Twitter

Podcasts Are Coming To Twitter

~ jen

Twitter announced that podcasts are coming to Twitter. How is that going to work? Twitter provided some information to help clarify things. From Twitter’s about podcasting on Twitter:

Twitter helps people connect with unique and compelling voices around the world. With podcasts, we’re taking that connection to a whole new level.

Starting on August 25, we’re integrating podcasts into Twitter as part of our newly redesigned Spaces tab. We know that some discussions need more than 280 characters, and bringing people closer to the ideas, content, and creators they know and love is core to Twitter no matter where the conversations take place.

So how will it all work, and how can you check out Twitter’s new podcasts for yourself? Take a look below for everything you need to know about this exciting update.

Integrating podcasts into Twitter Spaces

Integrating podcasts into Spaces, where audio conversations happen on Twitter, is another way we’re continuing to invest in audio creators. To do this, in a simple and intuitive way that allows listeners to simply hit play and go, we started with a redesigned audio experience in the Spaces Tab.

This redesign introduces personalized hubs that group audio content together by specific themes like News, Music, Sports, and more. Now Twitter listeners will be able to access a more personalized selection of live and recorded Spaces discussing the topics that are most relevant to them.

But the selection doesn’t stop there. These new hubs will also feature the most popular and engaging podcasts from around the world. Our internal research indicates that 45% of people who use Twitter in the US also listen to podcasts monthly, so we’ll automatically suggest compelling podcasts to help people easily find and listen to the topics they want to hear more about. For example, if someone regularly interacts with Vox content on Twitter, they’ll probably see a Vox podcasts in a Spaces hub.

“Vox Media has a rich array of popular podcasts across many categories, and we’re thrilled that Twitter is expanding its audio capabilities to help more listeners discover them,” said Ray Chao, general manager of audio at Vox Media. “Whether its Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway’s ‘Pivot’, our daily news explainer ‘Today, Explained,” or ‘Stay Tuned with Preet Bharaha,” we’re excited Twitter is offering users and podcast fans an exciting new frontier.”

Want to build a more customized experience? Just give a podcast a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to let us know if the content is more or less interesting to you.

Integrating podcasts into Twitter Spaces

Integrating podcasts into Spaces, where audio conversations happen on Twitter, is another way we’re continuing to invest in audio creators. To do this, in a simple and intuitive way that allows listeners to simply hit play and go, we started with a redesigned audio experience in the Spaces Tab.

This redesign introduces personalized hubs that group audio content together by specific themes like News, Music, Sports, and more. Now Twitter listeners will be able to access a more personalized selection of live and recorded Spaces discussing the topics that are most relevant to them.

But the selection doesn’t stop there. These new hubs will also feature the most popular and engaging podcasts from around the world. Our internal research indicates that 45% of people who use Twitter in the US also listen to podcasts monthly, so we’ll automatically suggest compelling podcasts to help people easily find and listen to the topics they want to hear more about. For example, if someone regularly interacts with Vox content on Twitter, they’ll probably see.a Vox podcasts in a Spaces hub.

“Vox Media has a rich array of popular podcasts across many categories, and we’re thrilled that Twitter is expanding its audio capabilities to help more listeners discover them,” said Ray Chao, general manager of audio at Vox Media. “Whether its Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway’s ‘Pivot’, our daily news explainer ‘Today, Explained,” or ‘Stay Tuned with Preet Bharaha,” we’re excited Twitter is offering users and podcast fans an exciting new frontier.”

Want to build a more customized experience? Just give a podcast a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to let us know if the content is more or less interesting to you.

Testing the new Twitter Spaces, including podcasts

From Spaces and podcasts to newsletters and Notes, we’re working every day to improve the way people connect with creators and make Twitter the home of the most engaging conversations in the world.

The reimagined Spaces Tab, including the addition of podcasts, will be visible to a group of English-speaking audience on iOS and Android. Share your feedback with us to help us get it right, and keep your eyes (and ears) here for more announcements and feature releases designed to help you enjoy Twitter on your own terms.

Breaker is Joining Twitter

~ jen

Breaker announced that the Breaker team is joining Twitter. In the blog post, Breaker made it clear that they will be shutting down Breaker on Friday, January 15, 2020. There are some instructions on Breaker’s blog post about how to transfer your podcast subscriptions to another podcast listening app. They recommend trying Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or Castro.

Here at Breaker, we’re truly passionate about audio communication and we’re inspired by the ways Twitter is facilitating public conversations for people around the world. We’re impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit at Twitter and enthusiastic about the new experiences that the team is creating.

