Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 378

A Sense Of Place

There's a big lesson here: you have to care about everything that surrounds you first before you can do magnificent things within it.

Below, you will find a TED Talk. This is one of those TED Talks that can (and should!) change your life. We forget (or never even pay attention to) a lot of the things that are around us. We don't take them for granted because we're not even thinking about them. While James Howard Kunstler is talking about public spaces, urban sprawl and creating a sense of place, his concepts dovetail beautifully into the Blog post from yesterday (Online Advertising Sucks). It's may very well be impossible to fix online advertising if we don't fix the platforms and channels first.

Want to think differently and to care differently? Spend your next 20 minutes being blown away by this...

Tags:

blog

digital marketing

james howard kunstler

online advertising

online video

public spaces

ted

ted talk

urban sprawl

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #24

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Information overload, the early years - The Boston Globe . "If I had a dollar every time someone used the printing press as an analogy for the Internet, I'd be richer than many of its bubble-born billionaires. What was the world really like when the press came out? Mathew Ingram pointed me at this piece in the Boston Globe that looks at the world after print. Erasmus said of printers - the bloggers of his era - that they 'fill the world with pamphlets and books that are foolish, ignorant, malignant, libelous, mad, impios, and subversive.' Yep." (Alistair for Hugh).

The Men Who Stole the World - Time . "Following a week where the Pirate Bay's founders were sentenced and Wikileaks made thousands of secrets open to everyone, it's interesting to look back at where the web's wild frontier came from. Feared by every big media insider, four youngsters changed the world; but a decade later, nothing's turned out quite like we thought it would." (Alistair for Mitch).

Marshall McLuhan on the Dick Cavett Show in December 1970 . "(Audio of) Marshall McLuhan on The Dick Cavet Show, circa 1970, with Truman Capote and Chicago Bears running back, Gayle Sayers. Talking about language, music, rhythm, television, movies, art, Nixon/Kennedy... and facial hair." (Hugh for Alistair).

"Smart editorial, smart readers, and smart ad solutions": Slate makes a case for long-form on the web - Nieman Journalism Lab . "Conventional wisdom has it that the web destroys our concentration, and leaves no place for in-depth writing, reading, or journalism. Last year Slate editor, David Plotz, said, stuff conventional wisdom, and started an experiment with Slate writers and copy editors, codenamed Fresca. Fresca requires every editorial writer to take four to six weeks away from their normal writing assignments, to focus on a story or a series of stories of particular interest to them. The results have been a whole slew of in-depth, long-form articles on subjects ranging from homeland security to chicklit. It's also resulted in something else: huge numbers of pageviews - with the most popular pieces getting millions of eyeballs. Turns out (corroborated by NYTimes.com) good, long pieces get the most attention on the web." (Hugh for Mitch).

A Silicon Bubble Shows Signs Of Reinflating - Dealbook - The New York Times . "Is it good news or bad news for start-ups when the money starts to drop from the sky (once again)? On the last go-round, we lacked several key components to making the money really count. You know, things like connectivity, a considerable amount of people online, trust in e-commerce and many other huge mitigating factors. Whether it's a real bubble or not, it's going to be hard to deliver an empty box in a nice package in the day and age of Social Media. Regardless, the money is starting to get stupid again. If you don't believe this article, consider that Groupon just turned down a six billion dollar offer from Google while LivingSocial (a Groupon-like service) took 175 million dollars from Amazon . Get ready for some major excitement... and pray that it's not just another bubble waiting to burst." (Mitch for Alistair).

Engineering Search: The story of the algorithm that changed the world (new radio doc) - PR Conversations . "A new radio documentary on search engines will be broadcast tomorrow. Engineering Search: The Story of the Algorithm that Changed the World, will be on CBC Radio One 's The Sunday Edition on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 (that's tomorrow!) at 10:05 a.m. It can also be streamed live from the CBC Radio web page . I'd be shocked if it wasn't turned into a Podcast shortly after the broadcast date. The documentary will feature commentary from Jay Rosen , Jeff Jarvis , Clay Shirky and many others." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

alistair croll

amazon

bitcurrent

bite-sized edits

cbc radio one

chicago bears

clay shirky

complete web monitoring

david plotz

dealbook

engineering search

gayle sayers

gigaom

google

great links

groupon

hugh mcguire

human 20

jay rosen

jeff jarvis

librivox

link

linkbait

livingsocial

managing bandwidth

marshall mcluhan

mathew ingram

media hacks

niemen journalism lab

pirate bay

pr conversations

rednod

slate

the book oven

the boston globe

the dick cavett show

the new york times

the sunday edition

time magazine

truman capote

wikileaks

Online Advertising Sucks

How often do you hear about a traditional mass media company shifting to a "digital first" strategy? Those companies may want to take a look at this...

