WEBVTT 00:00:04.269 --> 00:00:10.609 What is a podcast? A question that has been increasing 00:00:10.609 --> 00:00:16.370 in frequency for, I would say, the last five 00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:21.289 to seven years. Pete Davidson has a new show 00:00:21.289 --> 00:00:24.530 on Netflix that they're calling a podcast, despite 00:00:24.530 --> 00:00:27.829 the fact that it's only on Netflix and that there 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:32.070 is no audio version of it. Some would say that 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:37.000 the core of a podcast is that at the very least 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:44.000 you could consume it via audio only on youtube 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.280 if you have youtube premium you can turn your 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.539 device screen off and still listen to the audio 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:56.979 this is as far as i know at least not the case 00:00:56.979 --> 00:01:01.119 with netflix you need to have your device on 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:06.140 for netflix To keep playing. But this isn't the 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:08.200 first time, nor will it be the last, that people 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:13.959 ask, what is a podcast? Some people, many people, 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:17.859 have told me that if it's video, it's not a podcast. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.219 I think we're getting away from that idea, though. 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:25.560 More people have told me that it's not a podcast 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:29.939 if it doesn't have an RSS feed. But if you have 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:35.310 a podcast... only on Spotify, where people can 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:38.049 listen only on Spotify, but they can listen to 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:41.609 audio only, I would say that's just a poorly 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:47.730 distributed podcast. If we look at the word podcast, 00:01:47.890 --> 00:01:52.010 which is a portmanteau of iPod and broadcast, 00:01:52.469 --> 00:01:57.109 linguists can argue that if it's not on an iPod, 00:01:57.109 --> 00:02:03.480 it's not a podcast. But I'm not really here to 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:08.020 have this debate. I think this is a tired debate. 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:11.219 I think if you want to make content, you should 00:02:11.219 --> 00:02:16.419 make content where you want to. But the line 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:21.939 is blurring between what is a podcast and what 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:25.580 is a YouTube video. What's the difference between 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:31.310 the two? It's certainly not length. An increase 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:36.469 in the number of short podcast episodes that 00:02:36.469 --> 00:02:40.689 are really focused. It's not about video. Lots 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:44.490 of podcasts also publish video. No, I actually 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:48.650 think it's a lot simpler than that. When I was 00:02:48.650 --> 00:02:54.169 in Italy in 2016, the Euro Cup was happening. 00:02:54.870 --> 00:03:01.500 And I was gobsmacked that as we... traveled down 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:05.099 the country first starting in Venice ending in 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:09.120 Sorrento that when there was a game on there 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.280 were people gathered everywhere there were people 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:16.780 in Sorrento in the streets in lawn chairs all 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:20.639 watching the game together it was an incredible 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:28.050 communal experience but it wasn't a fully gathered 00:03:28.050 --> 00:03:30.310 mass all in the same place there were people 00:03:30.310 --> 00:03:32.330 at the stadium there were people watching at 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:34.030 home there were people watching in the streets 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:35.710 there were people watching in other countries 00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:45.229 now compare that to something like a college 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:48.090 football game or a high school football game 00:03:48.090 --> 00:03:53.289 a broadway show maybe is an even better example 00:03:53.289 --> 00:04:00.849 where the majority of the people consuming that 00:04:00.849 --> 00:04:05.389 content are all together in the same place where 00:04:05.389 --> 00:04:12.509 they can react and interact together. This is 00:04:12.509 --> 00:04:22.050 how I view podcasts versus a YouTube video. Podcasts 00:04:22.050 --> 00:04:25.399 and the thing that makes podcasts great. is that 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:29.040 they are open. They are on an RSS feed. They 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:36.860 are distributed in multiple apps. But that makes 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:42.639 engagement in a single town hall or town square, 00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:48.519 we'll say, really difficult. There are people 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:51.040 who are going to consume an Apple podcast, some 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:54.259 in Spotify. Some in Pocket Cast or Overcast. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.560 Maybe you're just listening to this on the website. