FriendFeed for podcasters

I'm finding FriendFeed pretty useful. Now I learn that it can become even more so. FriendFeed is apparently testing embedded players on the platform.

Interesting blog post on the practicalities of following your podcast feeds through FriendFeed by Mark Hopkins here. Looks promising, but Hopkins concludes (and I agree) that FriendFeed will need to tweak this tool a little before it can be considered as useful as similar tools on other platforms.

Much more exciting for now, from my point of view, is FriendFeed's search capability. I've already used this feature to very interesting result. Loving it.

Social media : those who get it and those who don't

In the most recent Pew Internet and American Life report, released May 19th :

37% (of respondents) said the Internet led them to buy more music than they otherwise might have

39% of online music buyers reach out directly to artists' websites

While offline sources continue to dominate,

56% (of respondents) say they find out about music through various online tools, such as going to a band's or artist's website or streaming samples of songs to their computers

44% of music buyers have done at least one online activity relating to their music purchase, such as going to an artist's or band's website or reading blogs about the artist or band

13% of Internet-using music buyers either post their music to a social networking site such as Facebook or post their own reviews of the music they purchase

That's free promotion, folks. Word of mouth gone exponential.

Social media being a relative newcomer to the PR strategist's toolbox, it's to be expected that there will be those who get it, and those who don't. This, despite the fact that you must be living in a cave not to be hearing about blogging, MySpace, Facebook and the like, especially if you're in the music business. Podcasting is admittedly lower on the mainstream radar, which may explain why the reaction of two Ontario festivals recently faced with a podcaster's request for media accreditation couldn't be more different.

Here's the backstory:

I met George Motoc at PodCamp Toronto. Nice guy who does a Romanian- and English-language podcast out of Toronto called Canadian Immigrant Song.

George had promoted a couple of summer festivals in his podcast so, as he says, his listeners could mark their calendars. As is his usual practice, he sent a note with a link to the podcast episode to festival organisers to let them know about the visibility received. (Wouldn't life be nice if all media did that? But that's besides the point) This time, he also requested media accreditation.

Here's his email:

Hi all,
Just to let you know that I mentioned (ed. note: insert festival name here) in the latest episode of my podcast: http://georgeradio.podomatic.com/entry/2008-04-28T20_29_01-07_00
Is there any way for a podcaster willing to cover the fest to get a PressPass?
Thanks and cheers from Toronto,
George Motoc
podcaster

Luminato in Toronto received his request as follows :

Hi George,

Thanks so much for letting me know about your podcast! And thank you for mentioning Luminato.

Yes, I am open to having a podcaster cover the festival. Just let me know what events you are interested in. I will send you a link so you can pinpoint the shows/dates/times you are available for, or interested in, and I will see what I can do for your tickets.

Thanks again George!

Laura Erika Barron
Public Relations Coordinator
LuminatoToronto Festival of Arts & Creativity

George also received a followup email from a second member of the festival's PR staff thanking him for his interest and his patience and reminding him to forward his interview requests.

Professional. Nice. Someone who gets it.

Not everyone does ...

Same request, different reaction, this time from the Ottawa Blues Festival:

Short, curt and to the point, I guess.

Hi George, Please see our media access policy for 2008.
http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/en/index.php?page=82

I'll stay mum on questions of etiquette, for the purposes of this post. I'll also stay mum on another thing : George has asked me not to name names, so I'll respect his wish for some level of discretion. That said, I'd invite the Ottawa Blues Festival rep to out himself and join the discussion. Maybe there's something I'm just not getting.

Here's the Ottawa Blues Festival's media accreditation policy. Note the insistence on known, main-stream media:

Please note: Media representatives that provide proof of affiliation with a known, main-stream media outlet will be given access to the festival site for the day(s) they are assigned to cover the event.
Photo calls for main-stream media representatives will take place each night, 30 minutes before final acts. Access to front-of-stage photo area will be granted ONLY when approved by artist management.
We will NOT begin fielding requests for media access until June 1, 2008. If you are assigned to cover the event by a known, main-stream media outlet, send your request for access to Joe Reilly joe.wavelength@sympatico.ca; state Media Access to Bluesfest as your subject line.

