[cavalcade119]

A video recently went viral of David Bowie in 1999 saying that the internet was going to be the future. We're at a similar place with newsletters - a frontier that is on the verge of exploding.

I run Thinking About Things [0], a simple newsletter that is a single link every other day to something interesting. The response has been astonishing - it's gotten thousands of subscribers in a single year with no marketing. It started as a way to send articles to family and friends and yet the simple act of triage and curation seems to be something that many find valuable.

It's impossible to underestimate the degree to which curation is becoming the differentiator in the digital economy; those who can be trusted to provide valuable content from the fire hose of all that's available on the internet will become the new information brokers.

[1] thinking-about-things.com

[Swizec]

> those who can be trusted to provide valuable content from the fire hose of all that's available on the internet will become the new information brokers

Isn’t this what journalism was supposed to do before they discovered money?

[sjg007]

We are currently in an unbundling phase and probably an extreme version of it. Too much choice so we go back to 3 TV channels and you watch what's on that day.

[lotsofpulp]

> It's impossible to underestimate the degree to which curation is becoming the differentiator in the digital economy; those who can be trusted to provide valuable content from the fire hose of all that's available on the internet will become the new information brokers.

Getting someone to pay for curation has always been the problem. It was easier in the pre digital days because access to information wasn’t as easy as a click.

[wunderflix]

We share the same passion and world view :) I definitely believe too that curation will become increasingly important.

I started my own daily newsletter [1] about startups, tech trends and business ideas just recently.

Sending out a daily newsletter is much tougher than I would have imagined... But at the same time it’s really rewarding because your basically shipping something every day :)

[1] www.shoto.io

[wortelefant]

"Curation is becoming the differentiator" is not only relevant for newsletters, but also for readers. To paraphrase Cal Newport, in a distracted world, the ability to focus and to singletask is a "superpower". Curation is a service (newsletters etc), but also a skill.

[qeng-ho]

As someone who is subbed to TAT, your newsletter has provided me with quite a few interesting reads, especially when some of the articles are years old, yet still relevant. Keep up the good work!

[dsaavy]

Love your newsletter! It's the only thing I've found that curates diverse topics and viewpoints that authors written thoughtfully about. Thank you and keep it up!

[tasogare]

> with no marketing

Hard to believe when you’re in fact promoting it here.