Is your podcast on Breaker? The company has brief instructions on how to export it. “If you are currently hosting a podcast on Breaker, you can transfer your podcast to another hosting service by using the RSS feed. You can find your RSS feed link on the Distribution tab. We recommend trying out Anchor, Simplecast, or Transistor for your podcast hosting depending on your specific podcast needs.”

TechCrunch reported that the deal between Breaker and Twitter to help “improve the health of public conversation” on the service. Breaker’s team will also work on Twitter’s new audio-based networking project, Twitter Spaces.

I think it was a very smart choice for Breaker to give its users time to move their content elsewhere before January 15, 2020. I suspect that end date for Breaker might have been imposed by Twitter, so its possible that Breaker cannot extend that deadline.

Twitter’s Character Count Podcast is About Advertisements

~ jen

Twitter has launched its first podcast. It is called Character Count and it is about Twitter’s most interesting advertising stories. It is a @TwitterBusiness podcast, and its target audience appears to be companies who either want to post ads on Twitter, or who already are posting Twitter ads.

Effectively advertising on Twitter isn’t always easy. On each episode, we’ll feature a different brand who is creative, surprising, and effective with their Twitter Ads campaigns. Listen and subscribe for world-class marketing inspiration straight from the source – Twitter.

TechCrunch reported that Twitter is testing the waters with Character Count. The company intends to get the crowd’s reaction to the first few episodes so it can make adjustments if need be.

Character Count is hosted by Joe Wadlington. TechCrunch reported that he is a marketer at Twitter who’s specifically supporting Twitter’s Business initiatives.

At the time I am writing this podcast, there has been a teaser episode, and two full episodes. The first one focuses on the Monterey Aquarium (@MontereyAq) which uses memes to raise ocean awareness.

The second episode focuses on Dropbox (@Dropbox) and how they build warmth with their customers. An upcoming episode will feature Simon and Schuster (@SimonBooks) and discusses how the company brought a legacy brand online.

Twitter is Launching Audio-Only Broadcasting on Periscope

~ jen

Twitter announced that they are launching audio-only broadcasting on Periscope (on iOS). In other words, they are enabling podcasters to use Periscope as a way to do live podcasts for their listeners. It doesn’t appear that this was Twitter’s intended use for the audio-only broadcasting feature – but that’s how I suspect it will be used.

Richard Plom, Staff Engineer of Periscope, wrote the following on Medium:

Broadcasting with audio only in Periscope is something the community has been asking for, and have been doing already by covering the camera lens. Sometimes people are not comfortable being on camera, but they still want to broadcast and interact with others via Periscope’s powerful chatroom feature. It was requested that we build this feature for #HackWeek, but after some research and focusing on the core of the problem we realized we could get it done in three days.

His Medium post also has a brief explanation of how audio-only broadcasting on Periscope works:

The iPhone microphone produces the audio stream and we continue to use that as-is. The camera produces a video stream that we immediately discard, and instead we create dynamic video animations informed by the audio data that we render on the iPhone in real-time. The audio stream is sent to the audio visualizer renderer which takes the raw audio bits and generates the waveform and volume levels indicator. This new stream is sent to backend instead of the one from the camera.

And, there you have it. Periscope made it easy for podcasters who don’t use video to do an audio-only podcast on Periscope. I don’t think most podcasters will decide to switch to Periscope exclusively as a result of this new feature. But, I can see the Periscope audio-only broadcasts being used as something “extra” for fans to enjoy.

Twitter Has Invested $70Million in SoundCloud

~ Shawn Thorpe

SoundCloud LogoNews items about SoundCloud are so repetitive, they’re starting to sound like a broken record. We’ve reported more than once about how either SoundCloud is rapidly burning thru the money it has, or that it’s taken on more debt in the form of venture capital. This week’s SoundCloud news is focused on the second of those two, as apparently Twitter has invested $70million dollars in the audio platform.

This fact on its own is amusing considering Twitter itself has yet to actually turn a profit. Also, this isn’t the first time SoundCloud and Twitter have been linked financially. In 2014, rumors began circulating that the micro-blogging service was about to buy SoundCloud. But that deal ultimately fell thru. Now the two companies have come back together. But this time, Twitter isn’t going for the full buyout.

