Podcasting Is NOT In Trouble

My Take

Podcasting IS NOT in trouble. Just because Spotify, which is a big player in the podcasting space, is laying off some of it’s podcasting staff, doesn’t mean the industry is dying. To be honest, Spotify is just one of many places where people consume podcasts, not the ONLY place. And to be honest, people have been saying that podcasting is in a renaissance and also in a decline since it first started in 2005. And with so many podcasts out in the ecosystem, a slight drop is NOT huge. This is just the media making a story out of nothing, and I’m not a media-basher.

According to everyone’s favorite AI chatbot ChatGPT:

“In fact, it is growing in popularity. According to the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), the number of people who listen to podcasts regularly has increased year over year and the podcast industry continues to attract new listeners and investment. Additionally, many traditional media companies and celebrities are launching their own podcasts, which has helped to increase visibility and mainstream recognition of the medium.“ChatGPT – Queried 2/6/2023 – Asked if podcasting is on a decline.

Podcasts, will always have a spot in people’s daily intake of media. Also, would YouTube, the 2nd biggest search engine after Google, be entering the podcasting space if it was dying? I don’t think so! Clearly, this really irks me.

What do you think? Is podcasting in a death spiral? Or is this much to about nothing? Hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

Web Finds

• Twitter Expands Access to Twitter Blue, Announces New Incentives for Signing Up
  I have to give Twitter credit, they are trying to get people to pay for the service. I just see more people flocking to alternatives.
  

• Reports Show that Facebook Usage is Up, as Meta Continues to Develop its AI Targeting Models
  Not really surprised, especially when Twitter is going down the drain. I’ve even been back on Facebook, more than usual, just to connect with people who I want to connect with.
  

• Twitter’s Cancelling Free Access to its API, Which Will Shut Down Hundreds of Apps
  This is really just twitter grasping at straws. Elon is trying his darndest to make Twitter money to pay back the debt he’s in. Yes, this is my opinion, but prove me wrong.
  

• ChatGPT Plus launches, it costs $20 a month
  I have to admit this is tempting. But with ChatGPT 3 being an old data-set from 2021, I’m not too keen on spending any money on it. With Microsoft and Open AI working on ChatGPT 4 and its integration into Microsoft Bing, that version I might pony up money for. It’s even been spotted in the wild.
  

• Twitter Will Share Ad Revenue With Twitter Blue Verified Creators
  A rev-share is in the works over at Twitter. That’s a clever idea.
  

• AI Text Detection Software: Can They Detect ChatGPT?
  The problem with this software, is that there is a high-rate of false positives occurring, where original content, written by a person, is being flagged as being written by AI. Until it gets better, I don’t think this software should be relied on. Also, using AI tools isn’t bad, just using it verbatim is detrimental, in my opinion.
  

• How to Block ChatGPT From Using Your Website Content
  Pretty quick trick to stop ChatGPT from using your content. I just did this across my sites. It took about a minute. But keep in mind that blocking it in the Robots.txt file blocks it site wide, where as the header tag only does it on the page level, allowing for a more granular approach.
  

• Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai Confirms New Chat Based Search Feature Coming Really Soon
  Google, of course, is not far behind in the artificial intelligence bot race. I’m excited to see what Google has up their sleeves.
  

• A Crash Course in Speaking at Conferences from Amanda Natividad of Sparktoro
  Amanda, as always, had some great tips on how to get speaking gigs and do a good job speaking at conferences.
  

• ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base – analyst note
  Pretty impressive. It’s a cool glimpse of what’s to come.
  

• Why Many CMOs Are Taking Fractional-CMO Roles
  I do see this catching on. I’m in a group called Pavilion and I see more and more CMOs going fractional.
  

• Is this Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing?
  I’d love to try it out. One of my fears was that they were using the old dataset. They’re not. They’re using a new, yet-to-be-releases, version. I’m definitely intrigued.
  

• SEOs are underestimating The Yandex leak
  An interesting take from Kevin Indig about how important the Yandex source code leak really is.
  

• What Is ChatGPT Good At?
  A good editorial in Technically that points out something important, if you’re just giving it a prompt and calling your work done, you’re not doing it right. What you should do is use these AI tools as a way to improve your writing, not do it for you.
  

• Google’s Answer to ChatGPT… Bard
  It was going to happen. Google announced it’s AI Chatbot named Bard. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet. But I’m excited to.
  

• Even With Tools Like AI, Building a Great Website Is Still Hard
  I concur. Eric Karkovack’s article is spot on. AI can do a lot but it’s still not there where it can build a great Website.
  

Podcast Of Note

Vinnie Potestivo is a former casting director at MTV and has worked with some of the biggest names in entertainment. His podcast, aptly named I Have A Podcast, has some of the biggest names in the industry talking about how they got there and so much more. Check it out!

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– Seth