NevOn

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #113: February 20, 2006

Content summary: Luke Armour's PR paper download; New Communications Forum 2006; announcing IABC conference podcasts; what we've been up to this past week; the Techcrunch party; IABC Communication Commons launches; influential authorities on business blogging - survey; WELS goes to the next level; the Guinness UK marketing blog; Donald Rumsfeld's call for better US government PR; Robert Scoble shoutout; Lee Hopkins report; listeners' comments discussion; FIR community on Frappr; the music; and much more.

Show notes for February 20, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, an 86-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 35MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in today’s show
• 02:03 Luke Armour's PR report available for download (PDF)
• 02:40 Shel and Neville will be running a workshop on podcasting at the New Communications Forum in Palo Alto from March 1-3
• 07:00 Announcing IABC conference podcasts - we'll be producing a series leading up to and during the IABC 2006 International Conference in Vancouver, Canada, from June 4-7
• 08:51 Our first time back together live for a while: we recap on what we've been up to - Shel: travel, client work, Techcrunch party, lunch with Robert Scoble; Neville: travel, client work, Manchester conference, knocked for six, preparing new blog
• Neville's writing a review of Naked Conversations for IABC's Communication World magazine

News and Commentary:

• 17:22 IABC Communication Commons launches
• 22:51 Onalytica survey: influential authorities on business blogging - what's the difference between influence and popularity?
• 36:31 WELS goes to the next level with RSS
• 42:43 Guinness UK launches a marketing blog - and it's good
• 51:35 US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls for better US government PR
• 56:23 Robert Scoble shouts out! (out-take version first)
• 58:53 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - weather RSS feeds and TV news broadcasters; FeedDemon2 beta; serendipitous reads and why blogrolls shouldn't disappear any day soon; Newbie Nifty Nev and the Podcast Institute.

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 71:04 Steve Rubel responds to our commentary last Thursday on his move to Edelman
• 73:36 Howard Harawitz with a tip on the role of a blog in teaching journalism

Outro:

• 76:44 Neville wraps the show; let us know your views about today’s discussions; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 78:37 The growing FIR community on Frappr
• 80:09 Only Shel live for next Thursday's show with recorded contributions from Neville
• 81:00 Outro podsafe music via the Podasfe Music Network - The Engine Driver by The Decemberists

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 23...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #112: February 16, 2006

Content summary: Steve Rubel and Micro Persuasion move to Edelman; approaching communication issues using new media; delivering the new PR in Manchester; has PR figured out podcasting yet?; Technorati and the Magic Middle; Dan York's report; listeners' comments discussion; the music; and more.

Show notes for February 16, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 77-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 36MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

• Detailed show notes to come

Content start points guide -
- Intro 00:28
- News and Commentary 03:10
- Listeners' Comments Discussion 51:50
- Outro 70:23

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday February 20...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #111: February 13, 2006

Content summary: Low ethics pay-for-placement PR; Luke Armour's PR paper; RSS software converts content into spam blogs; Eric Schwartzman interviews The New Yorker Magazine's Ken Auletta; Coca-Cola sends bloggers to Torino; NBC's The Office character blog; Lee Hopkins report; are there libel concerns with using coComment?; listeners' comments discussion; preview: potential new FIR intro music; the pros and cons of IABC and PRSA; the music and much more.

Show notes for February 13, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 91-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Download the file here (MP3, 42MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

• Detailed show notes to come

Content start points guide -
- Intro 00:28
- News and Commentary 04:08
- Listeners' Comments Discussion 59:52
- Outro 83:36

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 16...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Daily Telegraph's new media expansion

Another indicator of how some mainstream media see podcasting as a big opportunity - The Daily Telegraph is advertising for two Podcast Reporters/Producers:

[...] We are looking for two individuals who are capable of creating high quality and engaging Podcasts that feature comment and opinion from both internal and external sources. The successful candidates will be expected to write, voice, edit and upload audio content. A proven track record in journalism is essential. Full training will be provided on the technical aspects of the role.

The Telegraph launched its daily podcasts last November, and hired a podcast editor in December - apparently the first role of its kind in the mainstream media in the UK.

(Via Hugh Fraser)

Interesting things going on with other new media at the Telegraph - they now have ten journalists with individual blogs and a group blog.

