Georgia Podcast Network

I remember a few months ago Griftdrift and I were discussing what makes a blog (or a podcast or a news outlet or whatever) popular. My theory was simply that the best content went a long way toward distinguishing an outlet. Alan Cooper called this Best of Market Trumps First to Market.

This article from Podcasting News makes me wonder if that theory is malarkey, and if there are other factors which are more important:

Internet research firm HitWise reports that, while Hulu is getting big shows, it’s not getting big audiences.

Hulu.com., the joint venture between Fox and NBC that provides streaming video content online, came out of beta on March 15 and has seen a steady share of US Internet traffic since:

The site ranked 33 among Multimedia websites last week and 84 among television websites.

While it is often compared with YouTube, YouTube is attracting nearly 300 times more traffic than Hulu.com.

I say this because Hulu has some really excellent content. You can watch entire episodes of professionally-produced television shows from the major networks, including The Daily Show, Family Guy, The Office and The Simpsons. All legal and free and with high quality encoding, unlike on YouTube.

And yet, 1/300 of YouTube's traffic.

Podcasting News posits that the lack of alternative interfaces (podcasts, Apple TV, etc.) is holding Hulu back. I don't think that's true though. YouTube got huge without offering downloadable content or podcasts or access on Apple TV/Tivo/whatever, though some of that stuff has since been implemented.

Maybe you'll say Hulu isn't the best case study because of their early (and arguably ongoing) marketing problems. Fair enough. But that doesn't explain why YouTube is so big and everyone else is so small, despite YouTube's obvious shortcomings (crappy video quality, dependence on illegal content, etc.).

So, if best of market doesn't trump first to market, is it the other way around? Is being first the most important thing? I think one word is enough to discredit that idea: Friendster.

So what is it then? Is it just that YouTube has built a more active community than the other sites? If so, why did it succeed where others have failed?

We want our interview-based podcasts to sound like a perfectly natural conversation. Somedays we get lucky and we capture that perfect collaboration between interviewer and interviewee. But what can we do to ensure that slice-of-real-life experience every time? It is time to ask some questions and maybe find some answers, starting with ...

What makes a good podcast interviewer?

This might seem blinding obvious, but an interviewer ought to display a certain confidence in asking questions, coupled with an ability to capitalize on the initial answers, finding those revealed routes to interesting stories and even better answers. The interviewer ought to have a neutral voice that is not distracting, but audible and clear. I'm not saying that everybody needs a voice like a radio announcer, or that we should all remain as flat in tone as androids, but the "character" of the interviewee's voice shouldn't be overpowered by the interviewer. Most of all, be personable and adaptable, especially patient with delays or interruptions due to the "intrusion" of real-life during the interview. Often, those entirely unscripted moments become the best part of an interview.

Another question ...

What makes a good podcast interview?

The recording doesn't need an "official" introduction (i.e., "Welcome to the So-And-So Podcast"). That only takes up valuable time that could be spent building a rapport with the podcast participant. Introductions can and will be added during production. Instead, initialize the podcast conversation simply. Let the participant introduce him/herself, or just ask them for their name, then proceed.

After asking the first few questions -- those basic questions that the listener would expect (Who are you? What do you do?) -- the interview ought to become a conversation. Any prepared script should become invisible. Let the conversation happen naturally. If tangents are uncovered and pursued, so be it. If the conversation runs over the time needed, so be it. Time is a concern during editing, not so much during recording. Basically, you're gathering raw information that will be refined later into a podcast.

At the same time, remember that this podcast is about the interviewee, not the interviewer. As Amber Rhea tweeted during a bit of on-topic research, "Don't be Charlie Rose. [S]hut up and let your interviewee talk, but also don't let them ramble like an idiot for too long."

To me, it is helpful when a podcast has "bookends," one point where we are introduced to the podcast participant and another point where that participant is thanked for their time and/or given an opportunity to conclude. These are not always necessary, particularly when an interviewee says something that makes for a perfect conclusion.

These answers are subjective and not all-inclusive. And there are surely more questions to be asked. So this is where you come in. Get involved, step into the comments, and let me know what works for you.

The redesign of the Georgia Podcast Network is live!

The short version of what's new is:

• Create podcasts, add episodes to them, or add your affiliate podcast to the directory without having to go through an administrator. Podcasts now work sort of like diaries on Tondee's Tavern and other group blogs. Everybody can have one, but not everything makes the front page.
• Let other members post episodes to your podcast. You can name co-hosts individually, or set the "group podcast" option to let any registered member post an episode. For examples of group podcasts, see (un)ConCast and Politics is Vocal.
• Album art, channel, and other meta information can be attached to podcasts
• Post M4V video in addition to MP3 audio
• Nifty Flash uploader
• Embeddable players and widgets
• iTunes meta information in podcast RSS feeds
• Can redirect podcast RSS feeds to Feedburner
• Webplay and download statistics
• Rebuilt podcast directory
• Pretty new theme
• Better performance. Up to 8 times faster under normal server load

That's not everything, but that's the important stuff. There are still some minor CSS issues to work out in Internet Explorer 6, but it should be relatively bug-free other than that. Have a look and let us know what you think!

We've updated the podcast promos to reflect the change of venue to 1763. They're identical otherwise:

15-second meat-and-potatoes
http://sex20con.com/promos/sex-2.0-promo-2.0-15sec.mp3

30-second with-a-flourish
http://sex20con.com/promos/sex-2.0-promo-2.0-30sec.mp3

Thanks to everyone who has been using the promos in your podcasts! Please be sure to download these updates.