Discussions
Podcasts/Audio: Do you use it?
Posted by Jaybetee • 6/29/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: audio, blog, blogger tips, blogging, podcasts
We had Mary-Lynn and George from Bigg Success do a guest post for BC on why they use podcasts on their blog.
Just wondering how many others use audio on their blogs. Why do you use it or why not? Do you want to, but don't? Do you see benefits of using audio?
Give us your feedback.
blog.blogcatalog.com/blogcatalog-spotlight/why-use-audio-george-and-mary-ly...
User Comments
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Questions: Why do you use it or why not? Do you want to, but don't? Do you see benefits of using audio?
- I do not currently use podcasts on my blog and I do not apprehend any benefit to my readers by creating and posting them at this time. I do have a clear and resonate speaking voice, and theatrical training so I may choose to create an occasional podcast in the distant future, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon.
My experience as a listener
I rarely listen to podcasts on blogs because most of the ones I tried to listen to made me grind my teeth. The accents and the umming and ahhing, as well as, the poor sound quality likely due to not speaking directly into the microphone drove me crazy.
Just as not everyone can be a good broadcaster on radio or in visual media, not every blogger podcaster will have the elocution and voice projection skills required to hold listener attention, even if they do have something meaningful to share. Worse still is when an organized approach to delivering a clearly defined message is lacking and combined with foregoing. Based on my early experience as a listener I believe a minority of bloggers may be good podcasters but most will not be.
I can't think of a single benefit that podcasting provides to sighted people, but I do recognize that podcasting may benefit hold some benefit for those who are visually challenged.
The disadvantage I immediately experienced as a listener to a podcast was that I had to type notes while I listened. We can skim read a published post, bookmark it for future reading, and readily access it, in whole or part, at a later time to locate for example a relevant "quote". Well, podcasting does not facilitate doing this with ease.
Suggestion
That being said, I'd like BC Admin to consider providing every BC member the option of posting a single video and a single podcast on their BC Profile page. -
My guess would be that most people do not listen to podcast. For that reason alone I wouldn't spend time making one.-
The most boring podcasts I have listened to are interviews of A list and B list bloggers. Frankly, I found nothing said in these "quickie" interviews that was at all helpful when it came to my own blogging. However, I recognize that others may not feel the same way.
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@PotatoChef according to the latest report from Edison Research, podcast listening has grown from 18% in 2008 to 22% in 2009. That is only expected to increase, as more people are becoming familiar with the term "podcast". Podcast listeners are in the 18-44 demographic, and prefer audio because of its portability. You can get more information at: www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2009/05/the_podcast_consumer_2009.php -
I'm wondering if those who were surveyed were on broadband service or on dial-up or if they were a combination of both, and which countries they were situated in.
In the here and now at least half of all internet users are currently using dial up connections.
- The question of whether broadband will replace dial-up residential service for Internet connectivity is not the issue. Someday, the vast majority of connections will be full-time, high-speed connections using one of the emerging broadband technologies. And the majority of the Internet industry is devoting substantial efforts and resources to make that happen more quickly.
This effort, however, does not automatically spell the end of dial-up connectivity. For starters, the explosion of broadband is limited to a handful of countries that include the US, Australia, Canada and Japan. In great Britain, for example, broadband connections account for only about one percent of the residential Internet market. By most estimates, and these are very conservative, there will be a healthy market for dial-up residential and small business accounts for years to come. — Dave McClure, President, US Internet Industry Association -
TT the correct figure for percentage of internet connections via broadband in the UK is 95.1% and rising.
UK National Statistics. www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/intc0209.pdf
99.9% of all UK households can be connected to broadband mainly via ADSL. -
@polybore
Thanks for the updated stats.
99.9% of all UK households can be connected to broadband mainly via ADSL
Aside: I found this quote to be interesting:
"Despite continuing increases in broadband connections, a 17.5 per cent decrease in dial-up resulted in a 0.3 per cent fall in the index of all connections between September and December 2008 to 117.7."
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@timethief, you bring up some interesting points. We do remove unnecessary "umming and ahhing". We know our audience is busy, so we get right to the point and keep it short. We use professional(radio)broadcasting equipment which does make a difference in the sound.
It sounds like you prefer to read rather than listen. That's why every show is also fully summarized in a blog post. However, other people prefer to listen rather than read. Adding the audio component allows us to serve both markets.
Thanks for adding to our guest post.
- George & Mary-Lynn-
George and Mary-Lynn: I'm interested in the accessibility issue...any information on whether impaired users prefer podcasts or other audio sites.
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@jaybetee, That's a great question. We're not familiar with any research on that subject however, we have several friends who are hearing impaired who appreciate the fact that we provide a written post in addition to the audio.
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@George and Mary-Lynn
Thanks for the reply. I'm a visually challenged person who needs to rest her eyes more than she does. When podcasting first began to happen I was very excited and then disappointed.
However, a wide range of visual impairments do exist, and others who have impairments that differ from my own may have a completely different experience.
I'm confused by these references to being busy. Indeed we are all busy but I'm not clear on how listening to a podcast can be a timesaver. I'm a speed reader and I suspect speed reading the text in a post may take less time than listening to the same text in an audio format would take. That being said, I hasten to add that I have not compared the two.
Another personal observation I can make that may or may not be universal is that I find visual clues are strong memory triggers for me. I can visually recall entire pages and even isolate the text by position recall on the pages if I concentrate.
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I've tried to listen to a couple of podcasts and found they drift. I'm not sure the majority of podcasters approach the spoken word, like the written word; meaning they don't edit and cut.
Podcasts are a problem for me either as a listener or speaker. I am on a dialup network and loading takes a long time. -
I've thought about reading out my blog posts and then sticking the audio file up on the site, but I'm not sure what the benefit would be.
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We would get to hear your voice!
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@Still
Well, if that would be of interest....
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I do listen to podcasts especially if they deal with issues of interest to me. But is doesn't apply to all. though i can write and speak(i work in a call center and i had training in singing) i think that there will always be ocassional slips in accents so it would be distracting.-
Why shouldn't you have an accent? As long as you aren't using colloquialisms that people won't recognize or have difficulty pronouncing words, I don't see a problem with it.
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I've thought about doing a podcast based on some of the subjects I've written about. However, I feel that - unless it was a one-time thing - I don't have the time to do it justice in a way I'd want to do it. However, I have the microphone and the sound card standing by; I might change my mind at some point in the future.
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