Who would have guessed? Everyone doing it of course. Well, it turns out that some analysts at the Diffusion Group have done a study, Podcasting: Fact, Fiction and Opportunity. Here’s a snippet (via Corante/podcasting):

“Today the term ‘podcast’ refers to almost any online mobile content distribution service,” said Marc Freedman, contributing analyst with The Diffusion Group. “It has taken on very general precepts, thus indicative of its status as a service category as opposed to a branded activity.”

While the iPod explosion created demand for both portable digital music players and inexpensive, downloadable content, Freedman contends that it wasn’t until consumers became aware of personal video recording and the virtues of time-shifting (that is, downloading or saving to consumer media content when most convenient to consumers) that podcasting became a distinct activity.

“Consumers were already accustomed to downloading music for playback on portable devices – this is a well-engrained activity that precedes online digital music,” said Freedman. “However, the downloading of online ‘audio blogs’ for portable on-demand consumption is certainly new. Yes, the roots of podcasting lie in non-commercial amateur blogging, but podcasting’s non-commercial status is changing as more businesses begin to find creative ways to use this new delivery medium to push audio content.”

Source: Yahoo! News

Podcasting can help you in more ways than you think. Adding to the stack, I recently learned about the Podcasting Elevator Pitch” (via Business Opportunities Weblog) and I think it’s a wonderful idea.

The technique calls on several unique opportunities that exist today:

• A VC that’s able to be reached via Podcast. Although there are likely a few, there’s one that’s enabled this, Fred Wilson.

• An open bookmarking system that provides a method for adding to a feed, a la tagging. Enter del.icio.us. It turns out that Mr. Wilson has setup a special tag, fred’selevatorpitch, that let’s people tag their audio as an elevator pitch.

• Stir in some RSS reading, and more specifically, some Podcatching software.

• For extra punch, stir in the new del.icio.us

Josh Dura pointed to some news on the new multimedia/enclosure support that’s been added to del.icio.us. Since then, I’ve been blinking rapidly with the possibilities of this. Perhaps I should explain myself.

Until now, there were two problems, in two different domains:

• Podcasts are generally discovered by talent or theme, not topic.

  That comment will raise hairs on many necks, but it’s something I believe to be true. For newcomers to podcasting, they generally start at a directory or with a directed search as guided by an “insider”. The challenge for newcomers, as has been covered many times before, is that to tell if you like someone requires a good deal of work (finding shows on the right theme, downloading and listening to determine the fit, etc.). However, we’ve also got lots of shows that are situated around streams of consciousness or broader themes (generalization again).

  What has been missing, largely due to the huge effort required the prepare detailed show notes and the lack of available indexing tools (podscope.com aside), is the ability to determine what a show covers. Some may consider this to be a suitable challenge, however I there are many, many use cases where random banter won’t cut it.

• Audio could be tagged, but not downloaded easily

  Since our podcasts and other forms of web multimedia live, well, on the web, they all theoretically have a unique URL. This is where del.icio.us comes into play. People are tagging URLs all the time inside this service and their recent round of funding will surely deliver greater reliability and new features.

  The disconnect, though some creatives have worked around them, was that the links to the audio were not presented in a format that made it possible for Podcatching clients to download them - we could see the smoke, but not the fire.

So here we are today, and things are very different. Now, del.icio.us has added enclosure tags to their generated RSS feeds. This will provide us all with a unique ability to reach people who were:

• Not looking for podcasts, but could benefit from them
• Looking for more granularity, but unable to find it

All we need to do now, really, is start to register our podcasts with del.icio.us and provide tags that are relevant to the conversation had. Now we’re getting topical views of the podcasting space. What’s best is that all the “traditional” arguments for tagging as a whole come with it, and then some:

• Quick and easy to designate, as compared to writing show notes with time stamps, etc.
• Human-mediated (for the time being) provides that key human filter that helps us determine what’s appropriate (note, I’m not commenting on quality in any manner).
• Reputation-enabled by default since I can choose to let people I “trust” to recommend the topics for specific podcasts. Now I’m choosing editorial talent.

Personally, I am most excited since the SparkCasting system has been doing this all along. Every show has been about a specific topic and there are internally tags associated with each.

In summary: very cool indeed

Podcasting can help you in more ways than you think. Adding to the stack, I recently learned about the Podcasting Elevator Pitch” (via Business Opportunities Weblog) and I think it’s a wonderful idea.

The technique calls on several unique opportunities that exist today:

• A VC that’s able to be reached via Podcast. Although there are likely a few, there’s one that’s enabled this, Fred Wilson.

• An open bookmarking system that provides a method for adding to a feed, a la tagging. Enter del.icio.us. It turns out that Mr. Wilson has setup a special tag, fred’selevatorpitch, that let’s people tag their audio as an elevator pitch.

