One of a content marketer’s main questions is how to use content strategically. For those who don’t have the resources to create all their own content, there’s curation–distributing others’ content in a way that builds trust and brand equity. My observation is that very few people really know how to curate well. Good curation is a component of consistency, timing, and taste. If not done well, curation has almost no impact on competitive advantage for a business or individual trying to grow an audience via social media.

One way to make up for a lack of time or taste for quality content to share is to rely on content aggregator sites. While there are plenty of aggregator/content apps, I prefer to work with simple web-based content aggregators that rely on algorithms or human/algorithm hybrids that reveal highly shared content. This list of content aggregators is my favorite, each providing a unique function or pulling from a unique content data source.

Algorithm-Based

Newswhip – I’ve been testing out Newswhip for several weeks and have been impressed by the virality scoring pulled from Facebook and Twitter, broken down by category and algorithmically incorporating timing factors. In my mind, Newswhip comes closest to achieving what the ideal content curation platform is capable of (but everybody is still pretty far from that ideal).

Rt.ly – Ever since Bitlynews was shelved, I’ve been hoping for a replacement to come along to rank content sharing by bit.ly link. Rt.ly is a new lab project by bit.ly that does exactly that. Data is algorithm-driven and displays rates of click-through. Requires a bit.ly account, but it does provide some much-needed search and filtering options.

Newsmap.jp – I love the visual format of Newsmap.jp. The clean visualization is generated by Google News data and features category filtering and multiple search options. It’s also cool how they display recency and importance by the lightness and size of squares, respectively.

Images

Topsy.com/Top100 – The normal content rankings are no better than Newswhip, but Topsy’s filtering by image is a good way to view photos and pictures currently going hot on Twitter.

Imgur – The image respository for 99% of the images on Reddit. There’s probably a lot of overlap between the two, but because Imgur is so big, this is a pretty good dataset, even though it’s full of memes and random humor.

Video

Viral Video Chart – Now this is cool. Unruly Media pulls together sharing data from Twitter and Facebook, plus blogs (presumably from embeds) to deliver categorized viral video listings, with some fantastic metrics and filtering options.

YouTube Trends Dashboard – It’s ironic that YouTube has access to so much video sharing data, but chooses to give us a tool almost not worth mentioning. But the Trends Dashboard does provide a good snapshot of what’s popular and includes some filtering options.

Algorithm Plus Voting

Reddit – The site has become the mainstream standard that other trending news sites check for ideas. When you spend time on Reddit, you’ve already seen that viral video people are tweeting about. You’ll also realize that Reddit is the crutch for many lazy content curators online. Check topical “subreddits” and the conversation threads of stories for better quality shareables.

Hacker News – The second most popular voting-based, algorithmic content aggregator. While most content is aimed at programmers and engineers and would be considered too technical for the average person, business and tech content is higher quality and more interesting than what comes from Reddit.

Reddit and Hacker News form the inspiration for other niche content aggregators with lower activity levels. Examples: Inbound.org (Internet marketing) and Layer Vault (Design).

Algorithm-Based Plus Human Curation

TechMeme – The big fish among tech blog and news site tracking. The TechMeme team occasionally exercises executive editorial privilege to change headlines and highlight particular content or swap a more comprehensive story with a less complete one.

Blogrunner – Over 12,000 blogs and media sources feed the New York Times-owned content aggregator, which determines topical popularity across the web, then combines headlines from popular news publishers with blogger opinions for any given news story.

RSS Aggregators

While not algorithm-driven, these RSS aggregators can help you quickly find the newest content from popular sites.

popurls – a short RSS feed of headlines and links to the 8 or 9 most recent articles on popular sites around the web, including Reddit, Hacker News, etc.

Alltop – a more comprehensive collection of headlines and links over a broad range of categories. You can even add your own site.

Original source: A Little List of Algorithm-based Content Aggregator Websites

Scientists, researchers, and academics brought some of the funniest material ever to Twitter with the #overlyhonestmethods hashtag, taking a good jab at research, academic publishing, and the general unwritten ways things actually work in academia. Here’s a collection of some of the best “overly honest methods.” (Read those below, then check out the full stream here)

#overlyhonestmethods We kept pushing buttons in our favorite stats software until all our results has stars next to them
— David Winter (@TheAtavism) January 7, 2013

Data are available upon request, but we really hope no one will ask #overlyhonestmethods
— Heather Piwowar (@researchremix) January 8, 2013

What we lack in meaningful results we make up for with a witty pun in our title. #overlyhonestmethods — Dr. Twittenheimer (@DrTwittenheimer) January 8, 2013

Following completion of the survey, we completely rewrote our hypotheses in order to have them agree 100% with the data. #overlyhonestmethods — Liam Pomfret (@LiamPomfret) January 9, 2013

Authors 3-7 were added to get this paper through the blind review process. #overlyhonestmethods — Spencer M. Ross (@srossmktg) January 9, 2013

