I was listening to the GeekNewsCentral Podcast from December 14th and he made mention of something that crossed my mind a few times relating the governing Power Laws of social software/movements/revolutions.

As a refresher, let’s first get a definition for what exactly the Power Law is:

Power law distributions, the shape that has spawned a number of catch-phrases like the 80/20 Rule and the Winner-Take-All Society, are finally being understood clearly enough to be useful. For much of the last century, investigators have been finding power law distributions in human systems. The economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that wealth follows a “predictable imbalance”, with 20% of the population holding 80% of the wealth. The linguist George Zipf observed that word frequency falls in a power law pattern, with a small number of high frequency words (I, of, the), a moderate number of common words (book, cat cup), and a huge number of low frequency words (peripatetic, hypognathous). Jacob Nielsen observed power law distributions in web site page views, and so on.

We are all so used to bell curve distributions that power law distributions can seem odd. The shape of Figure #1, several hundred blogs ranked by number of inbound links, is roughly a power law distribution. Of the 433 listed blogs, the top two sites accounted for fully 5% of the inbound links between them. (They were InstaPundit and Andrew Sullivan, unsurprisingly.) The top dozen (less than 3% of the total) accounted for 20% of the inbound links, and the top 50 blogs (not quite 12%) accounted for 50% of such links.

Source: Shirky.com, “Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality”

We have an interesting opportunity now, as we see the rise of Podcasting, to actually watch and observe exactly the types of pound this initially flat piece of metal into the oh-so-familiar curve.

So back to the thoughts that got me onto this. Last night I was explaining to a friend that currently, the Podcasting space is still relatively new and the requirements of those that want to “succeed” (apply any definition you want here) in a significant way is maximized if they can dig in now.

Adam Curry is widely identified as the “Podfather”, the guy that got it started. I know from hearing Adam and Dave Winer speaking, most recently on the Trade Secrets Podcast, however, that it was more a collaboration between the two of them. As a result of this founding role in the process, Curry is also quite often called upon for interviews and articles on this new toy, as his probably should be.

The dilemma for other Podcasters, however, is the Pod Squad. The Pod Squad is a group of Podcasts that Curry “runs with”. Collectively, they seem to provide extensive cross-linking between each other and hardly ever skip an episode without mentioning each other. Naturally this serves to reinforce the reputations and listenership of all the members of the squad.

Now I won’t presume to judge any of the content in the Pod Squad (though I think it is good stuff on the whole). Unfortunately, the Pod Squad is not everyone (the Podosphere if you will), but instead this small group. To the hard working, aspiring Podcaster, however, the Pod Squad can also feel exclusionary just as much as it serves as a point of inspiration. Ask most Podcasters if they would like to be on the “inside” and surely they would agree.

But the problem with the Pod Squad is not that they’ve formed a group that works together. The main issue is that the leader of the group also is the most quoted. As a result, when Curry’s quoted and people research who he listens to, they tend to find the others in the top.

I certainly don’t think this is particularly deliberate (as in Adam is trying to only see certain people succeed). It is, though, a tell-tale sign of the Power Law starting to curl. The main question now is, “Is it too late?”

I would argue that it’s most certainly not and would not discourage anyone from trying out Podcasting. The scary part, however, is that this curve seems to be accelerating towards its destined form very quickly. There are going to be many more stars borne from Podcasting and I recommend anyone who wants that should start yesterday.

Well I finally got the last part coded and uploaded. Hope everyone will take the chance to listen. You can try it right here (after the jump) using Eric’s widget. Time Index is below.

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This is a brief call for arms, so to speak. In the last week I have been busy recruiting new people to come on board the Beeercasting machine. I can honestly say that people are warming to the idea more and more (and not just people I know).

So I have a slight dilemma now. I’ve got about 15 people slated to attend Tuesday night’s Beercast (I am not sure, but I think it could be a record for this little movement). The problem is I’ve got enough equipment to handle about 2 shows. I am trying to keep the groups to no more than 4 people a piece. Starting to see the problem :)

So here’s what I am hoping someone out there can come to our rescue. If you’re 1) interested in Podcasting, or even better, Beercasting and 2) equipped with some form of digital recording equipment (say a MiniDisc, MP3 Player, or microphone) I would love to have you come out to participate (and record) so that everyone gets a fair chance to participate. Even if you don’t have a recording device, but you want to see what we’re doing, you’re more than welcome to come out as well. Details below:

Sutra
16 First Avenue
New York, NY 10009
Cross Street: Between 1st Street and 2nd Street
Phone: (212) 677-9477

Start: 6:30 PM
End: Much later

Here goes Part 3 of this week’s Beercast where we talk about Parental Prejudices and how it bugs us to death. Download it now or listen to it live. The last segment will be going live on Sunday.

Yesterday I made an little post to the [podcasters] list regarding the new fcasting widget Eric customized for the Beercasting site. I was quite excited about Eric’s widget because it created a new venue for delivering Podcast content to the audience at large.

Ironically, the first response I got on the list was less than enthusiastic. Beyond the up front implications that I wasn’t aware of what streaming was, there was an important message in the post. It was the hard line that some people draw when looking at the adoption of technology. For some, it’s about the technology at play, for others it’s about the people that play the technology and what they can do with it.

