Content Curation – How to do it Ethically

Curation is certainly not the new kid around the block. People have been doing this for ages and everyone seems to be happy about until recently.

Well, seems like the concept of ‘Curation’ has gone way too far when it comes to online Content Curation. In the name of ‘Content Curation’, people are blatantly copying and using ‘content’ written by others without giving the original creators any credit. So, as expected, we have the new and stricter copyright law which is virtually stiffening the very concept of ‘content curation’.

So, it is quite expected that unless you do not know how to do content curation logically and ethically, you are bound to face a hell lot of troubles. To simplify your job, here we are going to share some tips that you should give a careful look–

Please Give Him SEO Credit

I have seen people are using NoFollow attribute against the Link of the original creator. Don’t be such a baby. Come on, that guy is the original creator of the piece of art or write-up or whatever you are sharing and therefore, his original website deserves to get credited in the form of a dofollow link. When you are using ‘NoFollow’ attribute against a link, you are not giving any SEO credit to that link. It is as simple as that. So, make a point that you are not using nofollow attribute against the link of the original creator.

Please Use Your Imagination

Curated content does not necessarily mean that you will just be adding content or quotes from different sources and pass it off as your creation. Nope, that will not do. You have to show your creative self to the outside world by adding words of your own in that article. The quotes and other external elements should complement and enrich your copy and not the other way around. By doing this, you will be able to make your content stand out from the rest.

Use Images with Care

Sharing Copyright image is the last thing on earth that you can do. We all need images for online marketing purpose but there are ways to get images ethically. Do a Creative Commons search or just go to Google’s Advance search option and then choose ‘Creative Commons’ option for the same. This is a far better way to get nice and free images for your needs.

Use Quote Judiciously

It is always a great idea to feature quotes from different sources as this will help people get acquainted with the vastness of the subject and this will also make them believe that as a writer, you have done extensive research. This thing falls under the fair usage policy. So far so good. But the problem creeps in as soon as you start using an entire paragraph or an entire page of other writer without their written consent. Moreover, this beats the purpose of sharing content. Quote sparingly, this is what I can suggest you my friend unless you do not mind courting trouble.

Do Not Focus on a Single Source

The very first rule of content curation is that you have to use multiple resources while curating. Relying heavily on a single source can disturb the integrity of the entire process. So, you have to be using different sources while doing content curation as this will give you an opportunity to brush aside the allegations you are just rephrasing the work of another. By quoting the works and sentences of different writers, you will help your readers come to term with different opinions of different people.

Make the Links to Original Source Prominent

You have to show respect to original creators and therefore, you should debar yourself from mentioning at the end of the article and that too in very small fonts. This goes against the idea of content curation. You need to display the links of the original creators in a straightforward fashion. Use prominent fonts and refer to original sources whenever possible.

Use a Different Title

This may sound a little ridiculous but the truth is that there are some people who use almost the same title to that of its original creator while doing content curation. This is the worst tactic that you can implement. The title of your work should be completely different otherwise it will not serve any constructive purpose.