The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Greg Sterling discusses the new Pew Research report regarding the segregation of internet users.  Greg’s headline is more grabbing than the stats, as it appears that what could be defined as the “Web 2.0″ crowd is 23%, which is more than I would have guessed at this point.  Pew’s own report says about 31% - but their definitions seem to conflict, so I’ll stick with the 23% number.

The greater issue, which comes up from time to time is whether there is an echo chamber that is Web 2.0 and will that continue our break out to widespread adoption and purpose?  No answers hear today, but a word of caution to consider if Web 2.0 is something you alone embrace, or your entire family, including near retirement “Boomers”…..

At 6:55P, CST today, 9 out of 17 headlines on TechMeme are not traditional bloggers, but instead are newspaper reporters - mostly for the New York Times.  This has been a trend over recent weeks to the point that I now believe more firmly what I’ve said many times before - if traditional media begins to “get” new media, then there won’t be new media anymore - it will just be media and those thinking they had old media cornered and dead will find they have cornered a rabid dog…..

You can take the amount of blog headlines (or mainstream media for that matter, but I wouldn’t expect it too much from them) on RSS one of two ways.  Either a) it has now become “table stakes” and the technology crowd assumes you’re using it - OR - b) it is not mainstream for anyone else to use other than the crowd in a). (Which assumes you’re using it, but may be mistaken).

While IE7 makes it “daily life” compatible, this post from Stuart Brown lists all the specialty applications that pick up RSS.  The title of his post suggests otherwise, but it really is only a product comparison.  It appears that IE7 doesn’t have wide enough spread adoption to make it into his Feedburner list of applications used while subscribing to his blog.  Frank Gruber, from Somewhat Frank also comments with a similar discussion, but at least mentions IE7.

My question (formed by running a podcasting business) is what is the real adoption rate of RSS and will the mainstream truly see the advantage that most of us geeks and semi-geeks see?  Stay tuned.

To a certain degree, one must have a fairly sizable ego to blog.  Hence, when that ego is not assuaged by something symbolizing readership, it can be discouraging.

Nick Carr writes a thoughtful blog entry wondering if anyone will ever read - or comment - or enter into a dialogue.  Great question - well written. Essentially discusses A-list bloggers being a self-perpetuating dynasty until they quit or die.

He promptly gets humliated by A-list bloggers here, here, here and the subsequent discussion certainly is numero uno on TechMeme.

While I’ve never entered this debate before, I find that I have something to say about it.  Andy Warhol’s “15 minutes of fame” comes to mind.  Starting to blog is a lonely place.  Most of the A-listers were probably there at one point and now are not sure how they “got lucky”.  They’ve just forgotten how lonely it was at one point and now may think they have all the blogging answers. 

I think whatever readership and “fame” is generated to a person via blogging is somewhat short-lived.  To think otherwise is to believe that every startup from Silicon Valley will succeed because of its location.  History would prove otherwise and will do so again.

As Dennis Miller used to say after his rants - “But that’s just my opinion.  I could be wrong.”

After a firestorm of angry bloggers picked apart the new Nielson//Net Ratings’ report on podcasting, host Ed Weaver and producer Giovanni Gallucci discuss the accuracy of the report. Are the Nielsen//NetRatings figures skewed when they say that 6% of the US adult online population has downloaded an audio podcast? Probably so.  On Media Swamp

“The gloves come off”, as we would say here in the U.S - in other words, a fight has begun.  Competing specifications for content syndication, long thought a dead issue, have been revived by this post from DeWitt Clinton and response by Robert Scoble.  DeWitt then follows up with another response, for a good ongoing discussion.

Atom may be a better specification - I’m not an engineer, so I can’t comment intelligently on it from that point of view.  But, from a marketing perspective, let me say this:

Sony’s Betamax was a better technology than JVC’s VHS.  Does anyone remember that battle?

I’m not claiming to be prophetic here.  I’m just noticing that buzz and adoption of RSS has swamped Atom.  Is that a guarantee of widespread adoption?  It could be - only time will tell.  I’d be wary of basing my business decisions only on the fact that Atom is a better specification, though. 

Robert hits a softball thrown by Peter Davis, regarding podcasting as an inefficient medium.  Radio and television are therefore inefficient mediums as well, but somehow, those two industries have managed to survive .

