We largely invest in consumer web services with a large number of engaged users where the users create the content. Services like this can become messy and hard to navigate. There is always a signal to noise issue.
I'm a big fan of curation in these services. Twitter has lists. Etsy has favorites. Tumblr has tag pages. These are all variations of curation in services that have a lot of noise in them.
Recently Kickstarter launched their own version of curation called Curated Pages. In the Kickstarter model, "Curated Pages are a way for organizations, institutions, and (soon) individuals to share projects they love on Kickstarter."
Here are some of my favorite Curated Pages:
The Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund – The Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund provides grants to photographers who are documenting social and political issues around the world. Now with Kickstarter, we can all help fund these important projects.
NYU's ITP Program – NYC's "media lab" and one of the most impactful and important pieces of NYC's tech community. They've curated a page of projects they like.
Creative Commons – The Creative Commons organization evangelizes for technology and legal frameworks that facilitate sharing and creativity.
The Sundance Institute – A curated page promoting Kickstarter projects from Sundance supported artists.
You can find all of the current curated pages at the bottom of the Kickstarter home page.
If you are interested in curating a page on Kickstarter, this feature will be made available to everyone soon.
If you are building a marketplace or a social platform, make sure to build curation into your model. It will make the service easier for everyone to navigate, particularly new users.
