Podcasting Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
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Yesterday I spent a bit of time at PodCamp Atlanta. I'm not a podcaster, so why was I there? Well three things: 1. Amber and Rusty asked me to kick-off the event with a keynote/session on social media and the un-conference format. 2. There were lots of familiar faces and friends that I wanted to see. 3. I'm always down for learning new things.
To kick things off I asked the audience a series of questions. It was interesting to see that the majority of the group were already creating content in some way online, i.e. podcasts or blogs. Of those, about half were interested in business cases/monetization while the other half could care less about money. They do it for passion. That passion was refreshing compared to the audience at SoCon07 which seemed mostly corporate.
At first the audience didn't open up too much. Only a small percentage had ever been to an un-con so they were unfamiliar with the format. That forced me to speak a bit too much perhaps, but eventually the questions and comments started coming. Once people realized they could say what they wanted, when they wanted the vibe changed. Good stuff.
Leonard Witt shared a great un-con experience....he wanted a more hands-on session (which wasn't on the schedule) and it ended up happening. Ask as ye shall receive :-)
However there are always the folks that want to turn a learning experience into a sales pitch. One session I sat in turned into a commercial for their services, I was really tempted to say, "This isn't about you....."
The venue was great, I especially liked the 'lounge' area which was full of comfortable leather chairs, sofas and other tables for small impromptu gatherings. When I wasn't in a session I was sitting somewhere chatting with somebody. I would say this has been the nicest conversation area I've ever seen at a conference.
Who was missing? The 'traditional' media. Amber said a bunch of folks from the AJC were invited, but didn't show up. The AJC was also a no-show at SoCon07. However, the independent/traditional media gang from Creative Loafing were there. I say independent/traditional for a reason. In the real world I think Creative Loafing feels they aren't traditional or mainstream media, compared to larger papers, etc. However, in room full of bloggers and podcasters, they are traditional media.
There was an AP reporter around for a bit. In almost-liveblogging style he filed a report soon after the event. For a bit though, the tables were turned on the AP reporter. Dave and Amber began to interview him, which didn't go too well. (Photo Below)
Congrats to Amber and Rusty for putting on a great event.
My PodCamp Atlanta photos are here, the general photo group is here.
Other recaps from: Stephanie, Grayson, Ellie's Dad and Harmen's not-so-great day.
I'll be taking part in a PRSA teleseminar next week on podcasting for the travel and tourism industry. The event is on Wednesday, Sept 13th from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST. My role is mostly to introduce the concept of social media to the audience and provide a frame of reference for how all these new tools integrate with traditional public relations and marketing. The other panelists represent destinations that are currently using podcasting in their marketing/pr mix:
Katie Kasben, video programming and production coordinator for the Biltmore Company, operator of one of North Carolina’s largest attractions, The Biltmore Estate, which features the “Biltmore Insider” podcast on its Web site.
Bob Schultz, director of communications and public relations for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, one of the first CVBs in the country to incorporate podcasting with its “Doing Indy” podcast.
Check out PRSA's site for all the details.
Brian reports in from Under the Radar that PodServe won a Best-in-Show at the event. Congrats to Alex, Brian and the rest of the gang at Big in Japan.
What is PodServe your ask? Go check it out.
Earthlink wants their users/fans to create some podcast ads for them. In the past they had used traditional radio spots in podcasts, but that doesn't go over so well. Hence the contest:
The EarthLink Make Advertising Better Challenge.
If you think the ads you've heard on podcasts are ungood, or if you'd just like to make an ad and have the chance at earning some prize money, you can create a jingle, spot, or testimonial and submit it at the URL above. Podshow.com will showcase our favorites as submissions come in, and we'll run the winners as EarthLink ads. The submission deadline is July 4th.
Brian has posted the latest installment of what we're calling the PR 2.0 Gang podcast series. This latest conversation was recorded in New York during the Syndicate Conference. On the 'panel' are myself, David Parmet, Brian Oberkirch, Mike Manuel and Joel Richman.
You can catch up on previous editions here:
Episode 1: Live from New Communications Forum
Episode 2: The Social Media Services Gap
We plan to change the name a bit, develop a stand-along blog and launch this series as a regular thing in the next few weeks. More details as they come online.
