Chris Brogan, one of the co-founders of the Podcamp movement, throws this out: “I”m not a podcaster”.
My big thing at the moment is telling people I’m not a podcaster either. Instead – “I build and commercialize communities of interest.” The podcasts are just one medium we use to build our communities. Blogs, SNS, VW, F2F meetings (like MODM), are other mediums as also employ.
And I think all businesses can say the same thing. Isn’t that what a business truly does? Build communities of people who want to solve a problem using their product and/or service? Perhaps if they thought of themselves that way, they would truly grok whats happening on the web at the moment instead of screwing it up.
Reminds me of the old story I’ve told before about astronomers before Copernicus. If you asked them what they did for a living, they would have told you “we study the way the Sun rotates around the Earth.” The very definition of who they were prevented them from ever really seeing the truth.
Totally agree Cam. This is the direction I have been heading over the last year or so. I put together some thoughts on the topic a little while back: http://www.point2share.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=29
There are a stack of new and emerging technologies (like Podcasting) which make community building, at a global level, more possible than ever.
I keep thinking back to that Aussie movie Kenny. I saw it on the plane when I flew home last year. It reminded me that no matter how obscure or unsavoury your product (in this case portable toilets) or service there are people out there passionate about it! Organisations should do everything in their power to reach out to them, and help them reach out to each other.
In the end, we all win.
I must tell the boss that I am not a Graphic Designer then. Actually, I’ve been telling him that for years but he still doesn’t believe me… The trouble is, I dunno what I am!
I’m still trying to decide if I want to be a podcaster… I still think Cam should write a book about how to podcast and market or market for podcasts or something. All the podcasting books I’ve read are cookie cutter copies.
It’s funny. The stronger people want to push the terms, the harder I push away from them. Know why? Because who do we know out there that calls themselves a webstreamer, or a Mozilla designer? Who’s the Gopher guy?
We, as humans, need labels, but that doesn’t mean that you need to pick the literal label.
I like your answer, Cameron.