--- title: "Content curation: A poor substitute for original content" --- [Skip to main content](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2012/09/content-curation-is-a-poor-substitute-for-creating-original-content.html#maincontent) [ «  View All Posts ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog) # Content curation: A poor substitute for original content September 12th, 2012 1 min read By [David Meerman Scott](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) You may have noticed that content curation has grown very quickly as a way for people and organizations to publish on the Web. Sure, there are some benefits to this effort. But as a strategy for generating attention for yourself or your business, content curation is nowhere near as powerful as generating original content. **Content curation** Unlike writing your own blog post or shooting your own video, [content curation](http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=79167) simply involves pointing to others' work. Services like [Scoop.it](http://www.scoop.it) and [Paper.li](http://paper.li) have sprung up to make it easy for anyone to publish an online magazine by linking to anything on the Web. Yes, there is value in pointing to others work. But that is the point – it is *other people's work*, not your own. Many organizations use guest writers to create content, which in my mind is another form of content curation. Nothing wrong with having a guest blog post now and then, but if you never showcase your own peoples' ideas, I think it is a mistake. **Original Content: The focus a successful marketing** The best way to generate attention is to create original web content including text based information (sites, blogs, a Twitter feed), video content, photographs, infographics, and the like. You brand yourself as an organization worthy of doing business with. Done well, an added bonus is that the search engines rank the content highly and people are eager to share the content on their social networks. **And hey if you generate some interesting stuff, then the content curators will link to you!! Wouldn't you rather have the links come in? ** [ David Meerman Scott ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) David Meerman Scott is a business growth strategist, advisor to clever entrepreneurs who are building emerging companies, and the international bestselling author of a dozen books published in 30 languages. David’s high-energy keynote presentations, masterclasses, and virtual events educate, energize, and inspire. Connect: [mailto:david@freshspot.com](mailto:david@freshspot.com) Don't forget to share this post: ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott" }, "datePublished" : "2012-09-12T10:00:21.000Z", "headline" : "Content curation: A poor substitute for original content", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2012/09/content-curation-is-a-poor-substitute-for-creating-original-content.html", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/_Assets/Logo/david-meerman-scott.png" }, "name" : "David Meerman Scott" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#person", "@type" : "Person", "description" : "Marketing and sales visionary, international bestselling author of 12 books, keynote speaker in 47 countries, and advisor to emerging companies.", "email" : "mailto:David@DavidMeermanScott.com", "image" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/DMS-Homepage-Featured.jpg", "jobTitle" : [ "Keynote Speaker", "Author", "Business Growth Strategist", "Marketing Advisor" ], "knowsAbout" : [ "Content Marketing", "Fandom Marketing", "Newsjacking", "Real-Time Marketing", "Public Relations", "Sales Strategy", "Business Growth" ], "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "sameAs" : [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Meerman_Scott", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeermanscott", "https://x.com/dmscott", "https://www.instagram.com/dmscott/" ], "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#website", "@type" : "WebSite", "author" : { "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#person" }, "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "potentialAction" : { "@type" : "SearchAction", "query-input" : "required name=search_term_string", "target" : { "@type" : "EntryPoint", "urlTemplate" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/search?q={search_term_string}" } }, "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott" }, "dateCreated" : "2014-09-10T23:58:21", "datePublished" : "2012-09-12T06:00:21-0400", "description" : "", "headline" : "Content curation: A poor substitute for original content", "image" : [ "" ], "inLanguage" : "en-us", "learningResourceType" : "article", "name" : "Content curation: A poor substitute for original content", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://413105.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/413105/_Assets/Logo/david-meerman-scott.png" }, "name" : "Freshspot Marketing LLC" }, "timeRequired" : "1 minutes", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2012/09/content-curation-is-a-poor-substitute-for-creating-original-content.html" } ```