During the Building a Business Case for Podcasting panel at Syndicate, Heather Green from BusinessWeek said this about reporters using new tools such as blogs and podcasting
"Reporters are becoming multimedia. They need to be able to do this."
Here is the audio from the breakout session on Structured Blogging.
Syndicate-Structure.mp3
On the panel were:
Jen Consalvo - AOL
Eli Chapman - Mediatronica
Constantine Gus Spathis - PubSub
Chad Dickerson - Yahoo
Scott Abel - The Content Wrangler
Here's the audio from the morning keynote by Steven Schwartz of Reuters.
Syndicate-Reuters.mp3
Here is the audio from the Syndication and Community Development session.
Syndicate-Community.mp3
On the panel were:
Pete Blackshaw - Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Bill Schreiner - AOL - AIM
Jason Levitt -Yahoo
Update: Turns out I do have the audio, here it is.
Syndicate-SMS.mp3
I jacked into the audio panel to record this session, but the line level was nill so I have no audio from this session. I didn't take any notes since I was intent on listening/participating.
On the panel were:
Dave Panos - Pluck
Peter Negulescu - San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Horam - AllBusiness.com
Here is the audio from the final morning keynote from Syndicate. It was a spirited discussion about the future of RSS.
Syndicate-Grokking.mp3
On the panel were:
David Geller - WhatCounts
Mike Davidson - NewsVine
David Sifry - Technorati
Eric Ella - Brightcove
Here is the audio from the keynote session on Building Brands Through Compelling Podcast Content:
Syndicate-Brands.mp3
I know quite a few of the people around me didn't agree with many of Scott Sigler's views, so let the discussion begin.
I have uploaded two MP3 files from this morning's Syndicate keynotes. Both of them were simple recordings with my iRiver. Luckily I was right next to the speak the the sound quality is pretty good. There are some jumps as the microphones turned on and off. I think the most interesting one is the conversation with Richard Edelman:
Syndicate-Edelman.mp3
Syndicate-Jarvis.mp3
Brian Oberkirch uploaded a pair of podcasts that I participated in over the past few days over at Weblogswork.
First up is a design discussion that Jeremy Harrington and I had with Brian: Weblogs Worknotes: Blog Design.
The next podcast is a continuation of the PR-Gang we assembled at New Communications Forum in March of this year: Weblogs Worknotes: PR 2.0 Group on the Social Media Services Gap
Auto blog Jalopnik has a podcast interview with Ed Garsten of Chrylser. Ed is the editorial director of TheFireHouse.biz, Chrysler's media blog. The audio is a bit rough, but it's a good listen.
For some background, check out Toby's recap of the Chrysler blog.
Yesterday I did a quick interview for a magazine. One of the major themes of article will be the ROI of podcasts, with an emphasis on business podcasting. The overwhelming majority of podcasts I listen to are not done by businesses. They're done by individuals that are very passionate about their topic.
But once again the question is what's the ROI? I understand that there has to be some benefit to spending your time and perhaps money doing something but it isn't always measured in dollars. Shel Holtz talked about blogging ROI earlier this month:
As cheap as they are to set up and maintain, there’s really no need to measure the ROI of blogs. After all, is it necessary to measure the ROI of your pants?....It’s even easy to extend the “pants” argument to higher costs, as Toby Ward does when discussing intranet ROI. Intranets, obviously, cost more than blogs, but Toby has asked if companies demand ROI justification for their telephone networks? Not even the bean counters insist on a tally of the ROI for phones because everyone knows the consequences of removing them.
I usually ask somebody if they go to church, if they do what's the ROI? As Shel goes on to point out, too often ROI is thought of in terms of dollars and not opportunity/risk:
But I would make the argument that the kind of ROI assurance executives want is not the kind of ROI accountants measure; we’re getting too hung up on definitions. The ROI in question here is more commonly referred to as a cost (or risk) benefit analysis. While ROI generally refers to the amount of money earned after all expenses are tallied, the risk-benefit analysis weighs the consequences of an action or expense against the benefits it will achieve. Because so many executives fear the consequences and don’t understand or recognize the benefits, I still think this kind of measurement is important.
