One reason I am looking forward to results and buzz from the Portable Media Expo? Because I think podcasting as a movement needs a refuel on the spirit which started podcasting because it did go mainstream too fast. In just a few months, big players (like Yahoo and iTunes) integrated podcasting into their standard tool set.
Not that mainstream is a bad thing in general: Podcasting has fetched bigger interest from everyday people than blogs have. People do say how much more they react to sound (and also photo and video) than just to text. The press has done big coverage and is already on their second (third?) round of interviewing podcasters. So this is a success, right?
Not quite. The huge demand on listener side for "not this radio stuff but much better delivered for free as often as I want it"-content as well as thousands of people willing to produce this kind of content - all of this could go together perfectly. At least if the people involved knew how to handle this rushed success both on production as on the content side.
If podcasting would be just a hype, nobody would feel sorry about it - because then it would just be a hype which is replaced by something new. But if you take a closer look at the amount of work, resources and passion people are investing into those wonderful podcasts, you know how much of an impact this has on peoples lives.
From a producing side, I see two main issues here: how to make better, more efficient produced podcasts (which includes every aspect of production from concept work till music choice and clearing of rights) and how to find your own voice.
Interestingly, the people who could help out, are 'old media' - trained in the content media business, with years of knowledge, contacts, and professional equipment. Because first of all it is a distributing technique, second a way of having content in a new format and three produce content very cost effective to a world-wide audience.
With their knowledge, it should be fairly easy to embrace a new technology like this and help it evolve. Instead we see (generally speaking) small baby steps and they seem satisfied to write podcasting somewhere on their website.
Podcasters on the other hand are facing huge demands from their listeners - about quality, frequency, and content. What may have started as a fun hobby can soon turn into "just another show on the market". At which point a podcaster just might stop doing it because it lost it's charm.
When I ask if podcasting has gone mainstream to fast, I am asking kind of if it has grown up too fast: from a newborn over some kindergarten time and pre-teen directly to being 21 with just some job - and no fun time being a teenager with ways to experiment and get confident about who you are and what you can do.
Perhaps it is time to scale back a bit for many podcasters and remember: Nobody is forcing you. This is supposed to be fun. Nobody has the right to demand perfect production in whatever frequency they think you 'have' to do it.
Does it still make you happy or would you like to experiment a bit because you feel trapped? This is podcasting. You make the rules. It may get a bit bumpy and you might loose some of your audience, but try to look at it this way: if you are not a happy podcaster, the listeners will notice - and leave anyway.
[And a suggestion for the listeners: Think about what you are expecting from the podcasters you are listening to. And try to come up with a reason for yourself why they should fulfill your expectation.]
Alex Williams
Matt May
Nicole Simon
Roland Tanglao
1. Ken on November 8, 2005 03:17 AM writes...
Podcasting still has a ways to go before it becomes mainstream. It's still a pain to figure what RSS is and even how you use an iPod (if you're somneone like me).
When podcasters come up with really compelling content, podcasting will begin to grow much more quickly. I think that educational, or instructional content, rather than entertainment will drive it. If it can help you pass exams (listening to the best lecturers), or leverage time better (listening to MBA classes in the gym) it helps create real value. It amazes me that people do not see the value in this medium for education. Once educators begin to leverage this vlaue I think it will push podcasting forward.
Our own organization is attempting to do exactly that through a program designed to learn Mandarin www.ChinesePod.com
The progranm is driven by a paid subscription model - people are willing to pay for educational podcasts!
Permalink to Comment2. Nicole on November 8, 2005 05:08 AM writes...
Ken, 95% of my podcast use is for education - learning english :)
And yes, it has still to go a long way to have those easier modells of producing RSS feeds etc. I don't deny that itunes (Yahoo on a less heavier basis) had a great impact to push listenership.
But this educational use - although it will have its own innovations - will not push development forward in any case.
A subsription modell for content like education has a value of its own - absolutly correct. But your business modell does not apply to Jack and Joe's podcast about something else. They can try and charge for it, but they will have a much harder time than you have with your modell.
Innovations needed? Yes. Easier production needed? Yes. But just let think about who would do mostly a educational podcast? Teachers. Who already have found ways to prevent their content (and know it worked) and now just have to transfer it to a new medium.
This does bring new examples, but I don't see them going into podcaster meetings and help others to use the methods they have been using the last x years in their classes.
Somebody from a presentation background will also have it easier to go podcasting, because they have a background in structuring their slides and presenting them without seeming nervours.
Can you see them going online and do ínnovation for the rest? Would you tell a podcaster "oh if you want to learn this, just study how to be a teacher or a presenter and the rest will follow easily!"? I don't think so.
The gap between "it has not gone mainstream in one way but in another it has gone over the top" is exactly the topic I wanted to mention.
My hope is: Once we learn / think about this problem (or disagree, all welcome) we can spin new ideas.
Permalink to Comment3. Stan Sorensen on November 8, 2005 11:15 AM writes...
Perhaps podcasting has hit the mainstream too fast. On the other hand, I tend to think you need the type of frenzy and glut of content we're seeing before we can expect a shakeout. It's coming. Listeners will begin to vote with their feet, aggregators who track such things will start to drop podcasts that aren't being downloaded, and for the most part the quality bar will go up and the quantity bar will go down. At the same time tools will improve.
In a sense it's kind of depressing to see this happen to fast because, as you say Nicole, podcasting didn't get to enjoy its teenage years. There will continue to be teenagers, of course. But the grownups will come to be the majority pretty quickly.
Then it'll be on to the next thing
Permalink to Comment4. Marcus on November 8, 2005 05:04 PM writes...
I like what the Washington Post said: "Podcasting has achieved what no new technology has ever accomplished: it's gone mainstream and underground at the same time."
The mainstream can do what it wishes. That won't stop the counter-culture from using technology as a tool to communicate, not with the world at large, but with itself.
I'm still terribly excited. It hasn't even really gotten started yet. Podcasting is still where blogs were at in 1999. It just gets more media attention, because this time popular culture is anticipating its growth.
Permalink to Comment5. Michael on November 9, 2005 03:36 PM writes...
I am not too worried about growing up too fast. I started podcasting in Feb/March and so was a pretty early adopter. I am a religious podcaster and so have a relatively small niche. That is fine. I and a group of others are experimenting and helping others find their voice.
There has developed two tracks - mainstream and indie. Some indies strive to be mainstream, but I will continue to do my cast for the love of God and the love of the art. I have a long way to go in learning the craft, but I am greatful to be in this place, at this time.
Michael Kreidler
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6. anitasvv on November 19, 2005 06:20 PM writes...
The lifecycle of many technologies tend to coexist in this half-teen (experimentation, innovation) and half-adult (corporatization, commercialization) for some time, and I don't think podcasting will abandon its teenage years too soon. The growth of podcasting seems similar to the early days of radio, when content and access where very much at the behest of the user. Hopefully podcasting won't go the way of radio, and will maintain its youthful verve - more like film, which maintains a healthy experimental side while Hollywood does its own thing.
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