I’ve started using AudioBoo. This enables me to talk to people - or at least broadcast.
I’ve gradually realised many people don’t like to read. They simply don’t love the act of reading. Of those who avoid reading, there are many who love audio.
Irish people particularly love radio.
Maybe I’ve been cut off from many people? Maybe, if there was an audio version of my blogposts, I would be more inclusive - and more popular?
I found AudioBoo by accident, and got into using it via my iPhone. [You can contact the CEO of AudioBoo via Twitter @MarkRock.]
So far I’ve made over 30 podcasts - all raw, unedited, each no more than 10 minutes long. You can find them all here.
Yesterday I made 4 podcasts:
(1) Water explosion in Cork - after the water supply to many people was suddenly cut (1.46mins)
(2) My newest business idea - sharing thoughts from my business life (2.41mins)
(3) Blackrock Castle Observatory today - on my way there: what was on my mind (2.56mins)
(4) Where’s best place to visit in Cork City?(1) - all about Blackrock Castle Observatory & Fota Island Wildlife Park (5.18mins)
I hope you find something interesting & valuable among them. My plan is to keep this up and move towards a situation where there is always an audio version of each blogpost.
What do you think of that idea? Share your view in comments below, please.
I think it’s a superb idea.
I love reading and generally prefer it over listening. However, You can do things with audio that you can’t do with the keyboard or pen. It also opens up your content to new “receiving environments”. Your thoughts can be listened to while driving. It’s much harder to read while you’re driving - though I have seen it done.
The great joy of social media is that we now all have access to print, audio, visual and audio/visual broadcast media. Each has its own audience and each allows us to connect with different people.
I’m very curious to see what happens should you ever move into video podcasts.
Comment by Roger Overall — July 27, 2010 @ 10:03 am
As someone who has always wanted to get into audio publishing (”pod casting”, if you must) I know all too well the positives that would come with the move, but there are also negatives.
Audio can’t be searched (not mainstream anyway) so your thoughts and ideas will be left lost to many a searcher who would otherwise get your words in textual form. You can’t glance over audio to get a general idea of the post. An exciting writer is not always an exciting speaker. Many people listen to music browsing the net; reading is easier to multitask like this with text rather than two streams of audio. Hosting is also a problem. What happens when AudioBoo goes belly-up and your podcasts are gone forever? At least with writing Goggle will have cached your text and will still be available in their index (I figure Google are the least likely Internet company to go bust, and that’s why I use their blogging service).
The most important point though, and the reason I write little and rely more of creating images for my blog posts, is because life is short, and even shorter on the net. I have hundreds of RSS feeds in my feed reader. Sitting back listening to to a load of podcasters just isn’t going to happen, and I know this is the same for other internet users. As sad as it is, casual followers are not going to be turned off by monoliths of text, audio or video. They will glance through their feeds everyday waiting for something to catch their eye. I’ve seen it with my own blog. Hand crafted videos go unwatched. Thoughtful texts ignored. Of course you’ll have fans who’ll always listen, but getting your point across can sometimes go unnoticed.
All that said, blogging is a personal thing and I’ve always argued, I blog for myself, so maybe you should just ignore all the negativity in the above paragraph
Do evaluate the technical side of things though.
Comment by Gammagoblin — July 27, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
I have to say I’m really enjoying your Audioboos Paul. I’m following way too many people on Twitter and will never really get to ‘know’ the majority of them. However, since I started to listen to your boos I feel like I *have* gotten to know you, a little. So much is conveyed by tone of voice, timbre, etc, that words can never convey.
I started subscribing to podcasts from the very first ones published (Curry & Winer) and am a regular listener of two which started out raw and unproduced but have over the years taken on all the ‘values’ of professional radio. What I really enjoy about Audioboos is that they are a return to the raw edginess of podcasting’s roots.
Comment by James Corbett — July 28, 2010 @ 8:14 am
Paul, great blog. Love the audioboos also. I like the way you write this post out. Linking up your boos, wonderful idea. Looking for to reading more.
Comment by Sassycat — March 20, 2012 @ 11:50 pm