I’m a Content Curator…Get Me Out Of Here!!

Amongst the insightful, and some not-so-insightful, comments emanating from the recent Social Media Week London was one about content that seemed to slightly slip under the radar but was visible enough to be picked up and mentioned in a few presentations since…

…namely that a leading supermarket chain (oh go on then, Asda) delete any update that hasn’t attracted at least 100 likes within 5 minutes.

Now I find that fairly extreme content curation, the kind of thing you could build a reality show around – gather a group of community managers, let them create or find some content, and watch the twitchy fingers as they decide whether to hit delete or wait a few more minutes, send out a few more tweets, and try and get those likes.

Of course it raises the question of what type of content can pass the 5 minute/100 like test – particularly if you’re not a major consumer brand and have to rely on a healthy mix of curating third party content as well as creating your own, with the bias usually on the former.

This question was perfectly illustrated a couple of Mondays ago as two pieces of content popped in to my timeline almost simultaneously.

First up was this blog from my friend Doug Shaw looking at the importance of taking time out to have lunch with colleagues, break bread, chat, share and generally be social. If you’ve heard Doug speak you’ll know this is one of his pet topics, and rightly so.

Not long afterwards followed this piece on Metro online. Someone has made small plastic knives, forks and spoons that fit on the top of your pen, meaning that you barely have to break stride from in front of your screen when you want lunch. No need to head for the kitchen to stretch your legs and look for cutlery.

The two pieces are from opposite ends – one suggesting we use lunch to have a break, the other helping to ensure that lunch makes no dent in your productive hours.

So in my game of Extreme Content Curation which one would you go for?

Doug’s piece, framed and shared in the right way, should certainly spark some debate and chatter within your community, particularly if you’re working around the HR, Recruitment, Workforce, Management space. The value of a lunch break, the aid to collaboration, knowledge sharing and conversation pitted against the structure of a working day.

But on the other hand, the Metro piece has great images – ready made for hitting the like button without actually reading what it’s about – and novelty value. No doubt many would think it was a good, even fun, idea even if they shared Doug’s view of how your lunch should be taken.

So let me know what you would do.

The clock’s ticking.

And & Dec are waiting to interview the losers.

You’ve got to choose one piece to share and frame.

And there’s five minutes to get the likes…

…which piece would you go for?

(Image via Radio Times)

Disclaimer – this blog in no way intends to infer that chasing likes at all costs is in any way a social media strategy that should be pursued