Platforms & Apps

10 Free Content Curation Platforms

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as the successor.

Many businesses are embracing content curation — the process of collecting, commenting on, and linking to the content of others. The premise is find relevant articles, tips and tools that your prospects and customers would find valuable, and then share them on a platform that you brand. In the end, your prospects and customers would presumably perceive you as a subject matter expert and a valuable source of information in your industry.

Here’s a list of ten free content curation tools you can use to add value to your brand today.

Scoop.it

The Scoop.it platform allows you to share and aggregate content from your Twitter followers, hash tag searches, or through a bookmarklet on your browser bar. Free to use for the basic version, with prices ranging to $79 a month for a fully branded version.

Shareist

Follow RSS feeds via Shareist’s backend and curate them on themed pages, or simply surf the web and share what you find through a bookmarklet. The Shareist platform also includes tools for sharing your own curation sets through social media.

Shareist screen shot

Shareist

Paper.li

A Paper.li “online newspaper” can be automated to follow Twitter feeds, social media hash tags — and then publish snippets of articles relevant to your customers. Automated tweeting of your daily paper can result in new followers and retweets, extending your social media presence.

Paper.li

Paper.li

MyCurator WordPress Plug-in

If your website is built on WordPress, then this plug-in can help you curate content from numerous sources to turn into blog content. It should be noted that the free version is intended for individuals and not-for-profits. So try it on your personal blog before deciding to use it for business.

MyCurator WordPress Plugin

MyCurator WordPress Plugin

CurationSoft

The free version of CurationSoft is an ad supported desktop tool. It looks only at Google’s blog search to find content. However, with unlimited keyword searches and the scope of Google’s index, it’s still an excellent means of gathering information you may want to share. The pro version is $59 a year, and adds some social media outlets such as Twitter and YouTube to the content sources.

CurationSoft Content Curation Software

CurationSoft Content Curation Software

Utopic

By leveraging the Utopic network, or your own social media consumers, Utopic allows you to visually create interest areas and share them in any manner you choose. As of now, there are options to log in with Twitter or Facebook.

Utopic - Visual social bookmarking.

Utopic – Visual social bookmarking.

Historious

Historious allows you to bookmark content from anywhere, and capture it as it existed the moment you bookmark it, essentially creating an archive of the web as you see it. You can share your bookmarks as a search engine, allowing your followers and consumers to search your database of curated content. Note that the free plan may include affiliate links, meaning Historious is making money from your curated content.

Historious

Historious

Pearltrees

This platform allows you to curate content visually in a branch-like fashion, and then share elements of your tree with other members and elsewhere. You may sign in and create an account with Twitter, Facebook, or Google credentials.

Pearltrees

Pearltrees

Listly

Listly acts as a crowd-sourced curation tool. After registering for an account, you create lists that you can then invite people to add to, vote on, or comment on. There’s a high level of engagement possible on your own blog if you choose to embed the list there.

Listly

Listly

Pluggio

The Pluggio platform treats curation a little differently, allowing a user to follow along with social conversations, and Tweet or mention things of interest from a content stream. Pluggio is free for one user, and offers team plans as well.

Pluggio

Pluggio

Kevin Webster
Kevin Webster
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