Media Outreach

A huge buzzword going around these days is the term “podcasting.” It seems everyone is doing it. At the same time, not everyone completely understands what exactly a podcast really is. How does it work? What does it do? Any tool worth using is only as good as a person’s ability to wield it, so let’s talk about podcasting for a moment, and hopefully, you can take a step closer to becoming a podcasting guru.

First of all, what exactly is a podcast?

The term “podcast” refers to a method of distributing audio files online through a subscription-type system. Users can subscribe to a podcast using a program like Apple’s iTunes, and by doing so, they receive new audio files automatically every time one is added to the podcast by the podcast’s creator. This means that if they subscribe to a site’s podcast, they’ll automatically download new audio each time a new file is added to the podcast, much like a new episode. Because of this, podcasts are often categorized by ongoing topics of interest, such as a church’s weekly Sunday sermons or even a radio program’s daily recorded broadcast. The frequency of a podcast’s episodes is up to its creator, but it is important to regularly add more audio to a podcast, so listeners won’t loose interest.

Now, the word “podcast” is actually a combination of the acrostic “POD” (standing for Portable On Demand, referring to portable MP3 players) and the word “BROADCAST.” While this term was originally coined by Apple for use with its flagship portable MP3 player, the “iPod,” users do not need to own an iPod to be able to subscribe to a podcast. All they need is a podcast “aggregator,” which, simply put, is a program that can subscribe to a podcast and automatically download the files sent through the podcast’s stream. Understandably, the most common podcast aggregator is iTunes, though others can be found online through an easy web search.

So, since we’ve explained what a podcast is and how they work, how do you create one?

An important feature built into SermonConnect — the media management system created by faithHighway (www.sermonconnect.com) — is the ability to podcast audio to listeners. With Sermon Connect, creating a new podcast feed is as easy as adding a title and description…SermonConnect does the rest for you. At that point, when uploading new audio to your site, you can easily include the new audio as the latest episode for your podcast. And as you add more and more audio to your podcast feed, subscribers will continue to automatically download each new audio file you release on that podcast.

Again, a tool is only as good as a person’s ability to wield it, and podcasting is no exception. Armed with the knowledge of what a podcast is and how to create one, you are now ready to utilize podcasting to its greatest potential.