Chris Penn: New Media 101 at Bentley CIS Presents (video)

The video can be found here.

Penn is an interesting character, and his charisma makes what he is saying interesting. This video focuses on New Media, what it is, how we use it, etc.

The first thing he talks about is Old Media. Old Media are things like newspapers, televisions, and radios of which there are very few options. As a result, these things are forced down our throats. Scarcity provides value, power, money, connection.

New media brings access, affordability, and abundance. Penn's example of the last trait is that there are tens of thousands of hours of YouTube videos uploaded each day. The number of iPods sold would be the 11th most populated country on the earth. MySpace would be the 3rd most populated countries in the world.

Getting into Podcasts (or other forms of New Media) is really easy. And there are tons of different ones to listen to. Penn talked about influencing the media by calling in, leaving comments, etc. Doing so is easy, and it can change the way things are done. Someone called into his show to ask about aid for people who are in active military duty now. Penn looked it up and made an entire show about it.

Then, he began talking about making your own podcast. The first thing is to make sure you have something to talk about. He stressed making a brand, which is the emotional aftertaste that stays with someone. For example, the check mark reminds people of Nike. The equipment required for a podcast: computer, microphone (camera), and internet. Also, include a lot of text (blog is essential) because Google can read text, but it does not understand speech or video.

Penn's ending summary: CBS, NBC, ABC are not the media anymore; you are. You are who Google says you are.

One last idea: knowledge arbitrage. That is, bringing your knowledge (in this case, of podcasting) to other fields (like accounting or divorce law).

Penn is very adamant about "you are the media." He really believes that marketing yourself is the most important thing you can do.

I am going to check out his podcast now and see if it interests me. This presentation was really interesting.