Over the past few days there have been a number of sculptures appearing in the central park of my hometown. They're part of the Sixth Annual Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition. Most of the sculptures mysteriously appear, but one is being built right before our eyes.
Christopher Fennell is building a large wave from discarded wood. Chris has been hard at work the past few days and I've been checking in every so often. Using a chainsaw in a downtown area usually draws a crowd.
Checking out his web site you'll see some cool structures that he's created with a variety of objects from wood to bicycles. In a quick audio-capture I asked Chris what he was doing and where the material came from. You can listen to the MP3 here.
Big congratulations to Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson the great guys behind the For Immediate Release podcast. It was announced yesterday that they have signed a deal with McGraw-Hill to write a book about podcasting. In one of those small-world moments I found out that their agent was Yvonne Divita, who I met earlier this year at WOMBAT. Below is a photo of Shel and Neville recording FIR #116 at New Communications Forum (photo is from Jeremiah Owyang's photostream).
I'm sitting at a table this morning with David Parmet, Mike Manuel, Shel Israel, Jeremy Pepper and Brian Oberkirch recording a podcast/conversation about public relations and social media. Interesting discussion.
Update The podcast is up!
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has produced a podcast audio tour for the new Georgia Aquarium which opens on Monday. Visitors can download up to seven different segments that include:
- What to do first
- Georgia Explorer
- River Scout
- Cold Water Quest
- Ocean Voyager
- Tropical Diver
- Dining, shopping, etc.
The AJC has been following the construction of the new aquarium for some time via their FishTank blog.
Even though I'll be in Atlanta (excuse me, 'the ATL') for the next few days I think I'll hold off on visiting till my next trip (crowds will probably be huge).
Update: TastyPiesInc has a Flickr set of the opening
In advance of my comprehensive write-up I have posted an MP3 from my public transportation experiment. I carried my MP3 recorder with me and saved a number of thoughts/comments during the day. The file is all of those snippets compiled in chronological order. The file is 9.3 MB as runs around 10 minutes. You can click on the link below to listen.
PTE.mp3
The Naples News has switched to a Storm Edition in advance of Hurricane Wilma. The newspaper staff explain the switch:
For the next few days, the Naples Daily News and Bonita Daily News will be publishing their online content only on BonitaNews.com in order to have one source for all Hurricane Wilma information. BonitaNews.com is more capable of providing our readers quick, accurate and detailed information about the approaching storm and its effects on Collier and south Lee counties.
The new site is being run by some type of blog software a web framework by the name of Django and features a RSS feed of headlines. The Daily News is also producing a podcast (RSS) of hurricane coverage.
The finishing touch? They have a Wilma favicon: 
I've updated my list of local media Hurricane Wilma blogs.
The defendant in our case failed to appear this morning so we were dismissed for good. Was the defendant guilty/not-guilty? We'll never know, but not showing up for your trial is usually not a good thing.
I recorded some thoughts about the jury selection process and other related items. You can listen to the nine-minute commentary by clicking the link below.
JuryDutyO2.mp3 (8.7MB)
Self-serving and self-interested? Perhaps, but I'll post the few short audio bits I was able to record this morning. We'll see what else I can 'legally' record. Warning, it's nothing exciting :-)
JuryDuty-01.mp3
In the most recent edition of the For Immediate Release podcast, Neville Hobson discusses the Publix I/S blogger. Neville's point of reference was the Marcom Blog entry I posted earlier this week.
The topic is covered at 1:11:25 into the podcast.
One of the much talked about aspects of podcasting is that it allows you to hear inflection in the voice of the podcaster. How true.
Over at the Across the Sound podcast there has been a bit of a 'discussion' about transparency between Steve Rubel and Jeremey Pepper (I guess Steve and Jeremy won't be sharing a room at BlogOn 2005). Steve and his co-host, Joseph Jaffe featured the topic of transparency in their third show. Listening to the show you could easily detect a heavy does of sarcasm in Steve and Joseph's approach to the topic.
This might not have been their intent, but it's definitely the perception I had while listening to the show. Anybody else pick this up?
Stephen Davies writes that he stumbled upon what he thinks is podcast spam.