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.379 Maybe you've downloaded the audio and you're 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:04.500 listening to it somewhere else. Maybe you are 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:10.399 listening to it on YouTube. But unless I, as 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:16.519 the host, get to some critical mass where I can 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:22.759 point people to a single place to interact, It's 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:26.500 going to be hard to get that engagement. And 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:28.579 I don't want to get too technical here, but I 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:33.160 do know that in the podcasting 2 .0 spec, there 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:38.000 are features that allow for things like live 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.980 streaming and podcast apps and some sort of engagement. 00:05:41.980 --> 00:05:48.420 I know there's a proposal for adding comments 00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:53.250 or donating. And at rss .com, we support a lot 00:05:53.250 --> 00:05:56.009 of those features. Full disclosure, I am the 00:05:56.009 --> 00:05:58.250 rss .com evangelist. I'm also a podcast host 00:05:58.250 --> 00:06:02.089 and a podcast coach. And so I've been around 00:06:02.089 --> 00:06:05.170 the block. But I know that rss .com and a few 00:06:05.170 --> 00:06:08.910 other podcast hosts and podcast apps support 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:13.769 stuff like that. But not all of them do. And 00:06:13.769 --> 00:06:17.009 certainly the major ones don't. I mean, Spotify 00:06:17.009 --> 00:06:22.300 does have comments and polls. Apple Podcasts 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:24.759 at this point, at this time in recording, doesn't. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:32.540 And countless other apps definitely don't. So 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:35.040 if I want engagement from my audience, I'm going 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:38.560 to have to say, go to Spotify or go to YouTube 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:43.459 or go to streamlinedpodcaster .com and click 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:48.519 on this post and comment or go to a generic forum. 00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:52.350 And that's hard. It's a lot harder than what 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:56.269 you have on YouTube, which is a comment section 00:06:56.269 --> 00:07:00.910 right under the video. And so as we think about 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:05.529 what is a podcast, what is a YouTube video, or 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:11.050 you, dear podcaster, dear solopreneur or small 00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:13.389 business owner who is listening to this wondering, 00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:20.360 should I put my podcast on YouTube? I think the 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:22.579 answer to that is yes, like you just want your 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:27.500 content everywhere. But should you have parity 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:32.699 between YouTube and your podcast? I think no. 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:36.019 Because if we go back to that soccer example 00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:43.980 or football example, it's like dressing for American 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:48.519 football when you're going to play soccer or. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:52.360 what the rest of the world really calls football 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:56.000 you're wearing pads and a helmet and it's hard 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.819 to see and move quickly and that's just not optimized 00:08:00.819 --> 00:08:08.959 for how quickly soccer moves and conversely if 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.439 you are just for soccer and playing football 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.959 you're going to get deeply injured there is content 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:19.250 that is more suitable For this audio only medium 00:08:19.250 --> 00:08:23.930 and more content that is suitable for the YouTube 00:08:23.930 --> 00:08:28.230 video medium. And I know I've talked about this 00:08:28.230 --> 00:08:30.870 before, but I've been thinking a lot about the 00:08:30.870 --> 00:08:34.250 direction of Streamline Solopreneur, my, I guess 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:37.730 we'll call it my flagship podcast, and how I 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:40.210 want to approach YouTube. And I think I've worked 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:47.149 out my next experiment, at least. I want the 00:08:47.149 --> 00:08:50.730 Streamlined Solopreneur to be largely solo episodes. 00:08:50.809 --> 00:08:53.370 I am wrapping up my last couple of interviews, 00:08:53.509 --> 00:09:00.110 but I suspect by April of this year, the show 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:04.950 is going to switch fully to solo episodes where 00:09:04.950 --> 00:09:08.330 I'm really focused on solving a specific problem. 00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:14.710 Those solo episodes are going to provide me content. 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:20.139 for not just the show, but articles and newsletters, 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:22.460 right? Or it could be the other way around. Usually 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:24.379 I write my newsletter and then I record the podcast 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:27.799 episode. Neither here nor there. All of that 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:31.480 is around the thought leadership, long form content, 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.139 adding my voice to the internet. But I really 00:09:37.139 --> 00:09:41.799 like doing interviews. I love talking to other 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:44.629 people. I love getting their perspective. In 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:49.070 the 10 years I've been doing this show, the Streamline 00:09:49.070 --> 00:09:52.970 Solopreneur show, I've learned a lot. It's had 00:09:52.970 --> 00:09:55.950 a positive impact on my business, and I think 00:09:55.950 --> 00:09:59.970 it's important to not just be in a silo or an 00:09:59.970 --> 00:10:02.710 echo chamber. So how do I square that circle? 