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- Would you like to be a Voice of Snooth?
A few months ago we released the group pages, which created centralized pages for every region, winery, store, attribute and grape in our database. The volume of analysis, content, images and discussion on these pages has been growing very rapidly and it was clear that these pages were getting to the stage that they would benefit from human curation.
I'm pleased to say that, as of today, every page of this type will either have a curator, or if it doesn't, and you have an interest in the subject, you can apply to curate the page, and to create a micro site around the content you are most passionate about.
Here's an example of how it will work:
I live in New York city and like NY state wines, so I go to the group page to see what I can learn. Lenn Thompson of the NY wine blog Lenndevours is the curator.
If I roll over his profile I can learn a bit more about him, or send him a message.
I like what I see, so went ahead and followed the New York group. One of the advantages of this is that Lenn can keep me, and the other followers, up to date with recent news and events, and the followers can even communicate with each other via the comment board, further down the page.
Group pages aren't limited to being curated by professionals, if there's a region, grape, winery or store that you love (even if you're not from there or an official representative) then you'd be the ideal curator.
If you see a page on a topic you like, just check to see if it's been claimed already. If its still unclaimed, go ahead and claim it - we're looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
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331 - Reply by Eric Guido, Feb 18.
This is really interesting but I have to say that from the idea of the greater good, won't it make more sense for the moderators or web masters to select certain curators? What if someone chooses to curate a page and they don't do a good job? I'd be happy to contribute but in the same token I'd ant to make sure that I was the best at whatever group I choose to curate. See what I mean?
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- Reply by Philip, Feb 19.
Eric - that's a fair point. Our take is that there's no obvious correlation between who's known to be an expert at something and those who would be good at building a community around that topic. We also realized early on at Snooth that with such a large community we were unable to keep track of who each individual user was - as much as I'd like to unfortunately.
So, our policy has always been one of self selection. Thats how the Hand of Snooth program (which gives users the ability to edit wines) has worked since it began over a year ago. We now have over 2,000 HoS members.
We'll let users come forward and tell us what they'd like to curate, and then everything sort of "shakes out in the wash", if they do a good job the page will become interesting and people will join it and a community will grow. If they don't, then the page will remain stagnant, and if someone else expresses an interest we'd have to look at giving the new applicant a fair shot.
I want to make sure that its not limited to "pros", but that enthusiasts have a fair chance, as even if they dont know the soil acidity levels, anyone with a passion for a topic could lead a community of enthusiasts.
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1245 - Reply by mark, Feb 19.
Couldn't agree more. The goal is to foster a discussion, and a curator can do a great job no matter their level of expertise.
I'd also hazard a guess that the act of curating the group is going to boost the curator's knowledge in that arena pretty quickly as they focus on it.
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- Reply by Philip, Feb 19.
A lot of people have applied so far, and I wanted to say to anyone that asked "by stepping forward, you're probably an ideal candidate for the role".
A lot of the applications have had the 'I'm not sure if I'm qualified', or 'I'll do this until someone better comes along'. There's no need to be that bashful - we want people just like you to get involved. so welcome and we're looking forward to following your pages.
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- Reply by Philip, Feb 19.
Before anyone calls me out on the 3rd image above - i took Cornwall! I havent spent much time there in the last decade there, but its where i grew up and although they don't make a lot wine its a budding region and they do make good sparklers: http://www.snooth.com/region/united-kingdom/cornwall/
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5 - Reply by winescribbler, Feb 19.
so many options - I'll have to ponder what to volunteer for...
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823 - Reply by HondaJohn, Feb 19.
@winescribbler ... pick one and start ... but I already got Sonoma Valley. :-)
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- Reply by Philip, Feb 19.
Hey - the response so far has been great. So just wanted to say thanks very much and keep them coming. We'll activate people in batches and then arrange a way for each of the curators to stay in touch, to share tips.
And then we'll begin showcasing the best pages to drive more interest and users to them.
The whole team here is very excited by this project - so thanks again to everyone for being so proactive and getting involved.
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693 - Reply by gr, Feb 19.
Is there any intention to indicate a user's curator status on their profile page? (Possibly just dress up the icon for the group in their following list...)
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220 - Reply by ChipDWood, Feb 20.
Re Mark, who said: "I'd also hazard a guess that the act of curating the group is going to boost the curator's knowledge in that arena pretty quickly as they focus on it."
- And that's half the reason I want to be part of the Virginia wine side of things. I want to hone my knowledge of each region of Virginia as it continues to grow, and I think a "curator" position is an interesting way to go about it.
I also think GR's idea of adding title to the Snoother's profile is a great idea as well. It would also help in the advent of wanting to reach out to producers & winemakers for any potential stories.
Yo dos pesos. I LOVE THIS IDEA.
It's got a nice taste!