While searching a few media podcasts on the iTunes website through my iTunes player I came across the iMedia Pro podcast. Thinking it was a podcast about…you guessed it, media, (oh how stupid of me!) I subscribed. Only to find some guy telling me how I can make “six figure sums” by…well, I don’t know how because I couldn’t bare listening to his drivel!
I wonder if this will be an iTunes only issue? Other podcast directories such as Podcast Alley allow users to rate podcasts and provide comments, so any podcast spam will be quickly noted. Within iTunes there is no ability to comment. All you can do is 'Report a Concern'.
Hey look a new iPod, the Nano and the much talked about iTunes phone. Of course like many Apple products, what draws you in about the Nano is the form factor. Then you review the specs and realize it's only 4GB. I have enough trouble squeezing my music and podcasts on to my 1st Gen 5GB model (which is still going strong).
As for the iTunes Phone it will transfer up to 100 songs via USB. I think the killer app would be the ability to subscribe to podcast feeds via the phone and use GPRS to download the new content.
Another related item I found interesting was that today's announcement caused a number of gadget sites to go down from the load.
This has probably been mentioned somewhere else before, but I just noticed it the other day. The University of Florida News web site is run on WordPress and features a podcast of recent news items.
Kudos to Mark Trammell and his UF Web Team.
Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson of the For Immediate Release podcast have posted an interview with Constantin Basturea. To quote Shel's intro:
he has become a one-man resource for the global public relations profession, building tools that make it easier for PR practitioners to understand and apply the tools of social media. These include a wiki called The New PR, an annual online professional development event titled Global PR Blog Week, a PR headline service, and a comprehensive PR-focused del.icio.us bookmark listing.
I'll be lucky enough to meet up with Constantin next week when I am in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days.
One of the problems with many independent podcasters is their lack of interviewing skills. I guess that is to be expected since many podcasters are not journalists. I am learning this myself :-)
Do you want to avoid having your podcast interview sound like a segment from the Chris Farley show on SNL? Dan Gillmor has posted some interview basics over at Bayosphere.
Yet another Tour podcast. This one is produced by the Discovery Channel Cycling Team and features Dan Osipow calling in twice a day with updates from the Tour.
The podcasts are less than three minutes long and are recordings of Dan calling in via phone. The quality is a bit rough so far, but I think that's a result of calling via cell from Europe.
For those that are new to podcasts, Team Discovery even has a quick guide to get you started. It even has instructions for adding the podcast to iTunes, so they are on top of things.
Spoke Radio is offering daily audio updates from the Tour de France, but it is not a podcast. There is no RSS feed for the MP3 files recorded by former Tour/US Postal rider and OLN commentator Frankie Andreu. In order to keep up-to-date you need to visit the site each day and download the file.
I e-mailed Patrick Bulger with Spoke Radio and asked him if he was planning on adding an RSS feed. Patrick didn't know too much about podcasting or RSS so I pointed him to some good online resources. Hopefully Patrick will get an RSS feed up in the next few days.
For now I will stick with the Sirius Tour podcast and check the Spoke Radio site when I get around to it.
I have posted some more screenshots on Flickr for those who do not have iTunes.
A few more thoughts on the new version of iTunes:
- The main Podcasts screen is very commercial (Disney, ABC News, Queer Eye, existing Talk Radio shows, etc.) with very few links to independent podcasts. I assume that this will change as more people add their podcasts to the iTunes listings.
- There is a 'Publish Podcasts' link that allows you to enter the URL of a podcast feed. In order to publish a podcast you need to sign in with an account. I am not sure if you can just enter any podcast URL, or if they will verify that it is yours.
- There is a 'Report a Concern' link on the main title screen for each podcast (both commercial and independent). The link takes you to a form which says:
Report a Concern
Please select the reason for your concern with the podcast (Podcast Title) form the drop down list below.
This Podcast: (drop-down choices are)
- contains offensive material
- violates a copyright I own
- is not able to be played
- is not able to be downloaded
- is not marked 'Explicit' and should be
- is represented in the incorrect category
- is represented in the incorrect language
- is mine and I would like it removed from the Music Store
Email Address:
Comments:
That last item may answer my question about, "Could I submit somebody else's podcast."
