The Cambodian National Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Jean-Pierre Dalbéra)

Do you have a Facebook account? Twitter feed? A blog? Any other form of social media presence? Then you, my friend, are a curator. Your friends/followers/readers are impacted by the choices you make about what information you share through your web presence.

Curator, according to Wikipedia, comes from the Latin word curare meaning “to take care.” A curator in a museum is responsible for deciding what items will be included in the museum’s exhibits, and how they will be presented to museumgoers.

Your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, Pinterest board, or whatever cyber-real-estate you manage, is a little museum curated by you. It is your opportunity to open a unique window on the world for those who visit it.

Social media is filled with smear campaigns, feedback loops, and general inanity. Insanity too, but a whole lot of inanity, which does sometimes fill a legitimate need we humans have to veg out once in a while. But when “once in a while” turns into everyday routine, it’s time to admit we have a problem.

Clear writing generally uses active voice rather than passive. I think this is true about life – including social media engagement – as well. Active living is simply more brilliant than passive.

Rather than passively scrolling and clicking, mind disengaged, reptile brain in charge as we react with our “likes” and “shares” and thoughtless comments, we could be taking the driver’s seat, creating something worthwhile, expanding horizons, opening windows, bringing fresh air and sunlight to otherwise drab, dank quarters.

If you’re ready to take charge of your role as curator, I suggest accepting Ryan Crocoduck’s New Year’s Challenge as a basic policy on which to build your own delightful piece of cyberspace.

Wishing you fresh air and wide horizons in the new year!