Related Nevon post:

• Blair and Cameron podcast firsts

Engaging podcasts from IBM

I've been subscribed to IBM's investor relations podcast series "IBM and The Future of..." since IBM started this series last August.

Eleven podcasts so far, each one providing a worthwhile learning experience on wide-ranging topics relating to society, business and technology.

The latest one, IBM and The Future of Privacy, is a great example of how any organization can use this medium to address what might seem to be a pretty dry subject in a way that captures and holds a listener's attention. Engages the listener, in other words.

From the broad communication point of view, this series also demonstrates how podcasting can subtly reinforce a company's credibility and authority about the subject being addressed. And it doesn't matter how big or small the company is - you don't need to be a global corporation like IBM to realize the benefits from podcasting.

Not only that, it enhances one's overall perceptive view of that company and how it gives you another choice of getting hold of information and opinion in a way that gives you additional insight into the company and some of its people.

If the podcast is also one element among other open and connected communication channels - as is the case with IBM - then you have another good foundation for building sustainable relationships with your audiences (who then become participants).

Worth subscribing to.

Related NevOn posts:

• IBM's credible message: Blogging means business
• IBM starts investor-focused podcasts
• IBM publishes guidelines for employee bloggers

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The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #110: February 9, 2006

Content summary: Nvidia and its PR agency are accused of unethical viral marketing; follow-up to Google’s removal of BMW from its search; Gallup assesses the importance of blogs to web users; your value decreases the longer you’re unemployed; NPR opens the podcast floodgates; new services from Odeo; a report from Dan York; listeners' comments discussion (time for effective communication in the EU; opening a window on culture; a report on the separation of PR and marketing); the music.

Show notes for February 9, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 73-minute podcast recorded live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 29.5MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show's about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in today’s show

News and Commentary:

• 02:26 The dark side of viral marketing - are graphics card maker nVidia and PR firm AEG engaging in underhand practices in gamers' forums and employing some peculiar PR tactics to respond to such accusations? We discuss wide-ranging commentary from Christopher Carfi, Thomas Hawk and the Digg crowd, adding our own perspectives as we ask: What should nVidia do to address this issue, and is such activity symptomatic of business un-ethics today? We also discuss a Wall Street Journal story today regarding FON and positive commentaries by bloggers who don't fully disclose their interests.
• 28:58 BMW's return to grace after trying to game Google; an alternative view that presents an 'end justifies the means' case for why brands should spam search engines
• 37:06 Was Google's lack of engagement over the China search engine furore the right communication approach? Brad Bellaver thinks so
• 40:16 A Gallup report provides some answers to the question on how many people are reading blogs - is that even the right question? How this fits in with ideas from PR bloggers like Steve Rubel on developing new metrics about blogs and communication measurement
• 44:06 The longer you're unemployed, the more your value decreases, according to a report from the Royal Economic Society
• 49:15 The podcast floodgates open at National Public Radio in the US with a directory featuring 250 titles from 79 public radio stations as podcast downloads reach 13 million
• 51:29 Odeo introduces a way you can record comments to podcasts, send audio messages and call in comments via a phone number
• 55:04 Steve Lubetkin shouts out!
• 55:33 Dan York reports - it's snowing in Vermont, beta testing Windows Live Messenger, Gmail for mobile devices, moderating a panel discussion at IABC Yankee Chapter, can't make it to the New Communications Forum next month but hopes to get to Vancouver in June for the IABC 2006 conference

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 61:21 Philip Borremans says, yes, it's about time for effective communciation by the EU
• 62:53 David Phillips opens a window on culture (and we say we're looking forward to meeting David at the New Communications Forum)
• 66:28 Luke Armour's research into the separation of PR and marketing (we have copies and we will be talking about it soon)

Outro:

• 67:43 Neville wraps the show; let us know your views about today's discussions; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 69:49 Outro podsafe music via KillRockStars.com - The Unhappy Song by John Doe

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday February 13...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Record audio at Odeo

Odeo, the podcasting service and directory launched last July, now offers a recording capability where you can record a commentary about a podcast:

[...] There is now a "Reply" button under the audio player on Odeo pages. This way, when you record and share an Odeo with people, they will be able to record a response. (You'll get email notifications of this activity so you can keep up with the conversation.)

