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Episode 1: What is Talkmatic? YOU Tell me.
by Tony Chung on January 23rd, 2007
Basics: I’m not totally sure what Talkmatic is going to be about yet. I’m looking for feedback on what the site will focus on. Please leave a comment with any suggestions. Can you guess what the background music is? :)
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Filed under: Episodes
on January 23rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I think the idea about talking to people who started successful websites is cool. Podtech does videos, an audio feed would be convenient.
on January 24th, 2007 at 2:43 am
Man, I’m digging the concept… A LOT.
on January 24th, 2007 at 2:52 am
I don’t know if you want to do something where you are providing all the content, that doesn’t seem to me the direction the web is really headed in. I might be wrong (I probably am) but I now rarely visit sites where it’s some authority figure giving me content and mainly spend most of my time on sites where the users generate the content. For example I spend way less time on slashdot now and spend way more time on digg.
Maybe you can do something like sort of like digg, get people to upload stuff and let users sort of sort though that with some kind of karma system at the same time you kind of guiding/focusing the site with your posts.
Seems like a cool idea.
Oh yeah and Mark Cuban is a butt. He hates suits and thinks bitorrent is dead, lol. gg markcuban no re.
on January 24th, 2007 at 2:53 am
as inspiration comes, i’ll ponder more ways to help you out. but off of inital response, platform ideas:
1. it would be great if there was simple interface that allows someone to immediately record an audio response instead of a verbal one. (i.e. a large record button)
2. a tracker to see who is currently listening to an episode, or who is currently perusing the comments, and to have the option to participate in an audio chatroom, 1 to 1 chat with another reader. (this may be too personal)
3. a link to a text transcript, for those that are time pressed, and perhaps doesn’t have the patience/ in a muted environment (i.e. work) to listen to a potential 10 minute episode.
content ideas:
1. each episode should probably get straight to the point, and be as short/flawless as possible without sacrificing authenticity. too many pauses and indirection may turn some people off.
i’ll let you know if anything else comes to mind. way to go for it!
on January 24th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Hello!
Things I liked:
- I like the casualness of the episodes so far. (Although this needs to be balanced with structure). Sounds like a Science Friday podcast with Ira Plato where he interviews different experts in different fields. It sounds clean and smart.
- I like the layout of the site. The font of the date at the top makes it professional and clean. The logo/graphic on the left makes it cool, like a mixwell shirt or something. And the audio playback icon is cute and user-friendly.
- I think interviewing different people about their passions would be very interesting. I don’t think you need to worry too much about it being vague. As long as the interviews are short, then I wouldn’t mind listening to someone talk about fishing, electrical circuitry, and the like (ie things that I have no interest in) because who knows, maybe I will learn something and find a new interest. 5-10 min. should be a good threshold before boredom.
- I like the overall idea! It has potential.
Things I think should be changed:
- I don’t know if it’s just my computer, but when I pressed play and listened with my volume at the highest level.. I still couldn’t hear you that well (or make out what the background music was).
- I think the bottom left portion of the site where you list “Categories, Links, etc.” should be made more appealing to the eye. Outlines and bullet points are nice, but no fun.
- Although you shouldn’t sound like you are reading from a script, you should probably have some outline + timer in front of you (excuse me if you already did) to avoid getting off the topic, if you can’t think of the right words (think of phrases ahead of time), or repeating yourself and wasting the listener’s time. Being concise and focused is key.
- You should have the music “fade out” for a less abrupt and more cool ending. :o)
on January 24th, 2007 at 3:35 am
I agree with the above comment about getting right to the point. This only entertains one of the senses, as opposed to video, so it might be harder to keep the audience focused. In regards to topic ideas, personally I like to listen to someone give me verbal information I would have never come across otherwise on my own, such as how-to’s, statistics, etc. Good luck!
on January 24th, 2007 at 3:45 am
This is a pretty neat idea and the fact that you’ve even gone so far to produce it without having a direction yet shows both great initiative and maybe not-so-great planning. I’m a big fan of web 2.0 and user-generated content, but to start anything the creator has to be the primary source of content to begin with. I think that you will have to decide on the direction you want this site to take sooner rather than later because, at least in the beginning, it will be all you making this thing happen. But, there are good ideas in the comments here and I’m sure there will be more to come, so plenty to pick and choose from.
In the first episode you talked about knowing a lot of interesting people, and then mentioned a few famous people, and while getting those famous people to talk for awhile would be great, maybe the talking of the famous people wouldn’t be so interesting. I think you should find people to say something for 1 minute, or 2 minutes. Anything that they think would be interesting for other people to hear. Everyone has something they can teach everyone else, or express, or discuss. It could be comedy, serious, educational, artsy (tagged as such). By limiting the time, you set boundaries on the submitter to distill and refine their content, and you reduce the risk of wasting time for the visitor. While it is in contrast to the laid-back style of your first episode, I think that a succinct, refined clip would be more suitable and show more thought went into it than some random guy posting junk. A few minutes is definitely the upper limit of my attention span.
on January 24th, 2007 at 4:06 am
hey tony,
i was interested in something you said early on in the episode (if i heard correctly) - you mentioned you tend to have rather interesting conversations with interesting people. i would be interested in hearing some of those conversations. not necessarily with important people about important things, but just generally interesting conversations with the normal, yet thought-provoking people you interact with in the course of your days. i realize that might turn into a generic podcast, but it might be neat to try and actually document those interesting conversations, and see if in retrospect, they really are that stimulating. something about capturing the mark zuckerberg/cuban within all of us that just comes out in casual, unscripted conversation. just a thought.
good luck man!
on January 24th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Wow, thank you all so much for the amazing feedback. I’m meditating on your tips and suggestions, will definitely be referencing these ideas when implementing the site.
on January 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
For a theme to this site, I think it’d be interesting if you had a blog/audio interview hybrid. The blog part could be recent events, things you’re thinking about, something you came across that you thought provoked thought, and then have an interview that relates to whatever provoked your thought.
on January 24th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I have not listened to the podcast but you need to do something unique. I personally would like to hear:
1- New information on a specific area, daily/weekly
2- Interviews with interesting people
a) possibly focusing on college students or recent grads
3- A weekly show about how great I am, jk. no i am not. okay i am;)
4- allow a different person each week take over the show and do what they want
overall have some purpose, objective and mix that in with a little bit of focus and you are done.
ps. go sign up for mymint.com
on January 27th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
hey tones… mama p here. so… you know i don’t sugar coat things and here is what i have to say. =P hahaha. well… i think the site could be a cool thing. it seems that it’s so far more focused on audio and i’m a more visual person. I like videos. =)
I suddenly have an idea… but it may sound stoopid to you. well.. you know how i am such a great story teller. kekeke. maybe you can do something like that. like… tell stories about interesting things that happen to you (including talking to interesting people)… i mean people gossip about random things anyways naturally and people are always all ear…. maybe you can like carry a video camera or audio recorder around with you and document memorable moments when they happen… i like funny stories btw. oh yeah… and to make it more interesting… include the people in your recordings who have shared that moment with you. It’s kinda like watching a behind the scenes to a movie. I like watching that stuff. ok… i may be way off base now. i’m going to stop before my mind wanders off even more.
on February 13th, 2007 at 8:34 am
[…] and began to do a community-style brainstorming session on what the site would be about. After some great input and discussion, a decision has been made for the […]