If you are a regular reader of our blog, you must have read all about using RebelMouse for content curation. Our RebelMouse page is a glowing testimony to what is possible with RebelMouse. I also wrote about my wish list and some nice to have features for RebelMouse. Today, I would like to briefly compare it with two popular tools out there – Twylah and Scoop.it.
This is Not a feature by feature comparison. It is just a high level look at what you can expect with either of these tools. Is there a clear winner? As always, it will depend on what exactly you are looking for i.e. what your requirements are.
Scoop.It for Content Curation
Scoop.it allows you to deliver your own ‘scoops’ for your readers based on what you encounter on the web. It is largely manual. You explicitly add every link you want, and you can choose content based on your interests or any particular subject. The free version of Scoop.it allows only one user/account. Their paid version lets you add more curators.
Scoop.it is not restricted to data from any social network since you can add any link you want. Shown above is an example of our Scoop.it page. The main tab contains broad topics. Scoops can be organized under these topics and a viewer can choose to only look at certain topics or go to the ‘Scoops’ tab and see all the scoops.
With Scoop.it, the curator, that is you, is completely in the driver’s seat.
Twylah and Power Tweets
As the name suggests, Twylah is created for Twitter and works only with Twitter. It offers the Power Tweet – supposed to generate a lot of traffic and really increase the reach of your tweets. You can request an invite anytime to get your own Twylah page.
Twylah has a lot of automation built in and is good at analyzing your tweets. Based on what you tweet most about, Twylah creates tabs for topics and then groups the relevant tweets under those tabs. These tabs change based on your tweets. So if you are tweeting a lot about a new event, you can be sure that event will appear as a tab on your Twylah page. You can also go in and manually rearrange the tabs as you want.
What I really like about Twylah is that it cuts to the chase. For example, take a look at my Twylah page and you will know in an instant what my interests are, topics I am passionate about, and which of my tweets are generating the most buzz. There is also a nifty ‘Follow’ button at the top that encourages people to follow me (hint) on Twitter right from my Twylah page.
The drawback with Twylah is that it only works with one network – Twitter.
RebelMouse for Teams
As we saw before in our earlier posts, RebelMouse combines your updates from several popular networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram etc. It allows you to add multiple accounts, different RSS feeds, and add more curators for free. What’s more, you can add content filters that will pull data based on certain criteria.
Currently, RebelMouse is offered free and the paid versions have a ‘Coming Soon’ tag.
Is there a clear winner?
The advantage with RebelMouse is that it offers an eclectic mix of content curation features, integration with several social networks and just enough automation to make your tasks easy. Any business with a presence on 2-3 networks should give it a shot, especially while it is still free.
If Twitter is the only social network your business uses, Twylah might be a good choice for you.
Scoop.it is great for niche segments and for specific objectives. I would use it to generate awareness on a particular topic, or create a knowledge bank on a topic, or pin suggested readings for a class etc.
So how do you decide?
Value is always subjective because every one’s needs differ. Creating a list of your objectives will help. Once you know what your content management goals are – and there could be more than one – you can choose a tool that meets that specific goal.
I hope you enjoyed this series on RebelMouse and are already trying it out for your business. What is your tool of choice when it comes to content curation? Is there any feature that you would like to see offered in one of these tools? Please share your thoughts and help take this forward.