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:07.690 Well, the other thing I've been struggling with 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:13.059 is live streams on YouTube. When I was a programmer 00:10:13.059 --> 00:10:15.840 and when I was heavily in the WordPress space, 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:20.179 live streams were super easy for me. I would 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:24.899 get on and start writing some code and showing 00:10:24.899 --> 00:10:29.600 people some stuff. When I wasn't coding, I was 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:34.559 usually demoing some new software and showing 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:38.200 people how it worked. But since moving away from 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:42.519 the WordPress space to... Let's say a more 10 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:46.659 ,000 foot view of how I can help people. It's 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:49.899 been hard. Building automations on live streams 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:54.820 is not fun. There's a lot of silence and silent 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:58.059 live streams are just not my thing. I don't really 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:04.480 think they're a lot of people's thing. And so. 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:09.120 I've been at a loss for how to consistently live 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.159 stream in a way that makes sense for me. Well, 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.480 you could probably see where the puck is going 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:17.679 here if I'm going to add more sports analogies. 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:23.440 I think I'm going to do interviews or let's say 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:27.100 joint live streams with other people on YouTube 00:11:27.100 --> 00:11:33.220 where I can get questions ahead of time from 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:35.539 my mailing list, but then people can show up 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:39.000 in the chat and ask questions and we can react 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.500 to them in real time. Or if I don't have a guest, 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:49.139 then I can do a Q &A where I show something off, 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:52.820 but mostly answer questions. And I can engage 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:57.240 with my audience in a way that I really can't 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:04.669 on my podcast. Platform control and creating 00:12:04.669 --> 00:12:08.669 walled gardens is not really one of my favorite 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:14.289 things, but it does have some benefits. YouTube 00:12:14.289 --> 00:12:22.889 and Substack and Spotify are walled gardens in 00:12:22.889 --> 00:12:26.389 a sense. Yes, you can embed a YouTube video anywhere. 00:12:26.669 --> 00:12:30.370 YouTube has an API. It's a little less of a walled 00:12:30.370 --> 00:12:34.600 garden. than, say, Substack, which is a completely 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:40.820 walled garden. But having platform control in 00:12:40.820 --> 00:12:46.039 the way that YouTube does has benefits. Just 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:49.500 like if you want to watch a football game live, 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.539 you have to go to a stadium, and that's a totally 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:55.240 different experience than watching it at home. 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:59.580 Bringing people together on a single platform 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:02.519 allows for... more of the type of engagement 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:07.179 I'm talking about. So I know that this was a 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:12.840 little bit of a thought experiment. I'm thinking 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:17.320 out loud. But this is what I'm going to run with. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:20.940 Podcasts are great for deepening relationships 00:13:20.940 --> 00:13:24.379 on a one -to -many level. People will listen 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:26.779 to my show. They'll hear what I'm about. Most 00:13:26.779 --> 00:13:28.899 of what I'm talking about on my podcast is not 00:13:28.899 --> 00:13:35.320 time sensitive. And my podcast gives me the opportunity 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:39.980 to create other forms of content. If people want 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:44.080 to engage directly with me in real time, YouTube 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:46.960 is the place for me to do that. And YouTube live 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.059 streams are going to be a place for me to maybe 00:13:49.059 --> 00:13:51.919 talk about some news or current events or things 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.399 that are happening, as well as bring on guests 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:58.919 and create more of a communal experience. Now, 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.480 where does that leave the Pete Davidson show? 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:07.620 Where it's neither audio nor is there a way to 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:12.179 engage? It's a television show. Simple as that. 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:17.639 That's it for this episode of the Streamlined 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.419 Podcaster. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:24.399 what you think. Do you have an idea for how you're 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:26.399 going to treat your podcast and YouTube differently? 00:14:27.230 --> 00:14:29.570 Should they not be different? Are you someone 00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:31.990 who believes that it's only a podcast if it's 00:14:31.990 --> 00:14:36.309 on an iPod? Let me know over at streamlinedfeedback 00:14:36.309 --> 00:14:40.330 .com. Thanks so much for listening. And until 00:14:40.330 --> 00:14:43.690 next time, I hope you find some space in your 00:14:43.690 --> 00:14:43.950 week.