Sometimes it feels like our feeds feature one curation after another. It's easy to scroll on by and think it doesn't matter or, perhaps because we aren't featured, that it doesn't concern us. But curation is a hugely important part of the Hive ecosystem, and here's a few reasons why you should read one or two a week, and give them the credit they deserve. And I'm not just saying this because I'm the leader of a community that pumps out quite a few curation posts a week - I genuinely think all curation is important, and I try to give at least one other curation from another community, once a week, a nod and a comment. Sometimes I fail - but I try - and I hope you do too, especially after reading this post.

Oh - and why the random images of food? Because it's a nod to @minismallholding and the great curation job she does both on Natural Medicine, and for @homeedders AND for archiving posts that share images for the use of people on HIVE. Check out the community here and start using HIVE photographs for your stock image posts!

^{Credit: @derangedvisions}

Curation brings value to YOUR content.

It's not just the 'nod' to your post by including you. It's not even just to draw attention to a project. Curators also work to GET you more rewards. They talk about your great posts in private channels. They send it on to projects that might upvote you, like the OCD Community Incubation project run by @acidyo. If you don't believe me, check out this post by @montycashmusic - a perfect example of a post that was nominated to get that extra value. And there's LOTS of examples of this kind of love, and not just in Natural Medicine!

So if you want this chance, you have to support curation with your upvotes and comments, which really makes curators feel their efforts are worth it.

^{Credit: @lightcaptured}

Curation Gets You Attention

Oh yes, curators notice stuff. They've been around on HIVE for a while, and know who's new and who's trying, and who's cheating the system. They'll notice plagiarism too - and do something about it. So whilst you might be amazing and perfect, someone else might be sucking up rewards for work that isn't theirs, and curators do a good job of making sure that doesn't happen.

Curators also post stuff on Twitter, which hopefully draws more attention to Hive as a whole, but also other Hive/Twitter folk see your post and, if the title and image and content are enticing, they might even pop over and check you out!

Credit: @qwerrie

Curation Keeps People On-Hive

There's nothing worse than being a small fish in a big pond. Remember, old timers, how it felt to do this freaking awesome post only to have it ignored for little reward? Can you remember how good it felt to get a Curie or have ten people comment on your post? Yeaaaahhhh..... that feeling. Curation keeps that vibe alive on HIVE - and, by reading and commenting on a couple of posts in a curation that you missed in your feed, you can be part of that energy that keeps people here.

^{Credit: @crosheille}

Curation Pays the Curators

Curators work hard. A lot of what we do on HIVE is on a volunteer basis, because we hope that Hive will moon because of our efforts, and we believe in the projects or communities we are part of. I know a lot of the curators in Natural Medicine do it for the passion, but because of the support of OCD, Abundance Tribe and other whales, we are able to pay our curators a good chunk of post beneficiary (often more than their usual posts) to help them out. And because of this shared abundance, we also set the people we curate - you, the blogger - a small beneficiary too. Other tribes do other thing of course, and I can only speak for Natural Medicine, but I know a lot of curators whose only source of income is their curation, and thus, your upvote and comment means A LOT to them!

I know we are busy, with real life and HIVE life, and I know sometimes curation posts can seem endless and easily scroll past-able, but I also know how important engagement is for this platform. I'm renewing my vows to comment on at least two people featured in every curation post I read this week - and to do my best to comment on a curation post in a project that ISN'T my own community. I'm also going to comment on the curation post as well and thank the curator. I'm under no illusions I can do this every week, but I'm going to try my best to do it when it's humanly possible. How about you?

Oh - and something I forgot to add...

Given a comment below that suggests it's taking away from the reward pool, I wanted to address that here in a further point I should have included! Ah, the beauty of the 'edit' button! I can't speak for other curators or curation projects, but Natural Medicine is always putting HIVE back into the reward pool. By taking small cuts from each post, we power up to increase our HIVE power, so we can continue to support people by upvoting them with a larger vote. The large majority goes to paying the curators, but also beneficiaries go back out to the bloggers featured as well. In this way, we like to think we're spreading abundance - well, that's our intention anyway!