The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Fractals of Change shares the true issues at hand on ‘net neutrality and I think skewers the right people and lifts up the right people.  Thankfully, there are a few out there that get it, but it will be an uphill battle.  The boys with the big PR and lobbying dollars have been at it longer.  Let’s catch up - the games not over yet.

This will dramatically affect those of us that are dealing with large file transfers for media distribution.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - it’s not our fault that the telco’s made bad investments or that they’ve fought the wrong battles - we shouldn’t have to pay for them going forward - they should.

Well, don’t you just know that all the fun things happen at home while you’re on the road. Gio got a call from the Fort Worth Star Telegram while I was in London, that turned into this article and the subsequent posting to The Agency Blog. Blake Burris from Cocoa Radio got good mentions as well, not only for Cocoa Radio, but also for his additional distribution of CR through Media Swamp.

Since Gio has driven everything around the Media Swamp, it’s good he got the call.

6 days after returning from SE Asia, I turned around and flew to London for 2 days of a 3 day conference. I was asked to speak on a panel regarding technology and specifically on our efforts to podcast in “out of the way places”. I met people interested in utilizing this new trend (which obviously is newer in most other places in the world than it is here in the U.S.) as well as possibly funding some of the MPReach capital needs. Time will tell as to the overall interest, but I believe it was time well spent, both in terms of education and visibility. Thanks to those that made it possible for me to attend.

We were treated to nice digs, first class speakers, such as The Baronness Cox, former Deputy Speaker of The House of Lords, and great food. 1st class treatment from a 1st class organization.

Another podcast while on location (actually on the way out, while waiting for my flight at Gatwick), is over at The Media Swamp.

Feedburner posted this on their “Burning Questions” blog. Great overall data regarding podcasting. Interesting, though, that they state that they support more podcasting feeds than there are radio stations worldwide. Good piece of PR there, but while Feedburner is loved by all, let me sprinkle a little cold water on that number.
Each podcast is like a show. Not a radio station. So, while they host more than 44,000 podcast feeds - that’s more like 44,000 shows on what would be somewhat less than 44,000 radio stations. Let’s be generous and say that there are 24 shows per day on a 24 hour talk radio station. That would be more like 1,833 radio stations…..
Before you think I’m criticizing them, let me say, hosting feeds for 44,000 shows is huge. I congratulate them. Just wanted to do the math for them.
Read the report - it’s a fantastic piece otherwise.

Steve Rubel, on the Micro Persuasion blog, asks if podcasting is evolutionary or revolutionary. He compares it’s impact to blogging, for which he is a professional spokesperson and model, so to speak. He ends up in the evolutionary camp on podcasting, revolutionary on blogging, to no great surprise.

His argument is that podcasting is not very social, and blogging is. A lot of discussion around Web 2.0 is around the social aspects. I agree that podcasting is not social, but then again, neither is broadcasting. It certainly has more social possibilities than traditional podcasting ever did, but social is probably not at the top of the list. On the other hand, just because a trend is not social does not mean it’s not revolutionary.

Podcasting is revolutionary! It is revolutionary because of the perfect storm of portable hard drives with headphones (known as iPods, MP3/MP4 players, portable digital media players ), cheap bandwidth, RSS, and consumers being fed up with poor programming choices from media giants.

Some people have expectations of miracles in this trend of podcasting and the world to change overnight. If it (a new trend) doesn’t satisfy instant gratification needs, it is deemed a losing proposition. My experience says that sea change comes like a Tsunami. It starts with a violent crack way down below the surface. You don’t see it coming until it’s almost too late. Unfortunately, often it is too late for some.

But, the change comes….