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podcamp Boston was most excellent. That’s coming from a guy that knows nothing about podcasting whatsoever.

I thought I’d post a short wrapup of the things I found most interesting:

1. Twitter is HUUUUUGE.

I’ve been resisting the twitter phenomenon for a long time. That era is over. I was simply blown away by the sheer number of people that were “tweeting” or “twittering” or whatever you call it. I thought it was more of a self-promoting exercise and thought: who really cares that someone is walking to the mailbox or eating lunch. I was wrong. Here’s what I love about twitter:

a. group coordination- I was hanging around with a group of podcamp attendees throughout the weekend, and we were all in different sessions. Rather than having to send multiple text messages asking where people were going to lunch, which after parties we were going to, etc., I just checked twitter on my BB.

b. blog discovery- Since the people I’m following on twitter are people that I’m interested in already, I’m notified when they update their blogs. Rather than having to always go to my RSS reader, I just look at twitter and am able to see when a post is up.

c. networking- This is a gigantic advantage of using twitter. I’m able to communicate with people that are insanely smart and innovative without having to send an email out of the blue introducing myself and convincing people that my questions are worth their time and effort.

d. immediacy of news- With a networked group of highly influencial and saavy people, I’ve found that I’m able to get the early scoop on breaking news. People will tweet rumors and stories that have just hit the web and I’m notified much earlier than I would be if I had to constantly monitor news.
e. inspiration- Because I’m following people with similar interests, I’m getting excellent story ideas.

2. Content producers are itching for an alternative to contextual advertising to monetize

The “slap some AdSense on it” approach is not going to last forever, and podcasters and bloggers alike cannot wait until something more viable pops up.

3. Winning the search wars from text alone is over.

Mitch Joel’s comments about tagging and doing all we can to make content “discoverable” are absolutely on point. There are too many smart SEO people out there continuously thinking about how to massage text content to rasie in the SERPS, and the way to counter those techniques is: to have great content, promote said content within communities of interest, and actively alert those communities rather than changing text in order to catch those that actively search. You can no longer wait for people to come to you. You have to go to them, and if you don’t have great content of interest, you might as well call it a day.

Finally, I’d like to point out some people and blogs that I found extremely interesting, and I urge you to check them out:

Mitch Joel- I think I was the only person in the room that wasn’t familiar with Mitch Joel, and I am now running through his archive to digest his thoughts. The guy knows his stuff, and he seems like a genuinely great guy who is happy to share his incredible breadth of knowledge.

Scott Monty- I’ve been following Scott’s blog for some time now, and was sorry I missed his presentation on Web 2.0 tools you can use. Luckily, slides from his presentation are available here. Looking through this list, you can get a simple “have this problem? use this tool” guide to web 2.0 tools that actually solve problems we all have.

Paull Young- I must admit, within the first 2 hours of knowing Paull Young, I think I understood eight words the man said. As he is a PR blogger from Australia, the mixture of loud music and accent made it difficult to communicate. But out of the bar setting, I have to say Paull is just about the most enthusiastic person I’ve met at any conference. The guy is truly passionate about PR with integrity and, as he puts it “My current hobby involves enjoying the naivety and idealism of youth.”

Doug Haslam- I had a chance to talk with Doug Haslam for a while at podcamp and the Tequila Rain event, and am glad I did. Doug is another person that completely breaks the stereotype I used to have for PR folks. He understands and advocates the notion that it is relationships that matter. Pitching a story to someone is fine and good, but that process is not going to lead to any real perpetual reciprocity.

Amanda Mooney- Amanda Mooney is one of those people I meet and say “Man, do I wish I was doing what you’re doing at your age!” She’s blogging, twittering, starting conversations on GigaOM, and covering the world of startups at LaunchPR. Full disclosure- Amanda covered the launch of matchmine (my employer) on LaunchPR, but I promise you, gentle reader of this blog, I’d be linking to her no matter what. Remember her name, you’ll be seeing it quite a bit in the future.

Well, time to get back to reality. It was great meeting so many interesting people this weekend at podcamp.

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