I definitely want to see how Shel and I can implement this feature for For Immediate Release. Our podcast is listed with Odeo so you can also subscribe to it there. We've already added an instant-play feature to the podcast blog (just click to listen to a show); if we can also provide a way for listeners to easily make an audio comment there and then, while the impulse to do so is hot, that would be terrific.

Now if iTunes had a feature like this...

Odeo has also introduced a rather neat audio messaging service where you can record a message and send it to someone. And you don't need to have an account with Odeo to use this service.

Do give it a try!

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #109: February 6, 2006

Content summary: The latest state of the blogosphere according to Technorati; new media in the travel business; practicing safe surfing and the global blogathon; the Google internet; BMW gets kicked off Google; Lee Hopkins report; tracking conversations with the Conversational Index and coComments; the Superbowl and the Six Nations Championship; revitalizing the press release; Eric Schwartzman interviews Walt Mossberg; listeners' comments discussion (Stanford on iTunes; PR gets a bad name; FIR goes viral; those cartoons); the music.

Show notes for February 6, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 76-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and almost live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 35MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:29 Neville introduces the show; Shel's not here live today; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what's in today's show

News and Commentary:

• 03:11 Technorati's state of the blogosphere - it keeps doubling every five months, now 60 times bigger than it was three years ago; tagging is the big growth area
• 07:17 Shel takes a break during the Superbowl and explains why he's in Philly all week
• 08:46 What's going on in new media as it relates to the travel business - quite a lot, says Shel
• 11:26 Tomorrow is the EU's Safer Internet Day and the start of the global blogathon
• 16:02 Is Google planning a separate internet and is EPIC looking less like fiction? And if you try and game Google, you'll get kicked off the search engine as BMW found to its cost
• 22:29 Cruisebox shouts out!
• 22:48 From Our Correspondent Down Under: Lee Hopkins - Heidi Miller's great podcasting microphone podcast, RocketPost blogging tool, Telstra's PDF on emerging technologies, and on reading your email out loud; Neville adds some commentary on RocketPost, and on QumanaXP beta
• 31:32 Tracking conversations with the Conversational Index and coComment (plus a "yes, but..." note by Jeremy Pepper)
• 38:36 Shel's finished watching the Superbowl...
• 39:55 Revitalizing the press release - PR Newswire adds del.icio.us tags to press releases, says Steve Rubel, to create more discoverability for online content; Gary Goldhammer's rating system for today's modern press release;
• 49:07 Neville's response to Shel's Superbowl comments - what about the Six Nations Championship rugby!
• 50:26 From The Spinfluencer in LA - Eric Schwartzman has an interview with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, on the importance of online communications

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 61:30 Howard Harawitz points us to Stanford on iTunes, the university's offerings of university-related podcasts via iTunes
• 63:12 Clarence Jones says no wonder PR gets a bad name with this example of the threats of legal action against Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing
• 65:05 FIR goes viral thanks to David Phillips
• 66:21 Dan Hill on the cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed; Neville adds some comment about freedom and responsibilities of the press

Outro:

• 70:44 Neville wraps the show; how and where to send your comments; the FIR community on Frappr continues to grow; where to find the show notes
• 73:23 Outro podsafe music via the Podsafe Music Network - El Puente Closing Theme by Larry Sayer

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 9...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Never mind the Superbowl, what about the 6 Nations Rugby!

What a tremendous weekend for contact sport!

While every American I know was glued to the TV (or plugged in to the net) yesterday for the Superbowl - in case you didn't know, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 - there was some fantsatic rugby going on in Europe throughout the weekend.

Three matches were played between all the participating nations in the Six Nations Championship - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales - all of which were broadcast live throughout Europe on one TV station or another.

I managed to watch some of the Scotland vs France game on Sunday on the BBC. What a treat! And what an upset! Scotland beat France 20-16 in a nail-biting game that confounded the pundits' predictions of an easy victory for favourites France.

If you want to get great background into the teams, with interviews and reports, The Six Nations website offers a series of podcasts complete with RSS feeds so you won't miss any content. And for general news and stories throughout the run of this championship - the highlight of the Rugby Union calendar - you can subscribe to seven RSS feeds: six focused on news about each team plus a catch-all feed that gives you everything.