LITERATURE CITED (but not actually read) #overlyhonestmethods — Dr. Twittenheimer (@DrTwittenheimer) January 8, 2013

We’re citing this marginally relevant paper because it was written by the journal editor and a likely reviewer #overlyhonestmethods — experimental error (@significance) January 8, 2013

A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was performed because reviewer 1 told us to. #OverlyHonestMethods — Mark Burnley (@DrMarkBurnley) January 8, 2013

A sample size of 12 was chosen because a qualified statistician was not present to complete the sample size estimate. #overlyhonestmethods

— Mike K Smith (@MikeKSmith) January 8, 2013

The results of the study were presented in third person passive voice to maximize the sciencyness of the paper. #overlyhonestmethods

— Dr. Twittenheimer (@DrTwittenheimer) January 8, 2013

Data were analyzed using SPSS, even though SAS is better, because we have a pirated version of SPSS that doesn’t expire #overlyhonestmethods

— deonandan (@deonandan) January 8, 2013

Our methods extend the techniques used by Smith et al., who stole the original idea from us at a conference. #overlyhonestmethods

— Peter Edmonds (@peterdedmonds) January 8, 2013

I don’t understand these statistics, but at least my coauthor does. So talk to him, please. #overlyhonestmethods

— Alexis Rudd (@SoundingTheSea) January 9, 2013

Data analyzed using mixed methods because I maxed my knowledge of qualitative and quantitative analysis #overlyhonestmethods

— Jennifer Borgioli (@DataDiva) January 9, 2013

This paper of mine was cited so that I can rank higher in Google Scholar. #overlyhonestmethods

— David Mittelman (@evolvability) January 8, 2013

Outliers have been removed from the dataset because the second author was drunk when he took the data. #overlyhonestmethods

— Brent Neal (@BrentN) January 8, 2013

We used a grounded theory approach as we didn’t understand the literature we were reviewing #overlyhonestmethods

— Charles Musselwhite (@charliemuss) January 8, 2013

We put “Bayesian” in the title so all the other scientists think we’re cool. #overlyhonestmethods
— Matt Wall (@m_wall) January 8, 2013

Though further work is needed to extend these exciting new observations, my contract has expired & I don’t care anymore #overlyhonestmethods

— real_psycience (@realpsycientist) January 8, 2013

Stark honesty right there folks. If this convinces you to join Twitter, don’t forget to connect with me @scottcowley.

P.S. Apologies for the exclusion of equally hilarious tweets involving labs, chemicals, and test animals. Business researchers don’t have all those things and we have less fun as a result.

Original source: The 20 Most Hilarious Research Tweets from #OverlyHonestMethods

I believe in investing time now to save time later. Consistent with that philosophy, I’m happy to introduce the Marketing PhD Admissions Guide.

This guide is meant to be a resource for anyone considering a marketing PhD, and provides information from my own experience and that of others–information that I didn’t have in one nicely packaged place when I was going through the process.

Consistent with academia, the audience for the guide is small and the time it took to put it together was big. But I’m pretty happy with the finished product and look forward to updating it as the dynamics of PhD admissions changes over the years. (I also look forward to saving myself and others a bunch of time by having people read the guide before they come to with questions about the application process).

Now that this project is over, I can get back to writing about some of the amazing things I’ve been learning in the last few months since starting the PhD program. Stay tuned!

Original source: Introducing the Marketing PhD Admissions Guide

Next week, I’m leaving SEO. Next month, I begin life as a marketing PhD student at the excellent W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in what will be a full-time, 5-year program with the plan of becoming a marketing professor, teaching and researching at the university level. It feels kind of appropriate that this should be the first post of ScottCowley.com since it’s also the first post on my path to becoming Dr. Cowley.

It comes at a time when things have never been better from a career standpoint. The SEO industry has been incredibly generous to me these last three years. Frankly, it’s hard to leave ZAGG. It’s hard to leave the responsibility of managing SEO for a publicly traded company to start at the bottom rung of the ladder again. It’s hard to have to back out of an invitation to speak at PubCon for the first time and know that I won’t be seeing many industry friends with regularity anymore. It’s hard to put the brakes on a consulting business that has been flourishing or to leave the professional marketing organizations I’ve been involved with here in Salt Lake.

And it’s hard to move a wife, 7 months pregnant, and a little daughter to a larger, hotter city in the middle of summer, away from parents, siblings, close friends, beautiful mountains, and the comfort of a normal salary.

But trust me when I say I know exactly what I’m doing and I’ve never been more excited.

A Marketing PhD?

The most common response to the news so far has been, “So… you want to teach?” Let me use the opportunity to clarify.

A PhD in marketing typically consists of research, teaching, and academic administration (and writing New York Times bestsellers, of course). The weight of responsibility rests heavily on the research though. If you don’t want to research consumer behavior and marketing models, there are much easier, faster ways of getting into a classroom. An MBA is usually enough for most community colleges.