As mass media advertising continues to fragment and shift, the bigger concern is that they are also loosing eyeballs (as if people are nothing but eyeballs) to the online world. This has caused many of those traditional mass media companies to change their advertising game. Almost all traditional media outlets now have websites or have gone on to acquire major (and minor) online properties. On these websites, they sell advertising (it's the business game they are most accustomed to). While the revenues from online advertising have never really supplanted the traditional ones (you'll often hear sayings like, "trading analog dollars for digital dimes"), there is a common-held belief that the shift to online - and away from the more traditional channels - is inevitable. Personally, I'm more in the "everything is 'with' not 'instead of'" camp, but I'm often wrong as well.

Here's what you need to know if you think the future of media is based on online advertising...

"Americans Ignore Internet Ads Far More Than TV." That was title of the news item published in today's MediaDailyNews. Here's the scoop according to the news item: "A majority of Americans say they ignore Internet ads - far more than television, radio and newspaper ads. Some 63% of consumers say they tend to ignore or disregard all Internet ads. Among this group, 43% say they don't pay attention to banner ads and 20% ignore search ads. The research was produced by AdweekMedia/Harris Poll, from a recent online survey done by Harris Interactive. Farther down the list was television ads - only a 14% number. Radio was at 7%; newspapers ads, 6%. Overall, almost all Americans say they ignore some ads - 91%. Looking at the Internet space, men and women ignore ads around the same levels - 42% for men; 45% for women."

It's hard to sell any kind of advertising that is being ignored.

For years, I have been pushing the concept of CTRL-ALT-DEL - it's time for us to reboot, rethink and reinvent how marketing connects to consumers online. The traditional ways of advertising will not work in these online channels. While that's nothing more than a concept statement, I believe that making money online has less to do with leveraging it as an advertising channel, and much more to do with figuring out new ways to publish content that creates value along with newer ways to bring back a spirit of marketing (where advertising plays a less significant role). The minute any company sees a community or audience of people their default monetization strategy leans back on putting an ad in front of those people. The bigger, deeper thought may be around taking the time to figure out how to leverage that audience with relevant and wanted marketing content and messages.

It's not easy, but what choice do we have? 

If anybody actually reads the news item above, it could well be the cold splash of water that this industry so desperately needs to wake up. This continual onslaught of multiple messages in every single white space only is clearly not working (it's just more clutter and confusion). It's going to be a long, hard road to convince the bigger brands that online advertising is the place to be when they see stats and surveys like this.

The opportunity to turn this around is now. The question is this: where do we begin?

Tags:

advertising

adweekmedia

banner ad

brand

content

ctrl alt del

digital first strategy

eyeballs

future of media

harris interactive

harris poll

internet advertising

marketing

mass media

media outlet

mediadailynews

mediapost

newspaper

online advertising

publishing

radio

search ad

television

Consumer Advocate Or Selfish Pig?

Many people run to publish a customer service issue on Twitter , Facebook and/or a Blog, but who really benefits?

I don't like to use this Blog space (or Twitter, Facebook, etc...) to gripe about brands (more about that here: Making Customers Attack). Bottom line, I don't like to leverage this community for my personal gain. By complaining, it forces the brand to take a look at who I am and who I am connected to. I would not want any kind of favorable resolution simply because I have a small semblance of a community, or because I write a newspaper column. I don't write a column or build this community so that brands will pay attention to me when I'm not satisfied. On top of that, you are not here to watch me publicly deal with a customer service issue. You're here to be a media hacker along with me. You're not here to be a part of my personal bidding.

But, it's not all about me.

Most people don't have a following. They're online and they're following their close friends while doing some celebrity stalking. On top of that, they're not getting any help or resolution through the more traditional channels, and someone probably told them to try complaining on Twitter or Facebook. In turn, brands are responding to public outcry, and this must be making them smarter and better. At the very least, it gives everybody else watching some kind of inkling about how the brand performs (positive, negative and  neutral).

Is this real consumer advocacy?

