Are podcasts useful?

Yes, I think podcasts are useful in fact, I think podcasting can be an extremely useful mechanism for relaying a message, point, story or event.I found a post on podcasting being dead or alive through one of Eve's blogs. I must say I immediately sprang to blog about it because I recently made use of podcasting as a citizen journalism media.Admittedly I focus much of my thought around social media and web 2.0 on how it affects the mass media on the whole and how the "little person" or Citizen Journalist can benefit from the trends emerging at the moment.

Early Adoption failed me

Podcasting really caught my attention and I tried my hand at it on SA Rocks and the RocksCast. Must like Dave and Mike with their Amplitude, SA RocksCast died.I think that I tried to jump on the bandwagon and appear to be an "early adopter" with my attempt at podcasting. I didn't really grasp the media platform itself nor fully understand how to market or create these podcasts effectively. So it died a quick death.Vincent Maher and I also tried our hand at a podcasting targeting the local sphere. Flamebait was short lived because we were a bit zealous in our approach to the content and it was shot down by editorial staff. Oh well. Needless to say the actual media itself still intrigues me.So are podcasts dead? No, I don't think so. Taly Weiss brings up a good point regarding the technology behind podcasting. If it is there then podcasting itself is not dead. In other words, if we have iPods and media players that are capable of storing and playing back podcasts then the media is not dead. But that isn't really always true. I still have a VHS player, that doesn't mean that VHS isn't dead, it is. And if you think it isn't, trust me it's on the way to the grave.

Podcasting and Citizen Journalism

While on a mission at the Million Man March this year I discovered that one doesn't need to consistently make use of a specific type of media for it to be effective.While making use of various platforms to update people about the event I was asked to do a podcast interview over the phone for The Times. What a great idea. One of their journalists called me and did a short (one or two minute) interview with me about the event.This proved to be a very effective means to get my message across. Yes it was for a big media organisation so that helped ofcourse. But the essence of that instance made sense to me. Why do we have to produce a podcast every week, month, day etc etc. When all that is really needed is an event or story to make a great podcast.Grassroots media or citizen journalists can really produce viable content for their websites over the phone with simple technology. Use a digital dictaphone, if fact, use the recorder on your cell phone, make sure you are succinct in your 3 minutes and publish it as is.Rally your media around events, don't make an event out of your media.

Eric Edelstein: The MasterBaiter

I recently produced This Podcast with Vince. Wherein we discussed a variety of things ranging from bloggers dying, facebook fakes and Mr. Eric Edelstein.In the Flamebaiting podcasting where Vince and I try to get as much hype around the podcast as possible (and shamelessly so) we discussed a recent post by Eric (I will not be linking to the masterbaiter as he doesn't need it). This post was unreadable, illogical and very confusing in general.In the podcast we complimented Eric to begin with. He did not make mention of this in his commentary of the podcast. He chose to pick at all and only the negative things that we said about him. Negative honesty that was there for all to see.There is more however. Vince and I know that people aren't going to be happy with us most of the time if they are mentioned on Flamebait. But Eric seems to think that he needed a rebuttle argument which was subsequently more confusticating than the original post that me Flamed.Since then Colin, Gregor (who Eric misinterpreted I feel), Vince, Wezzo and now I have responded. None of these comments were read by Eric apparently as he just keeps digging them holes.Eric, take a second to read the comments on your blog. This is a very important tip as most bloggers know that content is in fact king. Pictures of yourself and Robert Scoble will not make you more popular, they will not drive traffic and it often does not pay to be cool by association.Yes, I have just mentioned Robert Scoble, why I hear you ask? Well Eric has a pic from Wikipedia on his flickr photostream on his blog of Scoble. I thought flickr photostreams were meant to be of photos you have taken, or feature you? Nevermind plagiarism issues which are evident (a quick quote from Eric: "I am TOTALLY against anything illegal"), this is just a bit wierd. Compare THIS photo from Eric and THIS photo from Wikipedia.I have said it before on the podcast and will say it again here, Eric is doing some great things in SA for the online community. He just can't seem to maintain a safe balance on the blogosphere between good work and self obsessive blog posts. Listen to your readers, read your comments and let the good content on your site drive hits your way. Linkbaiting is cool to a point but do it openly. Don't facebook people behind smoke screens on your blog and then do the opposite of what you have blogged about.If you like David Bullards idea of crowdsourcing then tell us that, let him know and do it openly.In my opinion Eric has simply missed the point completely. Not everything is about SEO. Not everyone actually cares and not everyone is trying to make a gazillion bucks from a podcast/website/blog/idea/concept. In spite of Eric trying to drive the conversation towards topics he actually understands, we all still know what we are talking about and don't need lessons.Go enjoy your MOET Eric, and contact me if you want to talk sometime.Last point: To his credit, Eric is definitely a MASTERBAITER as I have now blogged about is post and many people have commented on his blog. He is good at baiting, flaming and linking and is most definitely a masterbaiter in my books.

Your .com death and more on Flamebait

We have just published the latest episode of Flamebait, in which Vince and I discuss some of the following burning topics:* The Facebook domain squat* Social networking for dead people* What happens to bloggers when they die or, rather, what should happen* Linkbait and general misinformation* Who is Phil Lynnot and why can I never remember the name of the band?Subscribe to the Flamebait feed. Visit the MG podcast page.

Let The FlameBait Begin - Bloggers Get The Knockaround

The time has come. Stupidity is finally being rewarded on the SA blogosphere. This just reward comes in the form of Mad Mahler (Vincent Maher) and the Hairy Ambush (that's me).The very first episode of the Mail&Guardian hosted FlameBait podcast has been released on the FlameBait blog.From the blog:

So here we are, Mad Mahler and Hairy Ambush on the podcast circuit with lots to say and little to back it up with. Sounds like it has all the makings of a killer blog and podcast and guess what - we don’t care if you think we’re talking shit because we probably are and you should get over it in your own way.

The first episode features some of the following:

Who is Steve Hofmeyr’s Harvy? What is the deal with Jezebel and the details of rimming? Is it true that eating cabbage gets you into the top 20 on Amatomu? Is it true that putting cabbage on your breasts helps you lactate? What ever happened to 1000brownmnms?

Head on over to the blog for this ridiculously witty and humorous baiting podcast!!