My Simple and Free Curation Tool

There are a lot of curation tools for all the social media and news sites that you use. There’s simply too much to read so some kind of system to organize it all is necessary. I needed one and you probably do too.

The Tool I Use

My very simple “Read it Later” is email. I send myself links to the things I don’t have time to read, can’t watch right now, or that I want to get into later. No matter where you’re reading or interacting with content, look for a link to either email it or to open in a browser (which you can then email the link to yourself).

The reason emailing is convenient for me is that I interact with a minimum of 3 devices a day. Even though my default machines are Mac and sync well, some of the ones I use in a regular day don’t belong to me such as when I’m teaching on campus. I come across content everywhere, every day, all day long. I need the most seamless system possible*, one that translates to every place I might need it. I also take photos and email them to myself because it’s faster than waiting for a sync.

My System

I use Gmail (this will work with any email client) and have created a folder titled “1 Reading”. I put #1 right before the name so that it appears first on the folder list. I tuck all the good stuff into that folder for later. Every few days I will open this folder and start at the bottom which are the oldest emails. I have a goal of getting through 5 every time. Sometimes I read more, sometimes less if the information is particularly dense. I will save it as part of a larger research project (often the link pasted into an Evernote document with a description), share it on the appropriate social media channels, write a blog on the subject, forward to another person that needs the info, you get the idea.

A Whole Email Address

I’ve taken this one step further in setting up a marketing email address. When I sign up for a new service, app, or purchase something I use my “services@” email address. The newsletters I’ve signed up for from the wide range of industries I work with, the stores I buy from, digital marketing vendors and their emails all land in this box. I monitor this from my iPhone but only open this about once a week or so on my computer. This is heavy research, links, and blog resources. Again I batch read these with a goal of getting through a minimum of 5 at a time. It encourages reading sessions. When I delve into this box, I always walk away inspired and end up writing a lot of my own content.

Curation is an important action. We must observe to see what’s happening in the world, in our industry, and the marketplace. It’s important to curate so that we have content to share on social media. It’s unrealistic and against best practice to only share your own content. You’ll want to monitor for useful information by others that you can share with your audience.

I admit, this system may be tough for those that don’t “do email” well. Heck, the average person receives 147 emails a day! This may be a daunting exercise for you and I may have an unfair advantage to staying on top of all this (when I started my business, I focused on organization in technology). But I get asked all the time how I read as much as I do, how I stay informed, and not go insane with all the options. This is how I do it.

My Inbox

My goal in my main email inbox is to have 10 or less in there at any given time and I’m pretty good at sticking to this limit. And if you’re curious, I don’t ever dump emails en masse. I leave the actionable items in my inbox folder. I file away what I’m done with, and read from the reading folder when I have the time. I MAKE the time. THIS is how I stay on top of my field.

Need help with your systems? Reach out to me.