Podcasting is coming of age, and is poised to become the authentic voice of an organization. It’s the age of radio, rediscovered for a good reason –a communicator’s ability to talk with, not to, the audience. It’s going to be an enormous force in marketing communications, and for internal communications, whether we are targeted as employees or customers. Why? Because (1) audio is one of the more efficient ways to distribute content. Not just marketing content, but news about a particular topic whether it is your 401K, a company policy, a product recall, or an event. HR managers better listen up! Also, (2) we have all got weary of the flashy marketing web sites and politically correct prose of email from the upper atmospheres of the organization.

Podcasting is primed to become less and less a one-way broadcast, and more of a conversation. For the moment we need to download a program or click on something to listen. What would happen when we are able to participate live in a podcast, via a private network? What if we could call in, or text the host, via a mesh network?

Speaking of conversations, if you haven’t been there already, go to IT Conversations, the leading light in podcasting, a brainchild of Doug Kaye. It’s not just for IT folk. You can listen to folks like Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, and Tipping Point fame, Larry Lessig, and Steve Wozniak)