connections.

What is content curation?

Simply put, it’s the act of finding and sharing information (e.g. blogs, news articles, websites, etc.) with your followers through your social media profiles. It can be as formal as the MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog, whose editorial team “cuts through all of this marketing noise to find the experts and in-the-trenches marketers who know what they are talking about.” Or it can be as informal as you sharing links to articles you find useful with your connections.

Why should you be a content curator?

Sharing quality content with your network of followers increases your credibility in your subject matter areas. It also establishes you as more than just a consumer of information – you’re also someone who’s willing to share your knowledge for the benefit of your network. And the more good information you share, the more you’ll become known as someone worth following.

There’s another huge benefit though. Assuming you’re making the effort to read the articles before sharing them (and that’s a must), you’re learning more and more about what’s happening in your field.

It’s important that you don’t take the easy way out and just blindly hit the share button though. As Mark Traphagen and Phil Buckley pointed out in one of their recent SEO Roadshows, a lot of authors have learned to put their share buttons at the top of their articles, not just at the bottom where you’d expect them to be. They know they’ll get a lot of tweets and shares just because the audience knows who the writer is and assumes it’s good stuff. Don’t do that. Read the stuff first.

It’s generally understood that the best way to learn something is to teach it. You’re almost there if you’re reading good quality material, understanding it, and then sharing it with your followers.

So, are you a content curator?