BRASScast Episode 28 – Back at it

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Here we are back at it again…

BRASSmedia is back podcasting. After working on other projects and spending time on other areas of Web 2.0, social media and social networking we’ve decided that podcasting is too much fun and we need to get back into it. So look forward to new episodes of the BRASScast twice a month.

What will we talk about? Our take on what’s happening in the world of Web 2.0 – social media – new media – social networking. Globally and locally.

Links

Music courtesy Tim Rose and PRO-Media from http://www.music.podshow.com

Red Deer Advocate Online
Good Copy, Bad Copy Documentary
Red Deer’s Local First Campaign

Radio Free Red Deer – Show #8 – The Frank

Here’s a transcript of the audio . . .

BRASScast Episode 28 for May 19, 2009

Here we are back at it again…

BRASSmedia is back podcasting. After working on other projects and spending time on other areas of Web 2.0, social media and social networking we’ve decided that podcasting is too much fun and we need to get back into it. So look forward to episodes of the BRASScast twice a month.

What will we talk about? Our take on what’s happening in the world of Web 2.0 – social media – new media – social networking. Globally and locally. Here’s the type of thing we’ll talk about . . .

Local First is a campaign from local businesses which encourages buying locally by featuring local business profiles. The social media element comes in with their use of a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and contributions from the community. We’ll find out more about their Web 2.0 efforts and share it with you later. You can find them at mylocalfirst.com and there’ll be links on our blog.

We’re blogging in our local daily newspaper the Red Deer Advocate. Their online version has invited folks from the community to submit items for their blog and of course we couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about Web 2.0 . Check them out at http://www.reddeeradvocate.com and the link will be on our shownotes at http://www.brassmedia.ca. Thanks to Leo over at the paper for the great things he does with the online version. Not only do they post articles and advertising but they supplement their stories with video as well. I wonder if they will get into podcasting? I’ll need to take that up with Leo some day.

Following are some readings of our posts . . .

aplusk, oprah, cnnbrk – can’t resist

Posted by Dean Owen – Red Deer Advocate – April 28, 2009 11:43AM

Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey and CNN Breaking News are Twittering. The title to this post are their Twitter names.

This is not news if you are a follower of the real-time web and it was in all the mainstream news for the past few weeks. Some the Twitterati, early adopters of Twitter in particular, were taking issue with the challenge aplusk and cnnbrk were engaged in – a race to rack up one million twitter followers. For the most part they felt it was a PR gimmick and an abuse of Twitter. I waited for it to play out before commenting.

The good news (I always look for the silver lining) is that aplusk and cnnbrk will donate to a worthwhile cause – mosquito nets to fight of malaria. That’s good!

My take on the whole thing is ‘WOW’ what a great PR event for Twitter! Here’s a tip from the basic PR handbook …” get your product or service into the hands of celebrities (local or global) to build buzz. If the cool people start using your product, everyone else who wants to be cool, will want it too…”. Twitter sure did it up big this time. I wonder if they paid aplusk or cnnbrk to do this? There’s no doubt that they worked closely with them and oprah to market the service. What really surprised me was with all of the Tweet-traffic going on with just these folks there were no ‘fail-whales’ or twitter service outages that plagued them up until just recently. What’s next for the world after Twitter? What’s next for Twitter – a buy-out?

BTW: you can tweet me at http://www.twitter.com/deankowen . I don’t have much to say but the folks I follow usually do.

More BTW: I use Tweetdeck to follow both Twitter and Facebook updates – cleaner and easier than using both separately.

Good news for podcasting from Edison & Arbitron survey

Posted by Dean Owen – Red Deer Advocate – April 28, 2009 11:42AM

Thanks to Podcast Tools for publishing a link to the Edison slide deck on “The Infinite Dial 2009 – Radio’s Digital Platforms AM/FM, Online, Satellite, HD RadioTM and Podcasting”. It’s interesting that they include podcasting as a ‘digital platform’ of radio. That’s a good thing and from my point of view it identifies podcasting as a legitimate new media platform with real content and real audiences. Not just a fringe group making use of a free wheeling technology used to spread conspiracy theories and pirated music.

They also have a good definition of podcasting from this ‘radio platform’ perspective:

* “Audio podcasting is the concept of downloading various types of longer-form online audio programs, in the form of digital files you can listen to at any time you choose.

* Audio podcasting does NOT refer to the downloading of individual MP3s or songs.

* Audio podcasting does refer to the download of program oriented online audio (such as a talk show or a hosted music program), usually as an automatic download that can be listened to at the user’s convenience.”

Of those surveyed in 2006, 27% reported that they listened to podcasts. In 2009, 43% reported that they listened to podcasts. That’s a huge audience growth in just a three year period.The slant of the survey results paints a positive picture of AM/FM radio listening but I wasn’t able to find any numbers in the charts that directly compared audience growth and reach for the same time periods in each of the categories such as AM/FM radio versus podcasting.

