The Power of Curation and Customer Empathy in the Digital Age

Kazuki

Hatched by Kazuki

Aug 04, 2023

4 min read

0

The Power of Curation and Customer Empathy in the Digital Age

In a world of informational abundance, content curation has emerged as a new form of authorship. Just as curators in the art world carefully select and showcase pieces of cultural significance, online curators gather content around specific themes that they deem important. However, with the vast amount of information available, we must also consider how to preserve the full dimension, context, and cultural significance of these information nodes.

Maria Popova, known for her work in curating interesting and impactful content, started a Twitter feed as an extension of her existing readers' experience. However, what she discovered was that the Twitter feed took on a life of its own and became the number-one discovery driver for new readers. This highlights the fact that curation can have a life of its own and presents new opportunities for content discovery.

New tools, such as Twitter, challenge the traditional notion of attention as something that is either given or taken away. Instead, they allow us to direct attention to destinations where it can be sustained with more concentration and immersion. While "old media" fought against the scarcity of information, new media are now grappling with the overabundance of information. However, these tools also enable people to discover the most relevant and impactful information across various mediums and connect it to other information, creating a networked ecosystem of meaning.

It is crucial to recognize that Twitter is a constantly evolving platform with changing features and utilities. Users themselves have introduced new functionalities, such as photo-sharing, to meet the demands of communication on this ever-changing platform. This constant evolution gives people the power to express themselves and gather like-minded individuals.

Content curation and information discovery should be acknowledged as a form of creative labor in their own right. However, our current models for crediting this type of labor are inadequate, if they exist at all. Finding a way to recognize and codify content curation and information discovery as forms of creative labor is the next frontier in how we think about intellectual property in the information age.

In the realm of product development, the concept of "dogfooding" has gained traction. Dogfooding refers to the practice of using your own product, putting yourself in the user's shoes to gain a deeper understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. By experiencing the product as users do, not just theoretically but in practical everyday usage, blind spots and issues that may have been overlooked can come to light.

When we become deeply involved with our own products, we often forget what it's like to be a new user. This can lead us to overlook issues that may be obvious to someone approaching the product with fresh eyes. To combat this, it is essential to periodically sign up for your own service using a new account. This practice helps us stay updated on the user experience and reminds us that there is always room for improvement and learning.

Customer empathy is a vital aspect of product development. It involves putting yourself in the shoes of the user and experiencing the product from their perspective. It requires looking beyond our own experiences, debugging tools, and access to engineers. By doing so, we gain a deeper understanding of the pitfalls, challenges, and sticky points that users encounter.

Having a global mindset is essential, as our perspectives are often limited by our surroundings, technology, and daily lives. We must remember that our products are not solely for people like us but for a diverse range of individuals with varying backgrounds and circumstances. Dogfooding can provide us with a different viewpoint, allowing us to see how our products impact people who are different from us.

In conclusion, the power of curation and customer empathy has reshaped the way we engage with information and develop products. The ability to curate meaningful content and navigate the vast sea of information is a valuable skill in the digital age. Similarly, putting ourselves in the user's shoes through dogfooding enables us to better understand the user experience and design products that cater to their needs. By incorporating these practices into our workflows, we can create more impactful and user-centric experiences.

Actionable Advice:

  • 1. Embrace the role of a curator in the digital landscape. Take the time to gather and share content that you find culturally significant, helping others discover relevant information.
  • 2. Regularly revisit your own product as a new user would. Sign up for your service using a fresh account to identify blind spots and understand the user experience from a beginner's perspective.
  • 3. Cultivate customer empathy by putting yourself in your users' shoes. Consider the diverse range of users and their unique circumstances to build products that are inclusive and impactful.

Remember, in a world of abundant information and evolving user expectations, the power of curation and customer empathy can be transformative in shaping the way we engage with content and develop products.

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