And by the way, when I say the folks at Luminato get it, I'm not kidding. Check out their online 'Share Your Festival' contest.

As for George, nice guy that he is he still plugged one of the Ottawa Blues Festival artists, Adrien Belew, providing a link to his MySpace page. I checked him out. Not bad. Wonder if his music's on iTunes ..

Douglas Institute : Making great use of social media

The Douglas is a world-class institute, affiliated with McGill University and the World Health Organisation, which treats people suffering from mental illness and offers them hope and cure. Its teams of specialists and researchers continually advance scientific knowledge, integrate it into patient care, and share it with the community to increase awareness and thereby eliminate stigma around mental illness.

The Douglas Institute has been quietly experimenting with social media in interesting ways. Marie-France Coutu and her team have created what I would consider to be an evolved online media kit, making use of You Tube, flickr, Google video and podcasting to provide media with a dynamic information package relating to Alzheimer's disease. Launched in January, in support of Alzheimer Awareness Month, this social media press kit is a terrific example of how PR specialists and their internal or external clients can make great use of new communications platforms.

The Douglas has also launched a series of blogs and podcasts, with experts providing insight on mental health to the community.

According to the website:

Douglas blogs must meet one of the following objectives:
Educate the public about mental health issues to demystify mental illness.
Share knowledge about mental health (in care, research or teaching) with workers and scientists in the health field.

I can't wait to see where they go with this and I'm hoping the Douglas PR team will accept to share their key learnings at an upcoming 3e mardi Third Tuesday Montreal.

Inside PR debut

Episode 102 of Inside PR features moi and my Sunday night franco brain. It was past 10 on Sunday night when we taped this and my mind was furiously trying to translate as I spoke. My hats off to everyone else on this podcast panel who managed to get through the recording without uttering a 10th of the Uhs .. and ums .. that I did. There's definitely an art there that I am still in the process of refining.

I'm starting to realize that, as a podcaster, I do much better with a little preparation and some kind of roadmap in front of me. 100% improv is hard!

Thanks to Terry and Dave .. and a special thanks to Keith McArthur of com.motion, whose point of view as a former journalist and relatively new PR practitioner is always interesting. Like I said to our hosts, I think he's a keeper!

Blogue = Bloc?

Le Ministère de la culture et de la communication de la France se prononce. Nos cousins ne doivent plus dire 'blog', mais plutôt 'bloc'. Non, je n'ai pas dit blogue. Bloc. Ou bloc-notes.

Selon le France Terme (dépendant du ministère de la Culture):

bloc-notes, n.m.
Forme abrégée : bloc, n.m.
Domaine : Télécommunications-Informatique/Internet
Définition : Site sur la toile, souvent personnel, présentant en ordre chronologique de courts articles ou notes, généralement accompagnés de liens vers d'autres sites.
Note : La publication de ces notes est généralement facilitée par l'emploi d'un logiciel spécialisé qui met en forme le texte et les illustrations, construit des archives, offre des moyens de recherche et accueille les commentaires d'autres internautes.
Équivalent étranger : web log (en), weblog (en), blog (en)

Et 'podcasting'?

diffusion pour baladeur
Domaine : Télécommunications-Audiovisuel/Internet
Définition : Mode de diffusion sur l'internet de fichiers audio ou vidéo qui sont téléchargés à l'aide de logiciels spécifiques afin d'être transférés et lus sur un baladeur numérique.
Note : Au Québec, on emploie le terme « baladodiffusion ».
Équivalent étranger : podcasting (en)

Pour ce qui en est de notre Office de la langue française :

blog = blogue
podcast = balado
podcasting = baladodiffusion

Nos cousins ont fini par adopter notre courriel. Qui sait? Ils feront peut-être éventuellement de même pour blogue et baladodiffusion. Je vous avoue que leur 'bloc' me donne un mal de ...

Podcamp Toronto : audio recap

You can hear a recap of a few of the Podcamp Toronto sessions ... and hear my dulcet tones ... by listening to George Motoc's podcast here. George normally podcasts for the Romanian community, but made an exception in order to share his thoughts about his Podcamp Toronto experience with a wider audience.

