Content, Curation, and the Paradox of?Choice

I’m a stickler for visiting bookstores. I spend a not insignificant amount of my time — and money — at local booksellers, browsing covers, trying to find my next read. Even when visiting new cities, I find the urge hard to resist — a fact to which many of my friends will grudingly attest. There’s the charm of the store itself, of course. Whether it’s the stacks of newly released bestsellers, or the vintage aura of used paperbacks, traditional booksellers do still carry a certain novelty factor.

But almost always, my attention is quickly caught by sections lined with staff and store recommendations. I love to “sneak” on what other people are reading, especially when there are little notes on the covers, explaining why the reader liked that particular book. What made it so compelling for them? What kind of people should read it? If I find something resonates with me, on my “to-read” shelf it goes (where it sits for many months but that’s neither here nor there).

Finding something to read is always challenge, and not in the least because there are?hundreds of thousands?of books published every year. But more importantly, I often don’t even know what I’m looking for. Nine times out of ten, I’m browsing through the shelves looking more for inspiration than for a product. And seeing what other people are reading introduces me to rabbit holes I might not have otherwise ventured down myself.

These curation mechanisms can and do exist on the internet too of course. Goodreads, for example, does a great job of giving you a peek into your friends’ shelves. There are also socially generated “lists” which can serve as inspiration when in a slump. In fact, a lot of content centric businesses eventually build out some form of curation based discovery mechanisms, whether through social proofing, or manual “hand-picking”.

I use books as an example, but the idea extends just as well to other forms of media or content: music, television, movies, games, etc. The point I’m making is not so much about physical or digital businesses, or even about manual vs. algorithmic curation — but rather the?importance?of curation as a discovery mechanism to?any?business.

It just so happens that curation — along with a focus on community and lifestyle — gives physical businesses a?unique strength?on which to compete with their digital counterparts. One that, for instance, keeps me going back to physical bookstores.

Curation does not have to be “driven” by humans either. For instance, Spotify does an eerily good job of figuring out the kind of music I like. Like clockwork, it analyses my listening patterns and creates a personalized playlist for me every week. Every week, I’m introduced to new artists and genres that I enjoy, but might not have tried out on my own. It is this uncanny ability to elevate relevant content, far more than the size of its music collection, that keeps me a loyal subscriber.

Another case in point is Medium, the platform for independent writers. When Medium first launched, it was hailed as a saviour for small, independent writers and readers who wanted to support them. It gave writers a platform to publish their work, and readers an easy way to read from diverse perspectives all in one place.

And yet, as writers have flocked to the platform, Medium is dealing with a similar challenge of discerning quality content. Medium has a hybrid manual/automated mechanism that aims to identify great content and expand its reach on the platform. As a customer, Medium’s value to me is dependent almost entirely on the kind of the content it can surface to me.(The irony that this piece may not get “curated” is not lost on me).

As the size of content catalogs increase, so too does the importance of sifting through it. A vast content library alone does not do much if it can’t reach the right customer. Almost paradoxically, a larger content selection makes these mechanisms?more?important so that customers are not constantly paralyzed by choice.

And while massive content libraries may attract customers initially, surfacing good content at the right time is what keeps them engaged in the long run.