If you look at some of the more respected online people who complain about a brand (those with a semblance of a community that extends beyond their personal family and friends), you hardly ever see much consumer advocacy beyond their own, personal resolution. That bothers me because most of them claim to be doing it to "keep the brands honest," but if that's the case, wouldn't those individuals do more? Things like: help their own community members if they have similar issues or really explain (in gory detail) how the resolution came to be? More often than not, you get this big, long, complaint rant and if the problem gets resolved, there is a one-liner that reads like, "great news! Brand XYZ responded and everything is right in the world!" 

Consumer advocacy is about much more.

Real consumer advocacy is about much more than one issue and one resolution. It's about ongoing education. It's about not getting something fixed once (and for yourself), but getting the laws changed so that no one else has to go through what said individual went through. It has to do with something bigger than just one brand (there's usually similar issues within an industry). It's about caring for the interest of every consumer (not just yourself).

I do worry about this.

It's easy to fall into a trap. It's easy to be stuck in a place where each individual leverages their online clout to get a customer service resolution. Let's be clear, the more commonplace this becomes (and it's happening each and every day), the more brands will start paying attention to people based on who they are (and who they are connected to) instead of doing the right thing because it's simply the right thing to do. What we'll all wind up with are brand feeds that are filled with apologies and boring content about another customer service issue and individual's feeds that will be similar. I'm not sure I have a solution to this, but that isn't the point of this Blog post. The real point is for all of us to be aware that - for the most part - the majority of people doing the majority of complaining, aren't doing this as a public service, they're doing it to get their stuff straightened up... and their leveraging the fact that you are connected to them to get this done. In more simple terms: they're using you (sometimes with, but most of the time it's without, your permission). Or, is this the future of consumer advocacy? A world where it's totally fragmented, unorganized and driven by the individual?

How do you feel about consumer advocacy online?

Tags:

blog

brand

consumer advocacy

customer service

education

facebook

media hacker

newspaper column

online community

publishing

twitter

The Digital Marketer's Master Library

What business books should you read if you are looking to up your game in the digital marketing channels or if you're just about to enter the fray?

I'm often asked this question, but the answer is not so cut and dry. When people ask about Digital Marketing, it sounds more like they're thinking about Social Media. The truth is that Social Media is but a small component of the Digital Marketing world. It's much more important to have a well-rounded perspective around media, marketing, advertising and communications. Over the years, there have been many books that have integrated these core marketing foundations while adding in the newer media slant. Ultimately, a brand is a brand and while the channels and technologies evolve and change, getting an idea to resonate with a consumer is just as challenging as it was when there were no Internet connections.

So, what business books should you read if you are looking for a career in Digital Marketing (or if these channels are becoming a more critical part of your marketing mix)?

Here is the Essential Digital Marketing Library (in alphabetical order):

The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke,  Doc Searls and David Weinberger.

Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins.

Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li.

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky.

Life After The 30-Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe.

Made To Stick - by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott.

Small Pieces Loosely Joined by David Weinberger.

Tribes by Seth Godin.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

Waiting For Your Cat To Bark? by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg.

Web Analytics - An Hour A Day by Avinash Kaushik.

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.

Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams.

There's a caveat to the list:

You may not need to read every book listed above. Some of them will have similar stories and/or case studies and some of them will be saying the same thing in a different way. While all of these books are worthy of your attention, as of late I've discovered that books about anthropology, networks, biology, psychology, architecture and technology can broaden my perspective and definitions of how to create something that both gets attention for my clients, while at the same time, something that has a more lasting and loyal affect. You'll also note that many of these authors have other books as well. Most of them are great too, so if you like an author, dive into their catalogue.

And furthermore...

There are tons of new, evolving and fresh content online that can be found in Blogs (start here: Ad Age Power 150), audio and video Podcasts and simply by following some of the smarter marketing folks on Twitter who shoot out fascinating links on a daily and continual basis.

What would be in your Essential Digital Marketing Library? (remember, the keyword is "essential"!)

Tags:

ad age

advertising

anthony d williams

brand

bryan eisenberg

business book

charlene li

chip heath

chris brogan

christopher locke

clay shirky

communication

convergence culture

dan heath

david meerman scott

david weinberger

digital marketer

digital marketing

doc searls

don tapscott

groundswell

henry jenkins

here comes everybody

jeff jarvis

jeffrey eisenberg

joseph jaffe

josh bernoff

julien smith

life after the 30 second spot

made ot stick

marketing

media

new media

podcast

power 150

rick levine

seth godin

small pieces loosely joined

social media

the cluetrain manifesto

the new rules of marketing and pr

tribes

trust agents

twitter

waiting for your cat to bark

what would google do

wikinomics

The Secret To Getting Attention

Brands and individuals spend their time trying to figure out ways to get attention. To get people to care about their message. It has not become easier to do so. In fact, it's much harder.