Sound comfort for sailors

It's comforting to know that HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy's latest Type 45 destroyers launched on Wednesday, is fitted with the most advanced state-of-the-art weapons and defence systems. For instance:

[...] The main armament for the new destroyers will be the world-beating Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS) - a collaboration between the UK, France and Italy. This capability represents a major step forward for the Royal Navy, putting the UK at the cutting edge of area Anti Air Warfare and ensuring that the Type 45 can defend her consorts and allies for decades to come.

The new generation of missiles could be sea-skimming, high-diving, supersonic, stealthy or highly manoeuvrable. Attacks could come from any direction and in salvoes. With its advanced combat system, the Type 45 will greatly enhance the ability of the Royal Navy to defend its warships and other vessels it is accompanying from anti-ship missiles and from attacks by aircraft and land-based threats.

More comforting for the crew, perhaps, is their living environment:

[...] HMS Daring's 230-strong crew should be happy too. She and her sisters will be the first "gender-neutral" warships to enter Royal Navy service, and the Hotel Facilities, as the living quarters are known, are the most opulent ever fitted in a British warship. Mess decks are replaced by individual cabins, each with their own I-pod charging points, CD player, internet access, five channel recreational audio and larger berths.

(Bold text is my emphasis.)

No jokes about this in this post! It's not too far-fetched to look at the iPodding of the crew's quarters, with its internet access as well, as a podcasting opportunity for the Navy as an employer to communicate with the crew as employees in a new and interesting way...

(Via Engadget)

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #108: February 2, 2006

Content summary: New Flash player in show notes; Google continued: China and earnings; Microsoft blog censorship in China; the press release padding trap; Edelman's new podcast; new podcast magazine launches; what the EU needs is effective communication; is citizen journalism dead?; a job ad from the future; listeners' comments discussion (moving to the Bay area, differing roles of PR and marketing, Montreal not Toronto); the music.

Show notes for February 2, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 78-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 32MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 02:11 Thanks for your support for voting for FIR on Podcast Alley - now at #3 in the Business category
• 03:11 New Dew Flash player in the show notes - you can just click and listen to each show

News and Commentary:

• 06:02 The heated debates about Google's search-censorship in China continue; Rubber Room Radio's comment to the Daily Source Code #326; hanging Google out to dry over their 'Do No Evil' motto
• 12:51 Google gets a pasting over their earnings announcement; little communication from Google; a BBC reporter's take on what Google's like; is Google just arrogant?
• 20:01 Microsoft's blog-censorship in China also attracts criticism: unlike Google, Microsoft responds with some positive action
• 23:34 Skype to offer audio-conferencing services, and signs a deal with Warner Music to offer music from A-list artists as ring tones
• 28:35 The press release padding trap: don't just copy-and-paste press releases into your blog post, says Performancing's Chris Garrett - add value!
• 33:11 David Murray shouts out
• 33:23 We listen to the first episode of earSHOT, the new podcast from Edelman PR presented by Phil Gomes. So what did we think?
• 39:40 Shel talks about another new PR podcast out of the US, PR/PA Ideas To Use from Novita Issue Communications; Neville wonders when we'll see the first one out of the UK
• 41:29 Podcast User, the first online magazine about podcasting and podcasters, launches
• 43:46 Communications in the European Union are key to every citizen's understanding of the EU, says Philip Borremans, highlighting a new white paper on communications for the EU which is a step in the right direction this time
• 51:43 Is citizen journalism dead? A look at Dan Gillmor's Bayosphere experiment and why he's abandoning it; how the citizen journalism concept can work within organizations
• 57:08 "Candidates must have a Google Page Rank of at least 5. And/or an Alexa Rank of at least 750,000 or better. Candidates with at least 1,000 Google hits on their name are also eligible." Is this what a job ad in the future might look like? Tom Foremski thinks so

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 64:58 Jeremy Pepper comments on his being hired by Weber Shandwick - yes, he's moving
• 65:44 David Phillips say the differing roles of PR and marketing is not just a semantic discussion
• 70:50 Julien corrects us about the Cirque du Soleil debut in Canada where bloggers were invited - it was in Montréal, not Toronto

Outro:

• 71:38 Neville wraps the show; the FIR community on Frappr grows; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 74:03 Shel's in Philadelphia next week
• 74:21 Outro podsafe music via the Podsafe Music Network - 143 by Stingray

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday February 6...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

New magazine for podcasters launched

In show #103 of our podcast last month, Shel and I talked about ID3 Podcast Magazine, a new print publication about podcasting launching in May.