I've interviewed George about interviewing techniques for podcasting, and will post that interview along others recorded during Podcamp Toronto once this blog migrates over to Wordpress. Hopefully very, very soon.

Podcamp Toronto : Zero to Podcasting

Zero to Podcasting se veut une session pour débutants. Je passerai mon temps entre cet atelier de deux jours et les autres sessions.

Fait intéressant : je dirais que 2/3 des participants ici ce matin s'intéressent aux podcasts pour des raisons d'affaires.

On commence avec le choix et la planification d'un podcast.

Ce qui en est ressorti:

• la passion est un élément essentiel au succès d'une baladodiffusion - c'est la seule façon de maintenir non seulement son propre intérêt mais celui de l'auditoire.
  
  
  
• les participants se questionnent quant au bon outil à l'appliquer : blogue? podcast? vidcast? afin d'obtenir la visibilité qu'ils souhaitent et joindre leur public.
  


• les 'show notes' : pourquoi s'en servir? de quelle façon?

Bon! Je m'éclipse pour participer à la prochaine session hors Z2P : je dois encore choisir entre deux. À suivre.

Article of the day : How to Listen to Podcasts, Podcatchers, and Podcast Receivers

Loving this clear, basic presentation of the podcast concept by Christian Del Monte. Despite the typos.

Worth a look if you're new to the space or trying to convince others that they should jump on board.

Article here.

Podcamp Toronto : J'y serai ... j'y participerai

Ayant vécu, la semaine dernière, la diffusion du premier épisode de mon premier podcast, j'ai décidé de mettre à contribution mes acquis. Les organisateurs du prochain Podcamp Toronto cherchaient quelqu'un pour animer la session 'Podcasting 101'. Bien qu'ils soient certainement les mieux placés pour offrir des conseils, je trouve qu'il est souvent difficile pour les baladodiffuseurs d'expérience de se souvenir de l'époque où les défis attachés au lancement d'un podcast semblait insurmontables. Tandis que pour moi, c'est encore tout frais. O, que c'est frais.

Je me mettrai donc à nu, à Toronto, le 23 ou 24 février prochain, dans l'espoir de stimuler des commentaires et critiques de la part de podcasteurs chevronnés, afin que les nouveaux puissent profiter de mes erreurs et être assez encouragés par mon éventuel succès pour se lancer, eux aussi, dans l'aventure de la baladodiffusion.

Le pire étant maintenant derrière moi, il faudra que je me retienne pour ne pas me plonger dans trop de projets de baladoffisuion. J'ai la tête pleine d'idées et voudrais surtout/tellement produire une émission dans la belle langue de Molière ... Retenez-moi, les amis!

Podcamp Toronto 2008

Podcamp Boston ne fait que tirer à sa fin et déjà, on nous annonce les dates de Podcamp Toronto 2008.

Date: 24 et 25 février

Lieu: Université Ryerson

Tarif: 0$

Infos: Google Groups

Inscription: ici

Sortez vos agendas!

Endorsements in the Social Media age

In today's blog, Donna Papacosta has publicly endorsed Tod Maffin, sharing information about his newest presentation, Recruiting in the Facebook Generation, with her readers. She describes him as a futurist, (...) brilliant and (...) funny as hell.

The immediacy of blog publication makes the already supportive environment of the social media community so easy.

So, I've decided to keep the cycle going.

Yesterday, I sat in on Donna's podcasting Webinar. Fantastic introduction to the world of podcasting by a highly respected mover-and-shaker. Donna's podcasts and blog are always full of interesting tips and tricks, most notably her checklist for podcasters, a must-read for anyone thinking about dipping a toe in the podcasting pool.

Donna, who is based in Southern Ontario, offers customized workshops to communicators and companies interested in exploring the social media landscape.

A very classy lady.

Blog post of the Day : Donna Papacosta

I first met Donna Papacosta last June, at PAB2007 in Kingston. I was struggling with my Internet connection and she came over to offer her help. I looked up gratefully, thinking I was miraculously about to get back online, but instead received even more valuable advice about podcasting basics.

Today, Donna has posted a great checklist for beginning podcasters in her blog, Trafcom News.

Definitely worthy of a chapter in the ever-growing collection of tips and tricks I'm calling my Podcaster's Bible.