The reason getting attention is that much harder is because there are so many published outlets and so many places to get information (about anything). Forget about the thousands of magazine titles and television shows. Forget about the specialty channels and forget about the many local newspapers that are all hunting for something new to say. In the online world everyone and anyone is a publisher of content as well. from Facebook status updates and 140 character tweets on Twitter to Blogs and posting videos on YouTube, the landscape is far, wide and deep. This fragmentation has led to a fairly fragmented and niche audience for all publishers of content.

With all of that comes the need (more than ever) to be able to capture your public's attention.

PostRank is one of many online analytics tools that attempts to rate and score social statistics from reader's online to help people determine what is worthy of reading. It applies a PostRank score of 1-10 (1 being of little interest to 10 being of significant interest). It looks at everything from who is reading, sharing and commenting and beyond. While I am sure that there are many who might question the methodology of PostRank's algorithm, it often highlights something we should all acknowledge and accept that much more often...

The provocative stuff is the stuff that gets the most attention.

PostRank has an add-in application for your web browser that allows you to see an individual Blog post's PostRank number directly in your Google Reader page (you can grab it here: PostRank + Google Reader). It adds a whole new way of looking at your content to see which Blog posts are getting some semblance of heat. One trick is to subscribe to your own Blog, view it "list" mode and see how your individual Blog posts stack up against one another.

"If it bleeds, it leads."

It's a classic line from the newsrooms of the oldest newspapers. With all of this progression in media and publishing, not much has changed. It's interesting to know that the more salacious I am, the more intrigued you are. I'll chalk that up to the human condition, but we tend to not look much beyond the headline.

For the month of November, here are the headlines/Blog posts you liked the most:

With a score of 7.5 or higher:

Is Twitter Killing You?

9 Ways To Elevate Your Speaking To Black Belt Level.

Don't Suck.

The Most Important Thing You Can Do...

What do we learn?

We know that the content has to stand-up regardless. You can linkbait all you want with a catchy headline, but if the content does not deliver, all is lost. We also learn that people love a combination of drama and mystery. The title has to draw them in, but, here's the truth: I don't think that those posts were my best ones of the month. I do think that they were the ones with the most provocative or enticing titles. It turns out that the old tricks are still the new tricks - no matter how often we shout that New Media is so different.

We would like to think that we have evolved... but maybe we haven't. Do I really have to grab your attention to get your attention? What's your take?

Tags:

attention

blog

brand

content

facebook

google reader

headline

human condition

linkbait

magazine

media fragmentation

new media

newspaper

postrank

provocative

publisher

publishing

social statistics

specialty channels

television shows

twitter

web analytics

youtube

Podcasting About Podcasting With Neville Hobson

Episode #230 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

This past week, I wrote a Blog post titled, The Selfish Art of Podcasting. Well, if there's one episode that I can point to as an example of that kind of selfishness, this one would be it. While visiting London for less than 24-hours a few weeks back, I was thrilled to finally meet Neville Hobson in person for breakfast. I've been connected to Neville for almost six years now, but we've never met in our "protein forms" (as I like to call it). Hobson is the co-host (along with Shel Holtz) of the incredible PR and communications Podcast,For Immediate Release - The Hobson & Holtz Report. These two have been producing shows since January 2005 (they're close to publishing episode #575!). They are - without question - pioneers in the business Podcasting space, and Hobson's perspective on all things Social Media and Communications illustrate both his experience and passion for the space. This was also my first attempt at recording a conversation using the HT Recorder iPhone app (I think the results are amazing). Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes ): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #230 .

Tags:

advertising

bite size edits

blog

blogging

blue sky factory

book oven

cast of dads

cc chapman

chris brogan

christopher s penn

david usher

digital dads

digital marketing

facebook

facebook group

for immediate release

hugh mcguire

in over your head

itunes

julien smith

librivox

managing the gray

marie mai

marketing

marketing over coffee

media hacks

neville hobson

new marketing labs

online social network

podcast

podcasting

shel holtz

six pixels of separation

social media 101

social media marketing

strategy

trust agents

twist image

wcg

When The Definitions Are Wrong

One of the biggest disruptions you may have noticed since the pervasiveness of Social Media is our definition of things.

