What is a 60-something guy doing hip-deep in social media? I’m not a Gen-X’er, nor a Gen-Y’er…nor a Millenial…not EVEN.
Keeping up with tech-trends and new gizmos is a young person’s game. Thankfully, I THINK young, and have always been enamoured of “the next cool thing”.
Still — it’s tough keeping up. I notice the ease with which my 20-ish daughters move through the social media graces. What comes as second-nature to them is usually something I have to learn the hard way.
Many look to me to stay abreast of social media, content management, and online trends. I feel that expectation sometimes, and worry that I’m falling behind. What am I missing? Am I late to the party? How DOES one keep pace?
Certainly not being of the generation SETTING the pace, presents a challenge. On the other hand, being in the media puts me at the forefront of a testing ground. TV news is working hard to adapt to the disruptive nature of the internet. Digital journalism is frantically adjusting to the new realities of content streams, consumer demands, and cool new devices.
In the midst of that technology juggernaut sits the podcast.
Now enjoying an incredible resurgence, the podcast is almost a relic, and can be traced back to cassette tapes or the early days of iTunes. And yet, there it is…the new darling of content marketers everywhere. To hear them tell it, a podcast is practically the cure for Ebola.
Like the use of video, I’m also jaded about podcasting. Being in TV made me weary of video, and being in VO left me blasé about podcasting. Both seemed from that “old” generation of legacy technology.
But they’re not. Video is hot, and podcasting apparently is, too.
Here’s my main problem with podcasting, and while I don’t hear many say this, I suspect it’s the truth: I don’t have time to listen. Printed material I can scan in a second. Audio material does not lend itself well to scanning. Add to that the often bloviated and wordy self-importance of most podcast hosts, and you’ve easily got a wasted 5 minutes at the top of every recorded program.
That being said, I’m going to start recording all my blogs, and making them available in the content of each article as a voice recording. It’s not exactly a podcast, but it’s a tip o’ the hat to a medium that has proven its endurance in a milieu of tough digital competition. It also further develops the rich cache of written content available on this blog, leaving me yet another avenue for online distribution.
For those who’ve been doing this all along — BRAVO! You’ve made me a believer. Why did I wait so long?
CourVO
