Why Create When You Can Curate? A blog around the idea of curation as creation!
The constant flow of content is crazy. We spend around 9 hours of our time using our phones or some form of the internet, but it’s decreasingly for creation and more for leisure. Not to say that creativity is entirely dead; conditions still exist on the fringes, that’s where the artists, photographers, musicians, streamers, etc., decide to share and expose their creations.
Yet it’s increasingly accurate that social media’ creators’ from Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Youtube can steal the tag of creativity, add it to what they do, and gain status from it. So, I challenge you to scroll your #FYP on Tik-Tok or Instagram and analyze with intention. The odds of you seeing a video with a sound, mannerism, and flow that you’ve seen before is the most common note of mainstream’ creativity.’ that exists within our society.
Content distribution has become easier than ever to upload and share content for the world to see. It provides those an “opportunity” for our work to be recognized. But this doesn’t mean that everything that is uploaded is of good quality. Suppose everything within social media blows up thanks to the algorithms or likes. In that case, quality creations get lost in an ocean of other content, making it harder for quality creators to stand out.
Social media creators are conscious of the algorithms that are in place that can either make or break their work. Creator’s ultimate goal is to gain as much traction on as many people’s feeds as they can. But what exactly does traction even look like? Well, views + interactions + impressions+ engagement = traction. It makes much sense that they manage their algorithms to find a higher number of likes and followers or subscribers, which once again determine success. The caveat?
The massive number of shares and likes on social media distracts creatives and artists from the creative process. Instead of focusing on the quality of content and their perspective, reviewing others’ shares and content consumes the time and effort required to create quality. Instead, creators create un-original content to hop on a trend and ‘play the algorithm.’
Thanks to the sensory overload in the form of a million pieces of content per day, the modern-day digital age has also given everyone access to a computer or mobile phone a voice. Our thesis is that diffusion will blend the lines between creators and consumers to lower the entry bar to creativity. This evolution will happen through curation through the creatives in the creator economy.
Why create when you can curate?
We are in a constantly consuming culture where we feed off of new content. And that is what social media gives us — new content every second of the day. We are fed so much information every day, but we do not know what and how to use this information. Such easy access to information, sometimes with no regard to ownership, makes it easy for material to be stolen. Stealing intellectual and creative property is extremely easy; that’s the creator economy at its current state.
We are all creatives in our own way, and we do things every day that involve creating (even if it seems simple). In the eyes of team diffusion, creativity stems from culture. To become a creative, specifically a curator, it’s as simple as access to resources on the same playing field as those who are a little more fortunate. This allows us to be curators through craft and, at the same time to be given the same “opportunity” for work to be recognized. Take content that you find interesting and love; add your spice to it, and boom, you’ve got a new perspective but, more importantly — fresh content!
The concept of niche has become a hot take in both social media and the creator economy. It’s not just the alt-kids that are looking for their niche — it’s all of us now. We’re all Alt in our way. With the rise of content overload and pollution — consumers are looking for creatives who can speak to their experiences and aspirations. As we become more niche-focused and deepen our para-social relationships with our favorite creatives — consumers are on the search for a deeper look into their favorite creatives’ digital identity and insight.
On the creative’s side, they are aware of the impact their content and tastes on their followers. The problem is identifying their 100 true fans and offering valuable content and products that don’t include merchandise or a video message. The search to diversify offerings to their community of fans is very real. In the past, influencers, social media creators, and creatives’ goals were to inspire. As the content ocean grows, it’s becoming harder to do so and keep an acceptable engagement or traction. But we think this comes from the twisted sense of creativity that social media has instilled.
Curating is the return of quality content through the lens of a creatives culture by either using existing content or newly created content. The bridge between web 2.0 and web 3.0 on the social side is community and curation. We think curation is here to stay.
Be part of the rise over diffusion — a platform for creatives to build their community and monetize their tastes as content mood boards.
