What tools do creators use for content discovery and research?
For content discovery, I use:
- Eqentia personalized news email digest (Algorithmic Filtering) - I told it what I want and like among several categories, the software serves them up to me by email
- Flipboard tech and news categories (Shared Sources Filtering) - curated sources based upon topics, which can be personalized choosing among a growing roster of categories and sources
- Tech and business blogs in my Google Reader (Human Filtering) - here's where I experience the most serendipity based upon the people I follow
- Percolate (Crowdsourced Filtering) - often what is popular among people I follow is not relevant to me. I've written about becoming a relevant filter
- Facebook, occasionally (Filtering Based on Social Graph) - I might like what my friends share
Finding reliable and diverse sources is a process for many content creators. For a blog or site to remain relevant as a source, several things need to happen:
- the author / editor keeps current on information and trends -- they don't just keep up, they keep ahead
- the methodology used in conducting analysis and observations is apparent -- you know their point of view and biases
- the research standards focus on producing quality reports -- no blowing smoke up your nose just to get backlinks and generate buzz
The best part though is what happens after you've found the content and ideas. What do you do with them?
Are you willing to test a new idea?
What is the best idea you ever had?
What made it great?
Did you execute to make it happen?