101 and 2.0: Homework

Speaker A: 00:00:06

Welcome Back to Podcasting 2.0 in Practice, it's the first module of a new course, so I'm going to keep the homework light and get you to do just a little bit of research.

Podcast creators are also podcast listeners, but of course not all podcast listeners are podcast creators. So I'm going to separate your homework tasks and if you're not a creator, you get a little bit less homework than if you are one.

Before I set the tasks, remember how Dave mentioned new podcast apps.com which takes you to a page from the Podcast Index. There's also another site, podcasting2.org these are the websites you're going to go to to help with the homework.

Both sites list podcast apps and hosting companies, along with the details of the 2.0 features they support. Right now, you probably don't know which features you want or need, which is fine.

We're not asking you to choose a definitive app or host, simply to mooch around and see what's on offer. The initial page@newpodcasts.com shows the apps and hosts on the same page, which you may prefer.

Or, as Dave mentioned, click on Filters and choose App or Hosting to separate them. Podcasting2.org has separate web pages for the apps and the hosting companies.

So if you're a listener and not a podcaster and therefore not interested in which hosting companies support which features, you can go straight to podcasting2.org apps. To see just the hosting companies, go to podcasting2.org publishing tools. I will be including links in the show notes.

On both sites, the apps and hosting companies are listed in order of the number of 2.0 features they support. So those that support the most features will be top of the list right onto the actual homework.

So the first homework task is to have a play with some of the modern podcast listening apps. Choose any of the apps listed on the aforementioned website and add them to your phone.

For now, you might want to explore the overall feel of the app, the user interface, the search experience, maybe the ability to make playlists or build cues. However you use your current listening app, see if you can find the same or a similar experience with a different app.

Now you may notice that while true fans features on both of these websites, you can't actually find it in the App Store on your Apple device or the Play Store on your Android device. That's because it isn't yet an app, but is what's known as a pwa, which you can still use on your phone in a very similar way to an app.

Here's TrueFans founder Sam Sethi to explain more.

Speaker B: 00:03:05

PWA stands for Progressive Web App. All that means is that TrueFans is not in the Apple Store or Google Store yet. We are a web browser only application.

And the reason why we're a web browser application, it means that we are cross platform. So whether you're on Android or you're on iOS doesn't matter.

You can go to any web browser on any phone or any laptop or any TV and you will get true fans. It works basically the bit that says progressive literally meaning it sizes to whatever screen you're viewing on.

So we code it so that we go, ah, I'm looking on a big screen, right? Spread out, move the words here, put that button over there, put that over there because we've got the space.

Oh, now we read that you're on a mobile phone, right? Bring everything down to a small mobile phone viewing capability and we encode, redesign the UI to fit on that screen.

So progressive web app simply means you can run it in any web browser and depending on what size of screen you're using, we will make it fit to maximize that screen capability.

Speaker A: 00:04:21

Got it? Brilliant. Thank you very much.

Speaker B: 00:04:24

You're welcome.

Speaker A: 00:04:26

To get the true fans PWA to look and work like an app on your phone, go to TrueFans FM. Click on the upload symbol at the bottom of your screen, then scroll down to add to home screen.

You may, in your exploration of the apps, find chapters and I have made chapters for this episode. We'll be learning more about these in more detail in the next module.

Don't worry if you don't accidentally stumble across the chapters, because I have included the links you need in the show notes. If you have found the chapters, give yourself some extra imaginary credit now for the podcasters.

If you are already podcasting, use either of the aforementioned web pages to see how many 2.0 features your current host supports. But don't go changing just yet.

Continue with this series and if you find your host is lacking and you want to be able to do more with your show than your hosting company allows, you can get in touch with them to suggest they look into adding these features. Or visit the same webpage again to look at which host might be a better fit for you.

And the final piece of homework for podcasters is to submit your show to the podcast index. Now, you may be able to do this through your host, or you may even already be listed through your hosting company to check or add.

Here are some examples on Buzzsprout click on Directories, find Podcast Index, and if you're not already listed, click on Get Listed on Captivate, go to Distribute, find Podcast Index, and if necessary, click on Start Submission. On RSS.com click on Distribution, Find Podcast Index, and toggle the switch if it's not already toggled.

You can also do this by visiting podcastindex.org/add and pasting your RSS feed URL, which you'll be able to get from your hosting company into the box. Then simply prove you're not a robot through various fiendish tests and you're in.

Visit creativityfound.co.uk/podcasting to find out more about my guests and access lots of useful podcast resources.

If you'd like to get in touch, you can send a boost, but if you haven't got to that lesson yet, feel free to reach out to me on my Instagram account, Podcasting2.0 in Practice.