Managing the Podosphere

I listened to this interview Chris Pirillo did with Alex Williams about mostly Podcast Hotel and podcasting in general. At one point in there they stated that “there are no good tools for finding podcasts”, which implies that either they’ve never heard of AmigoFish or that they don’t think it is good. Either of those bum me out.

Late in the interview though they were talking about “managing the blogosphere” and “managing the podosphere.” I’ll admit that I hear this sort of talk a lot and it never fails to perplex me. I don’t understand 1) why people feel the need to manage these things and 2) why they have any expectation of them being manageable. I have never once walked into a public library or a Barnes and Noble and said “Oh my god, look at all the books! How will I manage this? How do I know I’ve read all the ones I might like?” That’s life in the post-scarcity world. The belief that we can get a handle on the exact set of the millions of blogs that matter to us is misplaced, I think. I have 200 cable channels and I don’t manage to see every single thing that might appeal to me so why would anyone even think it was a reasonable goal for the 100,000 podcasts out there?

Personally, the thought that there is another new thing out there that I will like even better than my current podcasts makes me happy. You could be pissed that you aren’t already subscribed, or you could be happy that there is always more good stuff out there that you will enjoy. It’s not about hoarding every single thing that you might like, it’s about keeping your ears and eyes full of agreeable listening and viewing. If your time is filled, things are all right. There might be a fabulous show out there you don’t yet know about, but if you are already happy I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Find it as you can and don’t stress about it. Our days are already full of legitimate things to worry about, so why find worries in your recreation? Don’t worry about managing (“optimizing”) your podcast world, worry about satisficing (“good enough for rock and roll.”)

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dave

Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.

One thought on “Managing the Podosphere”

  1. I like to comfort myself with the thought that in the future, (a) all media ever produced, throughout all of history, will fit onto a cell-sized iPod implanted into the tips of our pinkies, and (b) we’ll all be immortal. So all the stuff I haven’t got time to watch/listen to/read right now, I’ll have available some time in a few millenia when I’m bored.

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