• Stir in some RSS reading, and more specifically, some Podcatching software.

• For extra punch, stir in the new del.icio.us

Podcasting can help you in more ways than you think. Adding to the stack, I recently learned about the Podcasting Elevator Pitch” (via Business Opportunities Weblog) and I think it’s a wonderful idea.

The technique calls on several unique opportunities that exist today:

• A VC that’s able to be reached via Podcast. Although there are likely a few, there’s one that’s enabled this, Fred Wilson.

• An open bookmarking system that provides a method for adding to a feed, a la tagging. Enter del.icio.us. It turns out that Mr. Wilson has setup a special tag, fred’selevatorpitch, that let’s people tag their audio as an elevator pitch.

• Stir in some RSS reading, and more specifically, some Podcatching software.

• For extra punch, stir in the new del.icio.us

Podcasting can help you in more ways than you think. Adding to the stack, I recently learned about the Podcasting Elevator Pitch” (via Business Opportunities Weblog) and I think it’s a wonderful idea.

The technique calls on several unique opportunities that exist today:

• A VC that’s able to be reached via Podcast. Although there are likely a few, there’s one that’s enabled this, Fred Wilson.

• An open bookmarking system that provides a method for adding to a feed, a la tagging. Enter del.icio.us. It turns out that Mr. Wilson has setup a special tag, fred’selevatorpitch, that let’s people tag their audio as an elevator pitch.

• Stir in some RSS reading, and more specifically, some Podcatching software.

• For extra punch, stir in the new del.icio.us

I love entrepreneurs, it’s a fact. I spend most of my time and energy in pursuit of entrepreneurial efforts. As most any entrepreneur knows, getting your business off of the ground can be a grueling, intense process that leaves you sitting in bed at night worrying about the future.

One of the greatest challenges, in this regard, is funding your company and keeping it afloat long enough to see what happens. There have been a countless number of techiques developed to aid the bootstrapping business person. I’ve seen and implemented tons of them for myself, but this story just made me smile.

Meador, who is head of operations at ClearContext, and Deva Hazarika, the chief executive officer, have been playing poker in lieu of collecting paychecks for the past year while working to get their three-person company off the ground. After logging 50 or more hours a week at the office, each one spends another 10 to 15 hours, usually on weekends and evenings, at their favorite poker sites–mainly Partypoker.com, Ultimatebet.com and Pokerstars.

Source: News.com, “High-stakes start-ups”

What’s this have to do with opportunity costs? A lot actually. First, a definition: Opportunity costs are “The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.” Easy enough, right?

If you get a snooty MBA into your ranks, watch out because they’ll be happy to remind you just how much they’re sacrificing to work with you. Personally, I think everyone’s sacrificing something when you come to the table, so it’s really not worth mentioning. Or put another way, if you are already thinking about just how large the gap is, you might want to reconsider participating at all.

The other emotion, that I often see bundled with Opportunity Cost, is safety. Most people have worked a job and grown accustomed to the reliability of a paycheck. We’re hesitant to take the leap. This can be seen with the leagues of consultants that enter from the edges only to jump ship when they’ve accrued a large, steady enough flow of projects. Starting your business is categorically more scary since it’s usually a money pit with a blurry end in sight.

My advice, make sure you deal with the two separately and you’re 100% on board on both fronts before venturing.

Interface design has always been a fascinating domain to me. Perhaps it’s my roots doing graphic design or my latter day fetish for writing interactive code, but I’ve known for some time that regardless of what the backend does, if it fails to work for the user, everything’s pretty close to useless.

We’re in changing times now, and the term interface is evolving as well. Though we’ve traditionally associated it with the “look and feel” of the application, we’re also seeing it reach out into new areas. In particular, the development of new APIs for public consumption are largely entering the interface landscape.

Interface design, of course, is a function of the audience. It seems this point is lost quite often by most people. On the other hand, the most common way interfaces are built takes this to the extreme - designed for the audience of one, the developer herself. In reality, any interface needs to be useful to the primary audience and then to others (that’s just a rule of thumb, not a hard and fast one).

Although I recognize the need for a good interface, many thing the pursuit of that particular nirvana is useless. I’ve seen a few posts lately on blogs I frequent that deal with interface from different sides of the wall. Let’s take a look:

Peter Caputa recently quoted a post on this matter. The post pretty much concludes that VCs only care about the market size and if the business will scale. I’ll be the first to admit those things matter, to a VC. I’ll also note that venture capital, on a whole, is a business about misses, not successes. VCs invest in multiple companies hoping one of them will succeed and cover their losses on the others. Are those the right people to evaluate how important the interface is?