Well, you don't have to wait until May if you want to get your hands on a brand new magazine about podcasting as the first edition of such a new magazine was launched online today.

Published as a PDF, Podcast User magazine was conceived and produced in less than a month, according to Paul Nicholls, the magazine's editor. It's the brainchild of a group of a dozen mostly British podcasters - in addition to Paul, Mark Hunter, Adrian Pegg, Linda Mills, Paul Pinfield, Chris Skinner, Paul Parkinson, Phil Coyne, Jim Hastell, Colin Meeks, Grant Mason, and Simon Toon. (Related: Paul and Adrian Pegg are two of the driving forces who were behind PodcastCon UK last September.)

The inaugural edition of Podcast User includes news, features, opinion columns, podcast reviews, and a review of recording equipment. If you sign up to the RSS feed, you'll ensure you get every edition.

Congratulations to the team behind this first publication dedicated to podcasting and podcasters.

The 2006 Forum: A milestone event for communicators

I've just finalized setting up my trip to California at the end of this month to participate in the New Communications Forum which takes place in Palo Alto from 1-3 March.

My podcasting partner Shel Holtz and I are running a workshop at the Forum, the Podcasting 101 pre-conference 'boot camp.' This is a half-day interactive session that will help you learn about podcasting, from the elements of a successful podcast, to strategizing content to support your communication objectives, to recording a podcast that sounds good.

We intend Podcasting 101 to be really interactive - we'll be producing a special edition of For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report podcast during the session. Can't get more interactive than that!

I'll also be moderating the session on "New Media Case Studies - Blending New Communications & MSM," which will discuss the blending of mainstream media with citizen-generated media.

This year's Forum is the second such event and follows the success of the 2005 Forum, at which I also presented (check my posts here). A great deal has happened in the development of new-media communication channels during the past twelve months, and this is reflected in the structure of the 2006 event and in the subject matter that will be covered.

And what a phenomenal line-up of talent at this year's Forum! I am very excited to be at an event in the company of people like Dan Gillmor, Rebecca Blood, JD Lasica, Robert Scoble, Eric Rice, Katie Delahaye Paine, Tom Foremski, Pete Blackshaw, Debbie Weil, Mike Manuel, Elisa Camahort... the list of influential champions of social media  is almost endless. See the full list of speakers (over 60) for details.

Forum organizers Jen McClure and Elizabeth Albrycht have constructed an outstanding event, one that I am certain will be regarded as a milestone in professional development for any communicator with a serious interest in getting to grips with the strategic "how?" of social media (last year the focus was largely "what?", but that conversation has moved on).

So if you want to be part of an event that is all about frameworks and participation, this is the one. Full details at the New Communications Forum website.

Hope to see you there.

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Podcasting choices: Audacity or Adobe Audition?

When I started podcasting, I used the free cross-platform audio editor Audacity as my application of choice for recording and editing audio. This is a common route that many people go when they start out podcasting.

Audacity is very good and easy to use. Good enough, in fact, for many people to stick with it. Not just for podcasts, either - it’s good enough to be one’s primary audio editor. And a new version was announced last month with some fixes and new features.

The main negative I had with Audacity, though, was that I found the learning curve quite steep on understanding precisely how to use many of the program’s features. There are some good online tutorials and documentation, though. It is free after all.

This lack of easy-to-understand help was one of the main reasons why I decided to purchase Adobe Audition 1.5 for Windows earlier last month. Having used the free 30-day trial, I knew this was the one for me. The help is excellent, making it relatively easy to understand some of the things you can do with audio that can be difficult to grasp if audio editing isn’t something you routinely do as part of your job or profession. Audition also lets you do things with audio files that either you can’t in Audacity or I never was able to figure out how.

For instance, with Audition you can easily set the exact bit rate and sampling rate of an MP3 file when you come to export your audio to that format. So let’s say I’ve recorded audio as a high-quality stereo WAV file, or mixed a number of individual audio files which have different bit and sampling rates (a common activity with my podcast), I can set those rates precisely to, say, 64Kbps and 44.1Khz respectively and export the content to a mono MP3 - typically what you’d want for a vocal podcast. This gives you a good balance between good-quality audio reproduction and file compression.

