Corporate Podcasting Expressway

It is a question to consider… i.e: At this moment, what direction is the Corporate Podcasting Market heading towards or is it morphing into something else. Is New media the new term to encompass Corporate Podcasting as just an element?

One way to consider this question is to consider what kind of organisations are taking up new ways of communicating.

From a market segmentation perspective let us look at a few:

Education - Already pioneering educators are providing ipod based learning materials, e.g: lecture notes, full audio versions of lectures and selective course pointers. Blackboard Learning Management systems have already incorporated a feature to store educational podcasts. In terms of standards and content formulation self-driven initiatives appear to be the driving force.

Traditional Media -Someone mentioned to me that the BBC TV are increasingly saying , ‘Download the programme / highlights for free’ - I’m not sure that I have noticed this. Interestingly their i-players has been phenomenally successful. This will obviously make the Director General and their governors happy that their direction is on the right path - especially with their recent announcement of building a multi-media portal.

Marketing and Public Relations - I noticed the term, ‘Digital Marketing’ being used instead of Corporate Podcasting.
It could be that this term is wider, incorporating on-line digital mailing campaigns supported by audio content.

The good news is that although new names are being adopted,there appears to be a general acceptance that content in the form of video and audio is increasingly being accepted as useful for organisations to communicate key facts.

Popularity: 35% [?]

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This week it is a special.
I really wanted to explore the value of Corporate Podcasting but from a mobile perspective.
Some call it Mobilecasting!
However, what are the real practical applications and potential pitfalls.

For example, apart from the technical issues on quality I discovered the following:

1. For meeting updates, fine and
2. For announcements it is disruptive.

Please feel free to listen and send me your feedback.

I’ve tried to balance this issue with practical corporate podcasting applications for mobile workers.

Popularity: 42% [?]

I came across the following video. From the outset it appears that some emerging pioneers and some clients did come together.

I’ve always been a bit of a cynic when it comes to networking but was impressed with the turnout and the positive attitude portrayed.
The vids about 3 months old but it shows that there is still more to be done to convince corporations to take advantage of the potential corporate podcasting:

Popularity: 50% [?]

is Podcast talent getting limited exposure?

Is Podcast talent not part of a familiar brand being somehow blocked !?
Do role models get defined / constructed or do they actually emerge from hard work and then eventually being recognised?
Are the search algorithms unintentionally working against ‘everyday man’?

In society today the reality is that the Media is king – deciding on what is newsworthy and what content can be tossed aside in favour of sensationalism or simply siding with familiar brands or channels to market.

Is Big Brother (BB) a true representation of what people are really like? The answer has to be a resounding NO as BB feeds the media and vice-versa!

One could blame us for encouraging this behaviour, journalist training or is there something more subtle and suspect going on?

Take for example, recommended podcasts, or the latest CD from an established artist. In both examples newcomers are in my view squeezed out in favour of fine tuned Public relations machines.

Let us now switch our thoughts to role models. Why do we need them? Actually we don’t as many use them as a vehicle to motivate people to achieve. Somebody once said if there are lots of multi-cultural faces on the BBC does this mean that equal opportunities are being exercised? Should not the question really be: Who is allowed to examine news content and also who controls the editorial?

‘Other’ areas to consider:

* Why are the same faces being asked to comment in the media (wheeled out and well oiled)?
* Who really controls the editorial?
* Why are we not seeing the emerging new ‘new media’ talent?
* Is a sports personality a true community spokesperson?

The answer to all of these questions has to be a combination of apathy on our parts but also not campaigning loud enough to bring about a change.

Maybe money talks?

Or, maybe the media is scared of the people’s agenda coming to the fore – something that they will not be easily able to package and then eventually control.

The quality of podcasts is varied but there are many outstanding contributions and subject matter experts that are not getting a ‘look in’. Who chooses the ‘featured podcast’ on some of the podcatcher sites, e.g: through i-tunes? I see lots of familiar operators but very limited new talent being exposed??

I hope that sincerity and goodness prevails – and that quality will eventually ‘shine through’.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Just found the following that showed a very small increase in 2007 of actual podcast downloads.

CBC Consumer News

The suggestion is that only a rise of 2% was experienced.
To me this implies two diverse findings:

1. Podcast potential exists
2. Podcasts are too complicated / technical or have not penetrated into everyday behaviours.

I call the latter a sense of the technology not being semantic.

The report also says:

The stats come from 1,855 telephone interviews in January 2007. A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project last November put the U.S. podcast audience at 12 per cent and found one per cent of internet users are downloading a podcast on a typical day.

Popularity: 44% [?]