Since its launch in 2007, SoundCloud has raised over $193million in funding thru a total of five investment rounds. The money has come from nine different investors, including Twitter. Historically, it’s been difficult for audio-streaming services to reach profitability. The biggest hurdle these kinds of companies must overcome is dealing with the licensing and legal issues that arise around streaming music. SoundCloud has even had to consider giving equity to the major record labels in order to keep them happy.

While it does provide services for podcasters, SoundCloud has always been a music-first platform. It’s hard to say what SoundCloud’s financial standing could mean for podcasters who rely on the service. But if the company doesn’t at least break even soon, SoundCloud’s future doesn’t look very bright.

It’s Time For an iTunes User Portal for Podcasters – PCN Show 015

~ Shawn Thorpe

iTunes logo newiTunes. Love it or hate it, we’re stuck with it as podcasters. Of course, iTunes is great when it works. But what about all of those times that an iTunes listing isn’t updating properly? Or how about when you need to change an RSS feed that controls an iTunes Store listing? Yeah, there are resources out there to help with these kinds of problems. But isn’t it time for a dedicated iTunes user portal for podcasters?

I ask this question and read a little but of listener feedback on this episode of Podcaster News Show.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

8 New Rules For Podcasting In 2015

~ Shawn Thorpe ~ 5 Comments

New RulesWe’re only a few days into a brand new year. It’s a good time to look ahead and make plans for the next twelve months. With that, I’d like to propose some new rules we as podcasters should stick to in 2015.

1.) Turn off autoplay. Setting your media files to autoplay artificially inflates your download statistics. It also creates a lousy experience for your website visitors because no one likes to get a surprise blast of audio when a new site loads. Just stop with the autoplay.

2.) No more shady iTunes review swaps. You know who should be leaving iTunes reviews? People who have chosen to listen to your podcast. Stop trying to game the system by taking part in review swaps. Ask your actual audience for reviews and take them to heart when they come, good or bad.

3.) Stop publishing bad shownotes. I saw some “shownotes” today that were a gobbledygook of topical keywords followed by a list of broken hyperlinks. We all know that shownotes are fairly tedious and boring. But if you’re gonna bother to do them at all, at least try and make them moderately useful. Your listeners will appreciate the effort and you’ll feel good for doing it.

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Some Thoughts On Adding Random Clips Into A Podcast Feed

~ Shawn Thorpe ~ 2 Comments

StarTalk Radio podcast artI had different intentions when I first thought about typing this post. I wanted to compose something critical. Maybe even a bit snarky. But after doing some research, I’ve found that I may be in the minority in my way of thinking here.

Let me explain.

I subscribe to the popular StarTalk Radio podcast. Traditionally, StarTalk has released one full-length episode a week for as long as I’ve been listening. But recently, they began inserting short “Cosmic Minute” clips into the main podcast feed. I was a bit confused when I heard the first one, as there wasn’t any warning that these clips would be coming. I shrugged off the first Cosmic Minute and moved on. Until the second one landed in my podcatcher. Then, I became annoyed.

I subscribe to StarTalk Radio to get the full-length episodes. Not these minute-long clips. Yeah, I know. StarTalk Radio is technically giving me more content that I already like, so who am I to complain. But Cosmic Clips are simply snippets of interviews that have already been aired on full-length episodes, some of which I’ve already heard. I just don’t really have any desire to listen to this repurposed content. In the future, when a Cosmic Minute clip announces itself in my headphones, I’ll just hit the next button. No harm done, right?

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SoundCloud For Podcasting: A Skeptic’s Point Of View

~ Shawn Thorpe

SoundCloud LogoIf you want to publish a podcast, media hosting is a big deal. You need a reliable place to store your audio/video files. And preferably, that storage system won’t cause you go to go broke due to high bandwidth costs. Over the years, a number of companies have moved into this field but most of them haven’t stuck around. Spend any amount of time in a public forum devoted to podcasting, and the question of, “Which media host should I use?” will come up. And a flurry of responses will follow. Perennial favorites in the media hosting game like LibSyn and Blubrry come up often during these discussions. But another company seems to be entering the conversation more and more as of late: SoundCloud.

SoundCloud was first conceived by its founders as an online collaboration tool for musicians. It eventually morphed into an upload-and-share service for audio. Thanks to its ease of use and social sharing features, the service took off with musicians. Its growing popularity caused some to dub it “the YouTube of audio.” Soon, podcasters began asking SoundCloud how they too could take advantage of the service. SoundCloud’s base offerings aren’t really good for podcasters, as they’re really designed for musicians. In response, SoundCloud created a program for podcasters which has never officially left the beta phase of development.

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