Today I saw that a new version, Adobe Audition 2.0, is now available. Version 2 has some very interesting new features including a built-in compressor.

If ease of use, powerful features and lots of help are what you need, then this could be worth the rather hefty price tag - over €400 from Adobe’s European online store. Quite a price jump from 1.5 which I recall was less than €300 (I didn’t pay anywhere near that, though, for 1.5 as I bought my copy via the Amazon.co.uk Marketplace). At about €150, the upgrade price to 2.0 from 1.5 is less eye-watering.

Adobe also offers this new version on a free 30-day trial. You get the fully-functional package to try for this time. Once your time’s up, it just won’t run any more.

Trying it out is definitely worth doing if you want to see for yourself whether Audition is right for you.

You can learn more about audio recording software for podcasting in Todd Cochrane’s excellent book, Podcasting: The Do It Yourself Guide (I reviewed the book last July).

[Edit] Speaking of Todd, he upgraded to Audition 2.0 and doesn't think much of it at all. My cue to stick with 1.5, I think.

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #107: January 30, 2006

Content summary: Windows Live; Google in China; Weber Shandwick hires Jeremy Pepper; BluePulse apologizes and wins; US bloggers get an Amsterdam junket; Cirque du Soleil invites bloggers to Canadian debut; listeners’ comments discussion (paying attention to Technorati); the music.

Show notes for January 30, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 73-minute podcast recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Concord, California, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 29MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you'll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:30 Neville intros the show; what the show's about; how to give your feedback; show notes
• 02:01 Thanks for your support for voting for FIR on Podcast Alley - now at #5 in the Business category

News and Commentary:

• 03:28 Neville's impressions from the Windows Live preview event in London last week; we talk about mobile-enabled content; Ajax and why communicators should pay attention to this new technology
• 18:44 Is Google compromising its values? Google's actions in China in censoring search results continue to attract much passionate opinion and commentary; we discuss some of the latest buzz including by Dave Taylor, Steve Crescenzo and Jason Calacanis, and hear critical comment from Tom Raftery
• 38:01 PR blogger Jeremy Pepper gets hired by Weber Shandwick
• 41:56 Brother Love shouts out!
• 42:17 Changing web content will backfire on you when there's a search engine cache - a cautionary tale about BluePulse which has a positive outcome
• 48:54 Twenty-five US bloggers get an Amsterdam junket in exchange for promoting Amsterdam including ads on their blogs; one blogger, Outside The Beltway, answers criticism about ethics
• 56:48 Howard Harawitz tells us about a Digg item on Cirque du Soleil inviting two bloggers to be at the debut of their Canadian tour, so we discuss blogger outreach

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 62:51 Paul Baker has a tale that highlights why you should pay attention to what's being said about you on Technorati

Outro:

• 66:17 A get-well message to Lee Hopkins
• 66:40 Shel wraps the show; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 67:27 Outro podsafe music via the Podsafe Music Network - Nobody Else But You by the Mike Andersen Band

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday February 2...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Choice podcasts from Davos

I've spent a little time today listening to a few of the audio recordings from the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Interesting listening, many of them, even though they are recordings of speeches and sessions which you can read about in mainstream media reporting.

The really interesting ones, though, are the informal and short podcast conversations (no, not interviews: chats, really) recorded by Loic le Meur which are not listed in the link page referenced above. To get those, go to the Forum blog.

Loic's first podcast last Wednesday was a conversation with Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman PR (discussed in show #106 of FIR: The Hobson & Holtz Report podcast on Thursday). Loic's disarming style enables him to easily draw out commentary and opinion from his conversation partners in a way that seems relaxed and natural, and undoubtedly more spontaneous than if it were a journalist engaging in formal interviews.

Four other podcasts are definitely worth a listen.

• Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, talks about why he comes to Davos; comments on Google.org, the philanthropy arm of Google launched last November; talks about what digitizing content is all about; and online advertising with an interesting "that's a good point" comment about the ad potential in podcasting.
• Thierry Breton, French Minister of Economy and Finance, says entrepreneurs who set up in France won't pay taxes for six years; some people have a wrong perception about France, he says, and it's engaged role in the world today.
• Shai Agassi, SAP board member, believes every second transaction in the world at some point goes through SAP, and 30-40,000 companies worldwide run SAP software; about responsibility, leadership, lack of fear and willingness to take risks; praises Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (he calls him a 'statesman') for his philanthropy; has wry commentary on being quoted out of context regarding open source software during a presentation at the Churchill Club a few months ago and how a podcast of the event helped set the record straight. Plus he takes a swipe at a competitor and its anti-SAP advertising. (No prizes for guessing who the competitor is. No, not Microsoft.)
• Frederick Kempe, assistant managing editor international, The Wall Street Journal, on coming to terms with the integration of print and online as quickly as possible; the Davos zeitgeist; and views about bloggers - quality ones, trusted ones and those who will end up in the trash.

Check out the complete list of podcasts (and on Loic's blog). Listen and learn.

Related NevOn post:

• The road to transparency at Davos

[Technorati: davos, wef]

The road to transparency at Davos

The 2006 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum begins today in Davos, Switzerland. The organizers say there will be 2,340 participants from 89 countries including 15 heads of state or government, 13 union leaders and over 30 heads of non-governmental organizations. This year, 735 participants are at the CEO or Chairman level.

What makes this year's meeting especially interesting is that many of these movers-and-shakers will be blogging the event.

This is not private or ad hoc blogging - the World Economic Forum Weblog is an integral part of the 2006 meeting. The blog doesn't yet list who all the bloggers are but some of them have already begun posting. An indicator of what to expect as the meeting gets underway:

[...] We will blog here summaries of the sessions we participate in and some personal ideas about them. As I said, this is an experiment and should be taken as is. In no way should the notes you will find here express the voice of The Forum itself but rather our personal experience of the Summit, as participants.

That text looks as though it was written for the 2004 meeting. Nevertheless, that's what the 'About this blog' currently says.

And not only blogging at Davos - podcasts and webcasts as well. With the podcasts in particular, I think we can expect some interesting and worthwhile content for our listening enjoyment when the first podcasts are available starting tomorrow (I've already subscribed to the RSS feed).

At last year's meeting, blogging played a key role as the catalyst for a highly-controversial issue leading to the resignation of Eason Jordan, chief news executive at CNN. Jay Rosen described that event pretty well.

There is a clear disclaimer and guidelines on what is allowed for blogging at this meeting, and what isn't:

On- and off-the-record policy for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006. All sessions in the Congress Hall, and in addition Sanada 1 & 2 of the Congress Centre, are on the record and you may attribute panellists' remarks to their owners. All other sessions in the Congress Centre are off the record. You can report on the tenor of the debate, but you must not quote participants directly. If, however, you receive their subsequent permission you may quote them. All of the private sessions are "off-the-record meetings" and are not to be blogged.

This semi-transparency makes it clear what's public and what's private. Yet it was a private or closed session last year that was blogged (on an individual's blog, not the WEF one) leading to Jordan's downfall, which brings to mind one reality for me - little these days seems to be off the record. So the maxim of being cautious about what you say even in a private session is worth keeping in mind, especially when there's wi-fi (and podcasters with portable MP3 recorders) around.

Still, I expect to see some good personal commentaries on this blog to balance the official stuff we'll read about in the media. Not only on the official blog, though, on others as well (follow the Technorati tags, below).

Loic Le Meur is the driving force behind the WEF blog and will be in charge of that show. Good luck, Loic!

[Technorati: davos, wef]

Edelman PR podcast coming

News via email today from Phil Gomes about earSHOT, a new podcast from Edelman PR, that he will be presenting. Phil wouldn't say when the first edition will be out other than "soon" (and that it will be cool).

If you sign up now to the RSS feed, you'll get the teaser podcast, a 40-second MP3 in which Phil outlines what earSHOT will be about.

Looking forward to hearing the show, Phil. I'm subscribed already!

The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #105: January 23, 2006

Content summary: The Bad Pitch Blog; blogging Gonzo the Whale; Washington Post comments brouhaha; science blogs as a vehicle for selling ads; thoughts, commentary and a question from The Copenhagen Bloggers; Lee Hopkins' report; Shel's and Neville's podcast interviews; listeners' comments discussion (stop talking about rewinding; adopting intelligent evaluation for PR; IABC, corporate blogs, CPRS); growing FIR Frappr community; links on The New PR Wiki; Windows Live; the music.

