For podcasters, the answer to this question is already cliched.
The rote reply sounds something like this:
Podcasting feels personal for three reasons:
The first has to do with the way most podcasters present their material. Often there’s only one host speaking candidly about their life, their music, their views, etc. Even when there are two or more hosts, the setting remains intimate and the listener is acknowledged by the host(s) as a silent yet essential contributor to the conversation.
The second has to do with the way listeners consume podcast materials. Podcasts are usually heard through headphones. This means the voices and noises a podcaster makes drowns-out all external distractions, monopolizing the listener’s attention for a fixed period of time. It’s like having a small friend cozy into your ear for 30 minutes to share stories and play music. It’s an intimate communion between two people. Podcasts are rarely shared en masse, but they can create community just as easily as a good episode of The Simpsons or a great HBO series. Listeners identify with the podcasters they subscribe to and identify with other listeners who share their passion for podcasting.
Which brings me to the third reason podcasting feels personal: it has everything to do with cache. Although it’s now 5 years old, most people don’t listen to podcasts. Many don’t even know what a podcast is. Only a select group actually produce podcasts, and those people don’t tend to last very long. So when you meet person who listens to podcasts, it still feels a bit astonishing. It’s not common enough to seem convetional. It’s unique enough to connect adhearants right away.
★ Tod Maffin brings another perspective to bear:
[audio: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1680218/aPersonalMedium.mp3]
