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« Tivocasting Brings Internet Video to TVs | Main | Vloggercon 2006 - Sold Out »Podcasting Has a Bad Name - Not!June 08, 2006Commentary: Mark Ramsey, president of hear2.0, thinks that podcasting has a bad name, and thinks we should change the name to (drum roll)...............audiomag. "Podcast is, when you think about it, an absolutely horrible name for the technology," writes Ramsey. "We don't watch a TVcast, we watch a TV show. We don't listen to a Radiocast, it's a radio show or a radio station. And much of podcast listening isn't even done on an mp3 player, let alone an iPod." To which we say, "Audiomag?" Ramsey may not be aware that plenty of smart people have tried to come up with better names than "podcasting":
According to Ramsey, "hear2.0 has found that only 30% of Americans have even heard of 'podcasting'," suggesting that the name is holding back the technology. That seems like a very cup-is-half-empty way of looking at things. 30% awareness is very impressive, given that the technology is just a couple of years old, and that it didn't really hit the mainstream at all until a year ago. Recently, Feedburner's Rick Klau said that podcasting was being adopted at an unprecedented rate, noting "in less than two years, the number of podcasts available online is tenfold that of DVD titles in nearly half the time." Sorry, Mark, but it's "podcasting"; "audiomag" stinks; and "hear2.0" sounds like a trendy name for a new line of hearing aids. Leave naming to the marketing gurus. It's podcasting already! CommentsWhat's in a name? In Britain, quite a few people still call the radio the "wireless", which makes it confusing when people talk about "wireless broadband". Mr Ramsey says: "We don't watch a TVcast, we watch a TV show. We don't listen to a Radiocast, it's a radio show or a radio station." Actually, we watch a television broadcast and listen to a radio broadcast. Podcast is probably not the best name in the world, but we're stuck with it - get used to it. Posted by: Phil Widdows at June 9, 2006 09:33 AM Podcasting has already been lodged into the popular culture. It's too late to change the name unless you're going to significantly change the product. Podcasting is a perfect name because it uses the most popular and globally recognized mp3 device, and it rhymes with "broadcasting". Podcasting is the word. Posted by: Anonymous at June 9, 2006 11:02 AM Well saying the name is holding it back is way off the mark. The name really helped propel it forward. Anything linked with the iPod is hot. College students just ranked the iPod as being more popular than beer on college campuses. (people are spinning in craves all across the country) Do a search for podcasts in google - you get 368 Million results. Now do a search for sex in google - you get 737 Million results. Yup Podcasting is about half a popular as sex on the internet and iPods are more popular than Beer. I think the name podcasting is just fine and will be with us 10 years from now. Rob @ podCast411 PS - in the list above you forgot Blogcast - that was a name Microsoft was using internally instead of podcasting - but even they gave into the name podcasting. Posted by: Rob @ podCast411 at June 9, 2006 03:29 PM Post a comment |
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