This isn’t exactly a half empty, half full problem. For the most part, I am a technologist at heart which both stimulates and dulls my senses to new technologies. I love to find out about new technology and how people are using it. On the other hand, I’m hardly ever impressed with most technology since once you understand how it’s made, you see through things. I’ve often found that the parts that are “exciting” is how clever the engineers were at using glue (a la sticking two or more existing things together in a unique way.

Of course, as anyone that reads this blog knows, I am far more interested in people and how they relate to each other and the ways that those technologies get adopted. From the business side, I am curious about what drives adoption and what techniques retard that growth.

The dispute with this other person really boiled down to him taking a hard line that if it’s not delivered over RSS Enclosures then it’s not a Podcast. I completely thing otherwise:

Thanks for sharing, though. I know I hold a fundamentally different opinion on the matter because I don’t care about the technology at all (which is too complicated and convoluted for all but the bravest).. I’m more concerned with the social aspects of Podcasting and getting the most people possible to participate on some level.

This was actually the point of my post last week on Developers, Users and Consumers. As technology-minded folks it’s too easy for us to get our heads so far up the proverbial ass that we can’t tell what people want anymore.

I believe the fellow that was drawing this hard line is entirely wrong. I also think it’s pretty close to blasphemous to call content pushed out by the BBC and other radio stations Podcasts because, for me, Podcasting is about REGULAR PEOPLE creating content, not about traditional media leaching off of a new distribution network.

Am I that wrong? Am I alone in thinking this way?

Here’s the latest installment of The ReRe & Chaj Beercast. This time, we’re beating Road Rage (and Sidewalk Rage) to death.

Last night we completed Episode 5 of The ReRe & Chaj Beercast, using a new format that really seems to be more favorable for everyone involved. Instead of doing one really large Beercast file (usually close to 30MB), I am now doing smaller files that cover specific topics with our discussion and commentary all smushed together. This now allows people to download more selectively and prevents them from having to skip around.

Also last night, the Beercasting crew doubled in size. Ironically enough, as we got to our food spot last night, we were sitting next to three women and we overheard part of their conversation. It went something like this:

You know, we should really record our conversations and make it into like a TV show or something. You know think about it, how many people want to know….

Naturally, I had to approach them and show tell them about Beercasting. They loved it. They loved it so much in fact that next week we’re going to be doing our Beercast’s simultaneously at Sutra. Of course, this is an open call for anyone that wants to give this a try now — stop by and see how it’s done, even get involved.

Last bit of news on that front, I am happy to announce that I am working with Peter Caputa to start publicizing Beercasts using his WhizSpark service. In addition, I’ll be taking a road trip out to Worcester some time in the near future hopefully to do a one-night Beercasting event.

As for Episode 5, Part one is online and goes as follows:

Tonight I’m recording the 5th Beercast of “The ReRe and Chaj Show” at a place called Link here in NYC at 7:00PM. If anyone local wants to participate, just let me know.

There’s always way too many topics on any give night, but I’ve made a short list but also welcome any additional suggestions. If you’d like to comment privately, you can do so as follows:

• By E-mail: Click here
• By Phone: 1-(347)-273-1529

So here they are (note your comments may be read live on the show):

Drunken Dialing

Everyone’s probably done this once or twice.. get totally pissed and without knowing it you end up calling up an ex, your boss, or someone worst and either share too much love or too much of your mind.

Why Are Men Obsessed With Cat Fights?

This is always a topic for conversation when a fight breaks out. For some reasons, guys are just obsessed with the notion of two women duking it out. What’s this fed by?

Cell Phone Pornos

Got a tip on this from foO. Apparently some highschoolers in India were caught and immediately expelled for filming a short pornographic video on their cell phone. There’s all kind of wrong in this.

How To Pick Up A Man

Some tips and tricks for women out there that find it difficult to approach a man (we don’t expect this to be a very large audience ;))

Get Off My Back

There’s always too much pressure on us to do something. It tends to come from our family and loved ones. You know - Get A Job, Get Married, Get a Baby. Sometimes, you just need to tell people to back off.

Well, this 4th episode was quite the tough one to get out. We had lots of issues with scheduling, encoding, and transcribing of the Beercast. Fortunately, it’s now done and here for your listening pleasure. Download now!

Here’s the Time Index:

I’ve been putting a considerable amount of time and consideration into my Beercasting project. For the most part, the Beercast itself is considered to be time-shifted, however, I want to try yet another new twist to this mix: time-shifted commentary.

One of the main issues we have with doing a real-world recording that is later downloaded is that it’s impossible to really get feedback or to react to our listeners. To try and get around this issue, I am going to list the topics (and some related links) we’re considering to discuss for feedback BEFORE we do the actual Beercast.

We’re planning to record Tuesday evening. Comment here if you want us to hear you.

For anyone that doesn’t want to hear Beercasting news, two small points. First, I plan on moving most of these posts to the Beercasting.com site soon. Second, I am considering a separate feed that filters them. How do you feel about these posts?

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