The original post, found here, makes reference to sites like Google and EBay. Naturally, I would counter that interface played a critical role in the success of both entities. They perfectly matched the needs of their audience. The fact is, though they were simplistic, they suited the audience perfectly. In Google’s case, they rocked the boat by shedding all the baggage competitors at the time had.

Moving past specific examples, however, it’s important to also consider how often something “ugly” really “makes it”. Though the premise is tasty from a marketing point of view (for the post), the reality is that most companies invest in their interface for a reason. Following the lines of Seth Godin, we might come to say that the interface tells a story about the company and its relationship to its customers, its attention to detail, its abiliy to service me.

Then there’s the whole Web 2.0 thing that’s flipping the pyramid. I can’t remember why I found the Bokardo blog, but I truly enjoy it. A post today brought me to write this post. As the site notes, the movement is in the direction of the interface:

In Web 2.0, your interface is your product. It is not something bolted on, added later, or done as an afterthought. Increasingly, it is a key differentiator that people will use to evaluate and decide whether or not to continue coming back for what you have to offer. It is the frontier of design innovation.

[…]

This will continue to be the case in Web 2.0, which is all about public access to loads of information. The key word there is “public”. When developers can get their hands on another’s data via an API, their main task becomes not accessing the information but innovating the interface to that information. Because everyone else has the same access, the playing field is levelled on one axis, but opens up on another. The new axis of innovation: the interface.

Source: Bokardo, “Your Interface Is Your Product”

Why do people love the Apple but use PCs, both are computers? Why do people prefer Google Maps over Yahoo! Maps, both give you directions? Why do people adorn Flickr, doesn’t it really just store photos?

The answer should be obvious, the interface.

http://www.rexblog.com/2005/06/01#a7027

Trouble In Paradise

Unfortunately, the increasing “infringement” on the Podcasting landscpe by the MSM is troubling for quite a few. On the one hand, it’s understandable that many want to hold on to the yestermonth and keep it a few people chatting back and forth on the new wire. Realistically, it doesn’t really matter at all.

MSM is uniquely positioned to bring this content to the world - they already make it. The expectations for quality and professionalism are both set and maintained by them in a very significant manner. The thousands of new voices are facing a difficult chasm to cross, be unique in the way you are or follow the lead of MSM and mimic their style. Don’t believe me? Take a look at what the quick risers sound like, what they are doing, what they are using. You’ll see it’s not just fun and games anymore.

Long Tail Approaches

For the past few months, I have been explaining to people that the land of opportunity, in my opinion, is in the middle. What middle? The inflection point where MSM meets CM, as opposed to on any other side.

Let’s consider the three approaches that could be taken to monetize podcasting:

Top-Down Approach

It’s easy enough to concede that MSM has the money and, hence, will come to rule the medium. If we were talking about a product that exclusively lives in the spectrums that they controlled, I would certainly agree. But that IS JUST NOT THE CASE. As I’ve noted eariler, they do have an uncanny ability to dictate set the expectations of a very large segment of the population, but as we’re seeing more and more, that’s not going to be enough in the long term.

Regardless, since the MSM has existing relationships in place for marketing, advertising, business development, etc. they will undoubtedly make use of podcasting as a slimline revenue generator or a loss leader that maintains mindshare amongst the general population.

This approach is definitely scary for the little guy that’s trying to make a go at it. It also has absolutely no meaning to the person that’s doing this as a hobby, has zero or minimal fixed overhead, and does it for love. As Doritos said it best, “Crunch all you want, we’ll make more.”

Most importantly, if you are NOT in the MSM already, don’t bother trying to get in there. The Podcasting process, as it stands, while convoluted, is not that complicated for anyone that wants to do it. Clear Channel doesn’t need much help producing MP3s. Of course, many corporations will also pursue this channel and bring in “pros” to assist, but the opportunity is limited at best.

Bottom-Up Approach

Coming from this direction seems like the best way to go, when you take into account the grassroots nature of Podcasting. Why not provide a suite of tools and services that make it possible/easier for the everyday person.

Sounds good in theory, but it’s harder than it sounds. In the last 9 months we’ve seem all manner of tools, services, directories and the like launched that attempt to do just this. Are any of them runaway successes? Hardly. Will many of them see their markets dried up by offerings from larger companies (*cough* iTunes 4.9 - all your pods are belong to us).

The real problem is that making something complex simple, well, it’s a really big pain in the ass. Getting adoption from small audiences is quite possible, but is it sustainable? If it’s just you, with your day job to support you, most likely. If it requires a team of programmers to develop your system and support it, then the games a little different, maybe even a lot. And don’t forget the leagues of offerings that will be donated to the community at large, for no cost that all cut into your ability to survive.