You can sit back and say that the world has not changed all that much in the past two decades, but you would be putting your head in the proverbial sand. Just the other day someone mentioned to me that not following an individual back on Twitter would be the same as ignoring a customer. In some instances, that is a very true statement. In other instances, it isn't at all accurate.

How can that be?

It depends on how you define a "customer." If you're a major airline and people are connecting to you on Twitter and Facebook and you're not following them back, I can see this individual's point of view. If you're more like me, and you're running a service-based business and use platforms like Twitter to share things you see and connect to certain individuals when time permits, it's a horse of a different buggy. I love it when Chris Brogan points people to his Blog, You're Doing It Wrong, because it's a welcomed reminder that Social Media is not a fixed piece of software. It is (and it should be) many different things to many different people. Some will use it to game the system, while others will use it to change the world.

Don't get hung up on your definitions.

The trick comes in recognizing that there are many ways to make a point online. Some will do it by broadcasting, while others will do it by spending time to build a fanatical audience. Neither one is wrong. Neither one is right. The problems arise when those with little experience but tremendous popularity speak as if their way of doing things is the bible. Many years ago (long before Twist Image), Andy Nulman hired me to help him launch Airborne Entertainment. Prior to anybody really thinking about it, Andy and his business partner (Garner Bornstein), believed that people would use their mobile devices for much more than just phone calls. They were producing content for mobile devices long before the carriers ever acknowledged the importance of data (and yes, that includes email as well). Along with being ahead of their time, they had a very different definition for what these cell phones could do. To all of us at Airborne Mobile, the cell phone was a personal remote control for your life.

Imagine all of the definitions.

When you see something like Twitter, please don't just see what other people are doing. Don't just look at who is popular, and why they've become that way. Look at it with a fresh perspective. Create your own definition for it and test your theory. What makes Social Media so incredible is the immediate feedback. You can learn (in short order) if your definition has merit. You'll be able to know who is interested, why they're interested and what they're saying. You'll be able to engage directly with those people, and this will help you formulate your own definition (which will - in turn - be very different from mine).

Just because it is, it doesn't mean that it will always be.

I was asked to speak to a small workshop last week of corporate writers on Blogging for business. I was amazed to learn how few of them knew that what really makes a Blog a "Blog" was the RSS component of it. That was part of my core definition (along with a personal journal that is published in a chronological order and enables people to comment). Then, I thought about it, and realized that my definition of a Blog was antiquated. Most websites have RSS now. Some websites use WordPress and look much more like Blogs than a corporate website. Some people would debate whether spaces like The Huffington Post, Mashable and TechCrunch could even be considered a Blog anymore (don't they look and feel more like a website than anything else?).

Are you holding on to your definitions? Are your definition of things holding you back?

Tags:

airborne entertainment

airborne mobile

andy nulman

blog

blogging for business

broadcasting

chris brogan

corporate writing

customer

definition

disruption

facebook

feedback

garner bornstein

mashable

mobile device

personal journal

rss

social media

techcrunch

the huffington post

twitter

website

wordpress

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #23

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Cooking for Engineers... recipe infographics! (and interview) - Cool Infographics . "I came across the Cooking for Engineers blog a few years ago, and was immediately impressed with this unique way of documenting a complex process. Now the guys at Cool Infographics have deconstructed Michael Chu 's approach, and published an interview with him. I'm amazed that more processes that involve the assembly of components (think books, computer systems, or surgery) haven't adopted this approach." (Alistair for Hugh).

Digital Art@Google: DJ Spooky . "This hour-long video with Paul Miller is a glimpse into the mind of an artist living at the intersection of music, technology, and art. (Sidenote: his track Little Bullet influenced a generation of DJs and producers, showing that trance didn't have to be insipid candy floss). Find an hour and listen to him talk about cargo cults, the environment, bamboo, and stop-motion photos." (Alistair for Mitch).

Screwed up incentives in higher education - Top Hat Monocle . "What's wrong with university education? Lots, and you can blame it on incentives." (Hugh for Alistair).

Siblings Share Genes, But Rarely Personalities - NPR . "Research into why it is that siblings - who share genes and an environment when they grow up - are not much more likely than random strangers to have similar personalities." (Hugh for Mitch).

