I don't really like following people who resteem too often. I check out the expert curators for that.
When they make a curation post with links to articles and brief summaries, this is good. It helps to summarize content from content summarizers I trust.
An exception is when a ton of people resteem the same thing, then I will take a took because it's probably important.

Mentions in articles are for the most part silly, I've always thought of it as a thank you. If I want someone's attention I'll go check out their recent posts.
But, I think if I read a blog and want to draw someone's attention to it, a mention in the comments is good. Oh I think @crypto.piotr would really be interested in this article.