The focus of my research will be largely digital, interactive, and social marketing. So I won’t be leaving internet marketing completely. In fact, I want to eventually work with every one of my industry friends on research projects involving their companies. So if that sounds cool to you, let me know (comment or e-mail) and I’ll put you at the top of the list I’m starting.

I’m so excited about being a researcher and educator. A marketing PhD has been in my sights for several years, and being in internet marketing has only helped solidify that desire.

A Hundred Thank You’s

I couldn’t reach this goal alone. Many people jump into PhD programs right after their bachelor’s degree. Honestly, I wasn’t ready emotionally, intellectually, or professionally. I personally think that I made the cut only because I know where my skills and interests lie and because I had a track record of success–two things that would not have happened without SEO.

I have a lot of people to thank, and I wish I could be more descript, but this’ll have to do.

(Rather than give everyone the links they’re entitled to, if you’re on here, send me note on Twitter and I’ll link your name to your URL of choice)

Thank you Eric, for giving me research experience and lighting the PhD fuse, Amy for giving me TA experience, and Jeff for giving me teaching experience (and giving me invaluable feedback during the admissions process). And thank you Sterling, for all you did to get me into ASU. I consider meeting you one of the ultimate “miracles in hindsight.”

Thank you Paul for converting me over to marketing. Thank you Ben for giving me the kick I needed and Ralph and Clyde for keeping me afloat during a rough patch. And Jon in the glass cubicle for taking way too much interest in me and letting me into your classroom.

Thank you Dave and Nelson at SEO.com, who took a chance on me. I feel constantly in your debt. Thank you Ash and Greg. You two are the most patient people I know. Thank you Adam for teaching me the ropes. We have our disagreements, but it doesn’t dilute the value of your instruction. Thank you to the early SEO.com crew for making work a place I loved to be and for keeping the competition friendly: Robyn, Albert, TJ, Greg B., Travis, Tiana, Andy, Brian, Chris M., Hasson, Dustin, Cammack, Scoville (best carpool ever), Suzanne, Todd, Tamra, Scott, Joe, Lori, Chesnut, Patterson, Nate. Thank you Tyson, Brad, and Lauren for putting up with me. Thanks Malmborg for being the ultimate example of curiosity, work ethic, and low body fat. Thanks Bischoff for your contagious intensity.

Thank you Jack for starting Social Media Club of Utah Valley at the perfect time. I trace a lot of my motivation back to that first meeting. Thanks to the rest of the Utah Valley guys that made me realize that social media is all about making real-life friends: Seth, Chad, Bags, Nate, Robert, Pincock, Rick, Rob, Parker, Jake, Adam, Velda, Vince, and never-boring Dave Doering.

Thank you to all the people up in SLC who made sure I never lacked for friends or education. Thank you SMC elite: Pete, Brian, John, Janet, Roxy, Josh, Sheri, Evin, Nicole, Thom (and Krista for carrying the banner).  Thank you Team Awesome: Paco, Doc, Matt, Brendan, Hang, Ryan, Nick. And thank you Utah marketers who leave me in the proverbial dust when it comes to expertise and work ethic: Maile, Dave P., James K., Elisabeth, Josh, Rachael, Kathy, Clark, Jeremy, Kyle, Mandi, AJ, Alison, Sunny, Mitchell, Tom, Josh (now in CA), Ross, Luke.

Thank you Brett for PubCon–my favorite event in the world. And thank you to those in internet marketing whose kindness keeps me motivated: Mat, Gabriella, Dana, Lyena, Kate, Taylor, Dr. Pete, Henshaw, Alan, Elmer, Arnie, Lane, Thomas, Brian, Arienne, Wil, Melanie, Melissa, Ben, Mike, Alex, Kristine. I hope our paths cross as frequently as possible.

And to those at ZAGG, thank you for making every day exciting and fun. Thank you John, for being a fantastic boss and showing me the definition of executive leadership. Thank you Drew. It’s incredibly motivating to sit next to a friend who’s the best in his field and know that success comes only from hard work and strategy. Thank you Jessica and Kollin for making every day hilarious. And thank you Neil. I feel lucky to have worked with you in two different jobs. Thank you Dustin and Brady for rounding out the room–we wouldn’t be where we are without you. And thank you devs and designers and those at ZAGG who never made fun of me for having an Android phone.

Thank you Mike, James, and Eric for unknowingly giving me PhD envy. And thank you Jeff for getting me into SEO and for being a constant sounding board. We’re now on opposite sides of the country, but I won’t forget what you’ve done for me.

Thank you Mom for always being interested in my life and for teaching me that if you never ask, the answer is always no. And thank you Dad for never expecting me to work any harder than you–except for the fact that you’re the hardest working person I will ever know. (And thanks for not pushing me into fish biology)

Thank you Kathy for being my better half, for knowing exactly what I need and staging necessary interventions, and for joining me on the journey. And little Myra for being my daily ray of smiling sunshine.

And for everyone else, I’ve created the following Checklist Thank You Card.

Check Box Thank You Card (PSD)

Image credit

Original source: Goodbye SEO, Hello PhD