Since Robert is moving to PodTech, he has to provide a good defense, which he does.  As I’ve pointed out here before, portable media players are what makes podcasting go fast.  Portable media consumption is the name of the game, baby.  It’s here to stay.  And longer than Peter Davis believes.

Monday, Macworld UK uncovered a story of Apple’s iPod manufacturing partner in China - originally published by Mail On Sunday and the blogosphere went nuts. At issue was living conditions, monthly pay, and hours worked. Apple was quiet initiallly and now has responded.

Considering that we just returned from a business trip to SE Asia, where a portion was spent in Shen Zhen, China, it’s necessary that I read these articles with an open mind. I wrote about that portion of the trip here. I should read with an open mind, consider what I personally saw in the factories which we buy from, and then act accordingly.

While the factories we were in weren’t the cleanest places I’d ever seen, I didn’t see any evidence of poor treatment of the workers or conditions that were unreasonable. When we arrived, the factory workers were taking a lunch break, and since ostensibly we were there to see the working factory, it was decided that we would go and eat lunch ourselves. Lest you think cynically of us that maybe we were naive, we did see the factory workers leaving the building en masse as we drove up.

We asked questions about working conditions and hours, but didn’t ask specific questions about monthly wages. We generally were satisfied with the responses and attitudes of the people we spent time with.

Now, my response to those that are up in arms about Apple - let me ask you this: In the U.S., we demand ever increasing profits so that share prices and company value will rise, therefore lining our pocketbooks or nests or whatever you want to call them. In order to accelerate that (and keep the buying public consuming at prices they are willing to pay), U.S. companies have been driven offshore to find the lowest possible cost of goods sold. Now, when they do, we have heart attacks over where the companies choose to have their products manufactured. Is that completely fair?

Now, let me be clear. I am FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. People should have the right to work, they should have the right and choice to work in decent conditions and make a decent wage (btw - those wages mentioned in the articles are somewhat reasonable for that area of the world, depending on what neighorhood you live in - just like here in the U.S.). Workers shouldn’t be required to work long, unhealthy hours. I didn’t see anything conclusive in the articles to state that these workers were being abused. If, in fact, they are being forced to work 15 hours days, particularly without reasonable compensation and choice as to work those hours or not, then I agree - that is abusive and Apple has the power to change that. One way is to threaten to end its relationship with Foxconn or completely sever it, if the relationship breaches Apple’s own code of conduct, mentioned here (same link as the response above, but included here for convenience), referring to the EICC.

It is a global economy and we do have to ask the question “What is the cost of low cost?”. And, we do have to ask if we’re closing a blind eye as consumers in order to fatten our bank accounts and get new toys at a lower cost. Hmmm.

Robert Scoble, the famed blogger of Microsoft, is moving on, as he discusses in multiple posts here, in response to his outing by Tom Foremski and others over the weekend.

This has been a blogging and podcasting phenomenon over the past few days that is worthy of mention. One man’s career decision has made news worldwide. Previous to this, people changing firms would only generate news if there was a corporate power struggle like at Morgan Stanley last year or Jack Welch retiring. Now, we have a mid-level individual contributor that has generated more PR juice over a weekend than many high-level execs generate in an entire career.

Robert is heading to Podtech.net, home of John Furrier. It will be interesting to see what a highly visible social media guy will do with and to that startup organization. I’m encouraged that podcasting is continuing to generate this much momentum, both in audio and video formats.

I only know Robert from being a frequent reader of his blog, both on his site and via RSS feeds. While I think this will allow him to feel much more in control of his destiny, his voice may now be so influential that it doesn’t fit in a small startup where one wrong comment could impact a year’s worth of revenue in one moment of time. I believe it will make PodTech or break them - time will only tell. I wish them both the best.

In a WSJ Online article posted today, Zuo Tao is taking on an interesting role.  While this is not related to podcasting, I can understand his perspective, having returned recently from a business trip that included his home town, Shenzhen.  He is a blogger and has used his internet voice to turn up the heat on the local real estate community by saying that prices are out of control.

The supply of apartments and high-rise real estate seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds when we were there.  If, in fact, there is plenty of supply and the prices are sky-high, then the real estate community in Shenzhen is truly attempting to make unfair profits.  On the other hand, if the building and growth that we saw are just an attempt to keep up prices are being temporarily pressed upwards, that is another very real challenge of being in a popular, high-growth city.

I hope the people of China can resolve this issue without unfair treatment of individuals.  This is an interesting opportunity for free speech.