- iPod integration is standard stuff, just like your music and other podcasts via iPodder, etc.
That's all I plan to post for now. Watching the iTunes Tag should provide ample reading for the day.
Update: Dave Taylor has created a tutorial for subscribing to podcasts via iTunes
Buried within the 'What is Podcasting' link on the new iTunes 4.9 Music Store is this little item:
Enhanced Podcasts
Q: What's an enhanced podcast?
A. In addition to publishing a podcast, you may create an enhanced podcast, which contains chapters that reference pictures or web links that are displayed within the iTunes song artwork viewer.
Q. How do I create an enhanced podcast?
A. You can download and use "Chapter Tool" to create enhanced podcasts. The Chapter Tool allows you to create chapters within a MPEG4 AAC file created with iTunes 4.9 of better. Chapters, at a minimum, must include a Start Time and one other attribute.
Link to Chapter Tools install
It now looks like you can 'slice' up your podcast and add track references. This would be great for sound-seeing tours or other news-format shows. I would think that the Hobson & Holtz Report might use this feature. Neville Hobson and I talked about this during my recent interview.
I know that Dave Winer will not be a big fan of the slice-n-dice.
This morning via Software Update I was able to download iTunes 4.9 which supports podcasting. Once I have played with it some I will post some more thoughts.
The small paragraph at the bottom says: With iTunes 4.9, you can now browse and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes Music Store. Podcasts are frequently updated radio-style shows downloadable over the Internet. You can also transfer podcasts to iPod, for listening on the go.
Kaye Trammell has posted a podcast about her blog research. The podcast was done as a 'guest lecture' for a University of Toronto class.
I recently met Kaye at the Gainesville podcast meetup. I knew a little about the research she had done, but her podcast served as a great introduction/review to her research.
I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Neville Hobson yesterday for the Hobson and Holtz Report. The MP3 of the podcast is now available. The interview went really well. We had some intial Skype issues but they were quickly resolved before we got started.
If you read my blog and wanted to know what I 'sound' like, here is your chance. :-)
Update:Neville commented that the sound quality was very good on our Skype Call/Interview and wanted to know what my setup was.
I was using a Jabra BT200 Bluetooth headset with my Apple 17" PowerBook. Some of that quality might have come from the level of bandwidth I have at my Atlanta location. I have a cable modem via Charter Communications and have been blessed with very fast connectivity.
This morning I listened to the first Gillmor Daily podcast with Steve Gillmor and Dave Winer. The one comment that stuck out in my mind was Dave's about ads in RSS.
Dave said something like, "I thought RSS was the ad?"
Dave's thinking is if I am a business or a topical expert, any blog post I make could be considered an ad. By giving out a little bit of intelectual property you are attempting to attract interest and business.
When you have children, you raise them trying to shelter them from certain things. A few months ago at a playground my son encountered a young boy that was just mean. My son did not know how to respond, he had never encountered anybody like that before. You hope that people will be good and decent, but that is not always the case.
Why say this? I just read this post on Dave Winer's blog and it made me think about my son on the playground. I am not comparing Dave to my son, Dave can handle himself, but it was just one of those moments when you are reminded that not all people are nice.
Barry Friedman, Jamie McAtee and I ventured to Gainesville this afternoon for a podcast meetup. Dave Winer made the trip to Hogtown to talk podcasting with other Central Florida bloggers/podcasters. I met a few new folks including Kaye Trammell and her husband Mark. Mark is the webmaster for the University of Florida (great clean, user-centered design).
Of course we had some blog-saturation coverage...pictures of people taking pictures:
Here are Dave Winer's photos from the event. And of course Kaye's perspective. More thoughts in a bit.
Looks like the Gainesville Podcast Meetup is on. I am going to try to swing by. Why Josh, you don't podcast? Well I have been thinking and playing recently. A meetup like this is a great opportunity to learn from some podcast veterans.
Dave Winer had posted a note over on PodCatch about a possible Central Florida podcast meetup in Gainesville? One set of dates being thrown around was June 11-12 which is this upcoming weekend. Nothing more has been said about this though.
I was planning on heading up for at least one of the days if the event took place. It looks like it might be a bust.