Show notes for January 23, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, an 86-minute conversation recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 34MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

In this Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel intros the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes

News Briefs:

• 01:32 Outing bad PR pitches - Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer launch The Bad Pitch Blog
• 06:43 Lewis PR blogs Gonzo the whale with the Whale Watch Blog, highlights animal charities
• 13:41 The Washington Post turns off blog commenting, provoking a bit of a brouhaha
• 24:03 A science blogs network launches as a vehicle for selling advertising

Features:

• 30:31 Where is PR going in the next five years? Thoughts, commentary and that question from The Copenhagen Bloggers; we offer some thoughts in response including some ideas about 'stinkcasting'
• 54:11 Shel Israel shouts out!
• 54:22 Lee Hopkins reports - an interview with two 'shady underworld figures'; the Transparent Generation; the printing and photocopying blues in Dubai
• 58:20 Neville and Shel on recent podcast interviews by Lee Hopkins, Tom Raftery and Jacob Boetter

Listeners' Comments Discussion:

• 60:10 Sallie Goetsch says maybe it's time for us to stop talking about 'rewinding'
• 62:52 David Phillips on the need to adopt intelligent evaluation in PR to get any sense of where the good stuff is and where the croc lurks in the swamp
• 73:32 Brian Kilgore on matters IABC, corporate blogs, the CPRS and more

Outro:

• 77:13 Neville wraps the show; the growing FIR community on Frappr - add yourself!
• 79:36 How and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 80:12 Shel's reminder that links to people and places we talk about in FIR are on The New PR Wiki - you can add links
• 81:27 Shel will be solo on Thursday's show as Neville will be at the UK public preview of Microsoft's Windows Live
• 81:58 Outro podsafe music via PodcastNYC - Kissed Awake by Cordalene

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute - see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday January 26...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

The podcasting opportunity for mainstream media

BBC News: Almost two million BBC radio podcasts were downloaded during December, with the corporation's breakfast programmes the most popular with listeners. [...] Simon Nelson, Controller of BBC Radio & Music Interactive, said: "It's fantastic to see how the demand for radio downloads has grown since we first offered them in 2004. These figures underline the enduring relevance of radio in the digital world."

I think he's right about relevance.

The BBC is a great example of a traditional mainstream medium which sees a new medium - podcasting - as an opportunity not a threat. The broadcaster has grasped it as part of the way in which it is evolving to remain relevant in a world where how people create, consume and share news and information, and get their entertainment, is rapidly changing.

A separate BBC story also published today reveals more indicators that podcasting clearly is now into the mainstream:

Suddenly, it seems, podcasting has broken through to a new level.

The BBC's first published podcast chart reveals that the Radio Four Today programme's main interview was downloaded more than 400,000 times last month, second only, among BBC programmes, to Radio One's Chris Moyles Show.

But the real change is in the way other media groups are now using podcasts to challenge broadcasters such as the BBC.

Last week, The Guardian newspaper announced that the Ricky Gervais Show had been downloaded over two million times, having already topped the Apple iTunes download charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Now other media owners are racing to get into the audio business.

After the Gervais podcast on Guardian Unlimited, the Conservative leader David Cameron popped up in the new Daily Telegraph podcast. Two days later, it was Tony Blair, podcast by The Sun, which said it was as significant a breakthrough as the first radio broadcast by a prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald in 1924.

Then last Friday, Jon Snow appeared in Channel 4's first podcast, a documentary about cannabis and the young.

So mainstream print media and other broadcasters see the opportunity equally as well as the BBC does.

The BBC's Nelson again:

"I think we see our role as trying to stimulate that, trying to help people find the ways to do it simply," he said.

"We have a role in helping our audience find the best of what's out there and we also have an opportunity to identify the rising talent emerging through podcasts."

That last view reflects much of what I heard from James Cridland, head of strategic development at Virgin Radio, when he spoke at PodcastCon UK in London last September - talk about identifying emerging talent amongst podcasters.

Different broadcasters but a parallel message.

Related NevOn posts:

• Blair and Cameron podcast firsts
• Daily Telegraph starts podcasting
• BBC innovation to annotate audio content