Podcasts are essentially audio files that a person can download or stream from the internet and listen to from their phone, their computer as well as on various streaming platforms and apps. Before the 21st century, the term podcasting didn’t even exist. Yet with the breakthrough of advanced and at-home technology including home recording equipment and software, faster internet access, and a rise in online communities dedicated to sharing and discussing similar niche content with one another, another new communication technology was born in 2004. It has since gone on to become one of the most popular. According to Edison Research, in 2021 monthly U.S podcast listenership grew to 116 million people, with the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to this large increase. There are also over 2 million podcasts on various streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, YouTube, iTunes, Stitcher and more (Ciccarelli, 2021).
I decided to choose podcasts for this project as when thinking about various communication technologies, podcasts seem to be on the lesser end of interactivity. I was interested in learning if people like how podcasts currently operate or if people would like to see more interactive features that may make them feel more a part of the podcasting process and more in tune and connected with the podcasters and the community as a whole.
To learn more about other’s perceptions of podcasts, I conducted a Qualtrics survey and garnered 20 responses from a range of different demographics. Some of the multiple-choice questions on interactivity were mixed. For example, when asked if respondents preferred podcasts to be more interactive in general, 8 people said yes, 7 said no and 5 said maybe. I gained the most from the open-ended questions I asked and learned that the overwhelming majority did not dislike anything in particular but for those who did, it seemed like they would benefit from a comment section to interact with the podcast creator and other listeners.
In 2020, I found that a user submitted a request form to Spotify to add a comment section. Spotify replied by saying that the request did not receive enough votes necessary to move forward to prioritizing it. But based on this comment and respondent’s opinions, it is evident that podcasts would benefit from this comment section. The one difficulty I can think of with adding a comment section would be that streaming services and apps would need to monitor comments, but I think the advantage these sections give outweigh the negatives. In thinking about this, I would envision a comment section to look similar to what SoundCloud uses for its songs. While listening to a song, users have the ability to add a comment at a specific time of the song and it will show up while other users are listening and give them the chance to comment. I believe a comment section on podcasts would enhance computer-mediated communication and give listeners more of a sense of agency if this is something they realize they want. Overall, podcasts are a unique communication technology that people appreciate for its simplicity and wide range of opportunities. While podcasts could be completely changed to add more interactive features, I don’t believe this is something that people need so just adding an optional section for people to converse wouldn’t hinder the way podcasts currently operate but would add the benefit of crafting a better online community. I have attached a rough sketch that I made of what I envision this comment section to look like.
