DISQUS

John Furrier · 1 year ago

don't see your point on the podcast debate - jury is out: it is already successful; the monetization isn't there yet. your porches business model is meeting people and maybe eating lunch or a snack - so is August Capital but Mike Arrington can have a party on their porch and make money- success.

Gizmodo stunt: pranks are funny but representing a publication makes them jerks-offs. No one is talking about your point about branded publications and blogs..there is difference... the key point is the unedited voice - nice gems buried in there dave..get back to coding...

mndoci · 1 year ago

Dave ... you're bang on target. Too many people like to take the sheer fun out of life. Since when did everything have to have a business model or be monetizable. It's like saying, I want to learn how to play the piano, but there isn't much of a future as a concert pianist so it's a failure.

The thing is, it's our choice. If I want to run ads, fine. If not, that's fine as well.

Mark · 1 year ago

My wife has had a video podcaster for almost a year now about scrapbooking. It comes out three times a week. She originally started it because she could't a video podcaster on the subject. We don't make any money from the show, but we do occasionally get free stuff from manufacturers to show. If she did for the money we would have stopped long ago. In a year she has built an audience of 5000 viewers an episode in this niche category. The perks being free stuff and a loyal viewership who enjoy the show. We will never be able to live off the show, but that doesn't make it a failure.

laurent · 1 year ago

I agree Dave. There is too much focus on ROI with too many things. Did podcasting CHANGE THE WORLD and become the new radio? No. But it allows the people who have have opinions and ideas another tool in their arsenal to converse with people. Return On Investment is the most annoying of the acronyms out there and if people would focus on fun and conversation they would be much happier.

chris2x · 1 year ago

I agree with you and disagree with you at the same time. I think what this never ending debate points out is that podcasting means different things to different people. To business's for instance there needs to be a good reason to podcast, and given the number who are podcasting a number of them are finding that it meets their business goals. To some individuals podcasting is expression and to others they approach it with business goals or at least personal goals. So I do podcasting as a hobby but I would also love to have advertising to help support my travel habit. I think the big thing is know what your goals are and then examine whether podcasting, blogging, twittering, and whatever the new trend is will help you get there.

As for me, podcasting is helping me get where I want to go so I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

---

Chris Christensen
Amateur Traveler podcast - http://AmateurTraveler.com
Tripinator - Travel 2.0 - http://tripinator.com

P.S. Oh yeah, thanks for that whole RSS business :-)

noebie · 1 year ago

i like this perspective

it is what it is

i blog and do podcast production in my day job, but i also make podcasts and post to my personal blog - forget about making money with them - the COST me money and time - but i do it because i enjoy it and have something to share

i do appreciate it when people are explicit with we listeners and readers when money is changing hands

Jon Foreman · 1 year ago

Of course a telephone or a porch has a business model - there are plenty of companies making a profit selling this items. In fact, this items probably wouldn't exist in their current forms/prices at present if it weren't for the greed factor.

That said - I hear you - just because something doesn't have a business model doesn't mean that it isn't extraordinarily useful.

dave · 1 year ago

Your phone might have a business model, but mine doesn't.

Sebastian · 1 year ago

It's not about having a business model for the company that sells the phone to you. (There's always a company that sold the computer and the microphone or the bandwidth you do your podcast with.) It's about the business model something has for YOU.

What's the ROI on my mobile phone? Well, probably in my case, the mobile phone has a ROI, but would a cheaper one do the same job? Likely! For most people, a phone has no actual business model, it's just a cool/convenient thing they like to have.

It's the same with blogs, for example! How many people write blogs but don't earn any money off it? It's many!

j0h5 · 1 year ago

I still remember the Thunder Storm podcast, totally worthless ROI, but a nice gem in my mind ...

dave · 1 year ago

I called that one a "godcast" -- not a podcast. :-)

troll · 1 year ago

Your phone doesn't have a business model but it appears that your podcast requires one if it becomes popular.

Ray Grieselhuber · 1 year ago

I always like your perspective on these things.

Part of the problem is we're talking largely about media technologies, and media has almost always meant advertising. And media, traditionally, in the eyes of the publishers has always just been a channel they can monetize. That's why, with blogs (the technology), you have people who do nothing but blog. And some people make money at it - but the ones who do tend to have at least somewhat of an interesting life outside of their blog.

So the real question, in my mind, is how "new" media will continue to change and grow, especially in light of challenges like yours. Those of us who want to keep it real and blog for the purpose of sharing ideas and making friends will always have to find other ways to make a living. That's fine with me. It doesn't mean I think all blogs with ads on them aren't valid and useful sources of information, but their purpose is clearly different.

Susanna · 1 year ago

Your timing on this post couldn't be better. I'm currently helping my boss, a physics professor, put together a podcast of his lectures for his students. No, we're not selling advertising on these! But the students like being able to download the video lectures and review them at home, and my boss likes that the students are learning physics.

Solo500 · 1 year ago

Podcasting has succeeded and the evidence of this is in how common podcast links are in non-tech sites. After reading this entry, I went to a comics site, where audio interviews were linked to, an NPR site, the NY public library site and the NY academy of sciences site. Podcasts were standard fare, as unremarkable as being directed to check out an article or a book.

The issue of "monetizing" everything under the sun is another issue. I don't want to live in a world where everything of value is plastered with ads as if it were a race car.

Alec Saunders · 1 year ago

Amen. I write because I wanted to write as a teenager, and never had the opportunity. I took up blogging at the age of 39, and realized my dream. Best of all, blogging makes it possible without my having to figure out a way to make a living from it. And yeah, I have a few ads on my site. They allow me to pay someone to build new designs and so on when I want my hobbiest's soapbox to have a new look or feature.

Thank you, Dave, for inventing Radio Userland so many years ago.

Best, A

Bob Stepno · 1 year ago

I really like the porch metaphor... and blogged about Sousa's lament for porch-singers. (Thanks for the link, Dave.) Coincidentally, I had a chance last week to sit on the porch in the sun using a OLPC XO laptop that has a sunlight-friendly reflective-mode screen and a built in multi-voice music synthesizer called "TamTam." If there were others around, it would mesh-network and let me jam with them. Maybe there's hope yet, even if it doesn't play MP3s or YouTube... and the Economist calls it "clunky" because it's not all profit-motivated. Sigh. More on http://tinyurl.com/2f7wnk

Ryan Tate · 1 year ago

So Scoble -- not a blogger?

JMM at TalkingPointsMemo -- not a blogger?

Zefrank -- not a blogger?

And if this week I blog for fun, in my spare time, but next week I get paid and do it full time, I'd be a blogger now but not a blogger next week? And if someone dies and leaves me 10 million, and I quit that blogging job, then I'd go back to being a blogger?

And what, exactly, activities OTHER than writing a blog count? Cause if I was making a paycheck today from blogging, I'd still be eating, reading, thinking, voting, coding, drinking coffee and who knows what the hell us. No one JUST blogs.

GOD THIS PISSES ME OFF.

Miguel Guhlin · 1 year ago

Howdy, great points. I've shared a few reflections online here:
http://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2008/01/entry_4...

With appreciation,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

Ben · 1 year ago

My wife gave up her job a year ago, to come and work full time with me from home on our podcast-oriented business. One year down the line we are doing fine, and 95% of our income comes from our podcasts. But we have never had a single ad on our podcasts.

Frankly I'm really fed up with all this 'is podcasting dead' debate. It certainly isn't for us, and if Wizzard served a billion podcasts last year, then things look good all round. People who moan about not getting ads really don't get it.