Binary Breakthrough - The New York Times Sunday Book Review . "The origin of the computer is one that is rarely heard or told... until now. ' John Vincent Atanasoff , a physicist and mathematician who invented the computer largely out of frustration. Anyone who has studied calculus knows that solving differential equations is a tedious process: labor- intensive, error-prone, slow. That process grows more arduous as equations grow more complex, and by the 1930s, as Smiley recounts, the difficulty of calculation was impeding scientific advancement. In response, Atanasoff designed a machine to do what his own mind could not. 'I did not want to search and invent,' he confessed, 'but sadly I turned in that direction,' reads the article. The only thing more fascinating than reading this book review will be reading the actual book." (Mitch for Alistair).

Can It Text? Blog? Tweet? No. It's a Book. - GeekDad . "Is technology making our kids stupid? Or is technology going to kill some of the most cherished things (like books) that have made us who we are? Here's a new picture book for very young kids about books. 'It's a story about a tech-obsessed donkey, a book-loving monkey and a mouse. Think of it as the digital vs. paper book debate, but for kids. A few of us have written in favor of e-books or dead-tree books before, and I'm sure the debate will continue for some time. Smith, not surprisingly, comes down firmly in favor of books... well, at least compared to laptops, which is what the donkey has,' states the Blog post. Just wait until the donkey gets his hands on an iPad and some of the Dr. Seuss apps." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

alistair croll

bitcurrent

bite-sized edits

blog

complete web monitoring

computer

cooking for engineers

cool infographics

digital art

dj spooky

dr seuss app

ebook

geekdad

gigaom

google

great links

higher education

hugh mcguire

human 20

ipad

john vincent atanasoff

librivox

link

linkbait

managing bandwidth

media hacks

michael chu

npr

rednod

sunday book review

the book oven

the new york times

top hat monocle

The Selfish Art Of Podcasting

While you consider amping up your presence on Facebook and Twitter or while you grapple with starting a Blog, have you thought about starting a Podcast?

I started the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast in May of 2006. Now, almost 230 episodes later, I've (finally) begun to realize why I create the audio program every week. It's not what you think. When I first started tinkering with audio, I simply thought it would be easier to talk than it would be to type out a Blog post. Boy, was I wrong. Having something compelling to say and being able to record it, is not as easy Blogging (caution: I say this with full knowledge that I consider myself a writer - first and foremost - and that if you're not a writer - or if you don't have a knack for the written word - Blogging can be super-challenging as well).

Podcasting is a selfish act.

While it's humbling to know that people like (and listen) to the show, it really is a very selfish act. I use the platform of a Podcast as a gateway to meet people who are smarter than me and people who I want to learn from. I use the platform of a Podcast as a gateway to connect and learn from some of the brightest minds in Marketing and business. The bonus of all of this, is that I can publish these podcasts for anyone and everyone to listen to, but I don't do it for the listeners or the community. I do it because I can get people like Seth Godin, Don Tapscott, David Weinberger, Sally Hogshead, Charlene Li, Steve Wozniak and many others all to myself for a brief moment in time. Most DJs on traditional radio don't do it for themselves. They do it for ratings, to build audience, to get more advertisers or because their programming director told them to do it. If you really stop to think about that, there's a reason the content you hear on Podcasts (at least the more independently produced ones) sound so diametrically opposed to everything you hear on the radio.

It's an audio experiment.

Podcasting also allow me to tinker and toy with audio. The Media Hacks show or my debates with Joseph Jaffe and Mark W. Schaefer are the type of audio that you won't hear on radio. Using my portable audio recorder (which is now the HT Recorder app for the iPhone) I am able to create audio from a beach in Phuket to a busy London hotel restaurant. It's a place to think differently about audio - which is, admittedly, very difficult for some people listening. Most listeners are trained to think that what they hear on the radio is a "best practice" (it's not... it's simply the model that works for those looking to sell lots of advertising through audio programming).

Picking brains.

In the end, Podcasting is a total pleasure. It allows me to connect with some of the people I consider to be the smartest in the world, and ask them the things I would like to know along with the things that I think other people should know about them too. Podcasting allows me to become a peer to a lot of these thinkers. It's also a networking tool. If I can capture their attention for a short period of time and they enjoy the conversation, they may be more inclined to take my call should I require something in the future. It's also a great way to capture a "moment in time." It's an amazing medium to have a conversation about something current, share it with the world and then have it there for anyone else who wants to take a listen at some point in the future.

If your business is looking for a new media Marketing innovation, Podcasting may be just the right thing.

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