I got my first glimpse of what an iPod looked like three years ago – when I first came to America. As I marveled at its perfectly chiseled edges, I had no clue of just how indispensable this tiny instrument was going to become in my life.
Fascinated and curious, I tiptoed around iTunes, trawled the corners of the Internet and stumbled across my first podcast.
Not only had I found a wealth of new information, I had also found a whole new way of accessing information in a format that was very different – and novel – for me. I have been hooked ever since. I try and listen to a variety of podcasts but my favorite ones are those that involve social media and technology.
Some of the podcasts that I regularly listen to are Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson’s For Immediate Release. It is a twice weekly, sometimes long, podcast on public relations, technology and social media. Other podcasts that I listen to are Susan Bratton’s Dishy Mix, Kamala Bhatt’s podcasts on the Global Indian, Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation and the New York Times’ Tech Talk. I follow Amber MacArthur on Twitter but never really listened to Twitcast until this week – and I must admit, I liked it. That’s one more that I will add to my list.
Another interesting podcast that I subscribe to is the National Public Radio’s This I Believe essays. These are usually three-minute personal essays that I find very inspiring. Most of these podcasts have a lot of interesting information crammed in them and I prefer short, bite-sized podcasts. Those that run over 40 minutes need to be really interesting to keep me listening. I like saving my podcasts for when I’m driving or riding the metro, both of which I do a lot of.
Another very fascinating medium of sharing content is video blogging or vlogging.
I think one person who is very good at vlogging is Gary Vaynerchuk. An Internet celebrity and wine expert, Vaynerchuk’s enthusiasm for social media is almost infectious. I also find Chris Brogan’s video blogs very interesting. His ‘open invitation’ vlog post was very…unusual. I occasionally watch French blogger and Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur’s video blogs as well. He does have some interesting things to say. Stop by to get some tips or just to drool over his accent!
Another really cool place to find interesting video blogs is 12seconds. Very similar to Twitter’s 140 character limit, 12seconds limits videos to, no surprise, 12 seconds. I stop by to watch randomly selected vlogs and sometimes find some very creative videos. It’s extremely difficult to convey your message in 12 seconds. Try it!
These are just a few vloggers and podcasts that have piqued my criousity. There’s a whole unexplored world of video blogs and podcasts out there – and I’m hoping to stumble across some new and interesting ones.
Until then — I continue to trawl the infinite abyss that is the Internet. With my iPod plugged in.
Wired Conversations 