Syndication - Podcasts and RSS feeds

As mentioned in the previous blog entry, the developments in Web 1.0 made interactive communication through internet possible, thus bringing along Web 2.0. This facilitated the gradual shift from institutional control of online media content to a consumer control model. And as a result dawned the Era of SOCIAL MEDIA.

As we all know one such social media platform are the podcasts. From news channels and radio stations to people like you and me, all of us can start our own podcasts with the intention of sharing knowledge or just for pure entertainment purposes. These podcasts can be either audio or video files, video files sometimes specifically referred to as 'Vodcast'. These files are made available to the public, using syndication feeds, such as RSS feeds. Read on to learn more about how to use and also how to create a podcast and also learn more abouthow RSS feeds work?

The growing popularity of podcasts is evident from the graph below.

For those of you who have never used a podcast before, here are a few pointers:-

• Most famous application for subscribing to a podcasts are iTunes, Yahoo!Podcasts and Podcast Alley
• In iTunes, all you have to do is go to the iTunes store, select the podcast option on the bar on top. Then select the category of media content you wish to subscribe to and select from the various free and payable podcasts available! Once you subscribe to a podcast it will appear in your podcasts library in iTunes, with updates as new episodes/files are released by the same channel/author.
• Other podcast applications work more or less in the same way.

This is how an iTunes Store looks like!

This is what your Podcast Library looks like!

So if you wish to create your own podcast, well follow these steps:-

1. Determine the nature of your podcast. What will the content be? Write it down so you don't forget. Come up with an outline or some sort of organizer to keep track of what you will discuss or promote
2. Record the audio for your podcast (Mixcraft or GarageBand are good). For a free alternative, Audacity is great too.
3. Tag it, give it ID information (Artist, Album) and give it album art. Either make it yourself, find some free, non-copyrighted images online, or have a friend make one for you.
4. Save the audio file (in MP3 format) to your computer desktop. Do not use special characters (such as # or % or ?) in the file name. Open it up into your sound editor and edit out extra background noise or long periods of silence. Put in intro/outro music if necessary.
5. Create your RSS podcast feed. The feed must meet all industry standards for a valid 2.0 feed with enclosures. Try using a complete solution and free service such as Podblaze or Podomatic (see the external links below). The easiest way to do it is to use a blog. So hop on over to Blogger.com, or another blogging service, and start a blog with the title of your podcast. Don't make any posts just yet.
6. Put your RSS podcast feed on the Internet. Go to Feedburner and type in the URL of your blog and click "I am a podcaster!". In the next screen, configure the elements for your podcast. These are the elements that directly relate to the podcast. your feedburner feed is your podcast.
7. Go to OurMedia.org and sign-up there (this may take a while). Then go to your files, and upload your MP3 file.
8. Make a post on your blog/website - the title of the post should be the title of that episode of the podcast, and the content will end up as the "Shownotes" or "Description". Put in a little about what you talk about in your episode. At the end of the post, put a link directly to your media file.
9. Wait a little. In a few minutes, Feedburner should add this to your feed, and now you have an episode! You can submit it to iTunes or a number of other podcast directories to get it known. You may want to wait, however, until you have some experience, so that your podcast will be compared as a fifth episode to another's first.
10. Ping the appropriate podcast directories when a new show is updated.
11. Put the appropriate subscription buttons on your website so people can subscribe to the RSS podcast feed.

Reference:- http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Your-Own-Podcast

RSS Feeds - What are they and why are they necessary?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format that helps podcasts and blogs create sub-scriptions and deliver regular updates to its customers. RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter.

RSS Feeds and Web 3.0

Due to even further modifications in web 2.0, which is now known to us as web 4.0, RSS Feeds can be put to further use as they are now made available to handphones, i-pods and others portable devices. This gives us the added luxury of accessing our subscribed podcasts on the go!