* Audiences were moving to online radio with the following reason given (no big surprise here):

* “Consumers say flexibility, control and variety drive their use of online and portable media options”

At the end of the presentation was an interesting reference to online video:

* Audio Content Providers Should Not Ignore the Explosion of Online Video

* Radio station Web sites must embrace online video, and not just online audio

* Use of online video exceeds online radio

* Two-thirds of monthly online radio users also watched online video in the past month

There appears to be a trend and we predict a major move to merge media into a multi-platform medium. The long tradition of video, audio, radio, TV, newspapers and magazines being separated is changing. Newspapers will show video online. Radio will show video and transcripts on blogs. TV will release segments or even entire episodes as podcasts. This is a very exciting time to be involved with media. Scary, worrisome but exciting none the less.

Do dying newspapers mean the death of journalism?

Posted by Dean Owen – Red Deer Advocate – April 24, 2009 9:06AM

With newspapers dying all around us do we need to be worried that journalism will die along with them?

No.

That’s like equating the death of music with the decline in the traditional music industry. Music radio is dying but there is still a lot of good music out there. Most newspapers have little to do with journalism anyway. Newspapers are just advertising platforms. In smaller markets they are referred to as ’shoppers’. The type of paper that shows up once a week with some local news and pounds of flyers from local businesses.

Don’t get me wrong – the flyers, and advertising in general, are an important part of our lives as consumers. They keep us informed on what new products our local big box stores are carrying. Journalism? Hardly. But they do pay the newspaper’s bills.

The core of the issue is that advertising funds media – broadcast and print. Period. And it has for decades.

What’s killing newspapers is not the web but advertising. As advertising revenues drop, a newspaper’s operating budget needs to be trimmed. Sometimes journalists are included in the cut. A billion dollar business has grown from the early days of radio when vaudeville acts were put to work entertaining audiences while selling their sponsors products.

These historic roots are evident in modern radio, TV, newspapers and other print media. Advertisers can sometimes dictate the theme of the news reported by a newspaper as well. Very political but evident in some papers. A new business model is needed to fund journalism as a separate entity. The web will find a way to bring us the professional journalist who is looking for the truth in our human condition.

There are some ‘blog’ based news publishers on the web looking for a new model to bring us the news and still be financially viable. Their cost advantage is in not having the high production costs – newsprint, presses, delivery trucks etc of traditional newspapers. They still use ads as a revenue source but the costs are scaled to fit the revenue available.

I’m old enough to remember Woodward & Bernstein from the Washington Post and the Nixon-Watergate fiasco. That was true journalism. That type of journalism will thrive no matter what happens to newspapers. The web gives us access to a wider perspective on news and events happening in our world. The web might even provide a new freedom to those true journalists who live to write.

Maybe it’s Tee-shirt time . . . here’s a few ideas: “Have you hugged a journalist today?”, or ” I ❤ Journalists”, or “Kiss me – I’m a journalist”.

There were some good comments on this post and a conversation was developing between the posters and Leo from the Advocate. Not flaming but an actual exchange of ideas . . . that’s the way it should be.

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An interesting thing happened – one commenter flamed me. After checking out their comments to other posts it was obvious they were angry, had issues and were just using the public-ness of this blog (mine and others) to vent. I wasn’t hurt by or angry about what they said – after all that’s part of posting to a public blog and providing an opportunity to comment. The moderator of the blog (Leo) blocked this particular person from commenting but he did leave the original comments online. His choice and I respect that.

Radio Free Red Deer – independent music from the heart of Alberta is backup and running – Episode #8 featuring the Frank from here in Central Alberta is now available at radiofreereddeer.wordpress.com and via iTunes. You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter – soon to be on MySpace. RFRD is our commitment to podcasting for fun. Always remember – wherever you are support your local music.

As we wrap up this episode here’s something you might want to watch…as I write this I’m watching a movie on Google Video called Good Copy Bad Copy Documentary. They are discussing the current state of copyright, piracy and free culture. Lots of content from people around the world. An incredible amount of key points come out that shake the foundations of the music and movie business as we know – the North American model. In other parts of the world there are amazing things going on. For instance in Brazil they are thinking of a CD full of MP3’s as an advertisment for musical artists and not only give them away but encourage people to copy them and share their music in order to promote the bands who make their money through live shows and swag . And here’s another one I didn’t know about – the US released 641 movies one year with India releasing 900 that same year and Nigeria – here’s the amazing part – Nigeria released 1200 movies that same year. They were all direct to DVD and they weren’t pirated in local stores or markets. They sold nothing but originals. Great movie – check it out – link in our show notes at brassmedia.ca.

Talk with you later . . .