I barely have time for this

Short Attention Span Theater -
A Review of TWIST Episode #13 and the Art of Audience Engagement in a Busy Internet
by Sun Marian McNamee Lundell, www.futurepeak.net

Because you asked, I wanted to do it.

I listen to the podcast in the car after a week has gone by, but I like you, Jason. You're funny, fresh, and give some hot advice of value to people like me who want the internet to be all the great new things we humans want more of... popularity, factuality, wealth, freedom... I'll stop there. Thanks to Leo, I've had lots of time to absorb your take on reality, and I like the way you insist on making all the games of succeeding in business fun and useful. On his show, you shine better than just about anyplace else. I hope it's not just the alcohol and this obsession you have with Audible. What I like is that you are very helpful and open, unabashed and original. You give good advice to internet entrepreneurs, which I fancy myself to be. So, that brings me to TWIST #13.

Like I said, I listen. This is the second TWIST episode I caught, as it only makes it into my schedule when I am traveling in the car and my I-pod/I-phone is freshly synced. My screen time is reserved for video editing, which I do way too much of. As a listener, I marvel at the way your show is simultaneously appealing and off-putting, so it is a balance whether I come away liking you more or less. I decided that figuring out why this happens would be a good way to review the show, so here I go.

What I like (as I listen). You podcast like you write... clearly telling me what you want to say, saying it in more detail, and then telling me what you said. This show was all about building value for sponsors. HELLO. I have a media company on the very edge of this profound realization. The future of media is ALL about building value for the sponsors, and seeing who they are in a whole new way. But that itself is another conversation. What is great on TWIST #13 is that you self consciously engaged your public in this conversation so you could learn online. THAT is what real media genius can do. Get paid to learn. Show by telling, or Tell by showing. Crowd source the data in a seeded and focused way. Build the stage and they will come. DIGG, Thumbs Up, and Clickstream that. So, you hooked me, and saved yourself from getting my famous "scan the dials" treatment. I wanted more, so I stayed tuned.

Next, you engaged me with the offer of a nice prize. I decided to WATCH the podcast so I could do a decent review. Another unique for your new .com, and a couple of dozen clicks for your analytics as I poke around the website looking for the episode and a bit more. Glad you extended the contest time or I wouldn't be writing now. I see mostly only guys on the response list, so I am one of your few techchic fans. Shout out to Paula who posted on this one too. So the subject here is engagement.

I am skeptical of the typical wisdom about engagement. If you look at the Bill Wasik analysis of viral marketing campaigns, it shows that obsession with your Twitter following is a game that leads to temporary fame which lacks loyalty or discernment. I think of this fake fame as a distraction that is unhealthy. For me, I only want to be a legend among people I know or care about. I'm hyperlocal that way. I'll see what the "We Live In Public" has to say about this when I see it in a local theater, but for now, I think engagement is better for local audiences. I am so tired of professional marketeering that sucks up so much time in paid advertising. However, I do like the internet community engagement model you are tauting. At least you are courting real popularity, not just brand recognition. I am devoted to my word of mouth network. I like your sites Mahalo and TWIST because they are very much about info and resource flows in real people networks. I hope Google is a little scared, as compared to you they look like the Borg. I conclude that to build value, you must build trust over time. So, engagement is the first wink across the bar, and now you need a lot more yeses.

That leads to the subject of what does and doesn't work in TWIST #13. You got my attention, now what did you send over with the waiter to invite me in? The camera views are very professional, but I think Tyler looks like he is in Ed MacMahon's fishbowl. Watching the "We Live in Public" trailer is cool for the web, but too long. So dense, don't know if I could sit in a theater for 90 minutes. And I LIKE documentaries. (I'm a cameo in MACHEADs the Movie, plus I make them!) Also, couldn't hear lots of it on the audio podcast. Annoying.

Fifteen minutes in, we have 10% content and 90% plugs and banter, lots of Sponsors and shout outs, and it does feel like a PBS drive.
Maybe you need some ARTSY commercials to break up the Word of Mouth.

Matt Mickiewicz your guest got less time than your Mahalo bag. I guess you should ask your guests to pay so they can get more time and attention. I notice he got lots of links on the site. I guess it's a fair deal, if people go to your site. He sat there while you talked, and looked patiently uncomfortable. It's good that you know and like him, and now I know him better and have appreciated his sites in the past, not knowing it was him. All he told us is where his company HQ is, the rest was Jason on Jason with a loose link to the guest's tiny conversation. My mind wandered as you wondered what company's are based in Canada, and by the time the interview was over, I was wondering if he had even been on the show. The Callers got more time, and the guest said nothing. Take a cue from George Noory, and spend the first half of your time with your guest letting the guest talk, then start the call-ins.

The call-ins and your raps with them were very good. This is your forte. The reason we become fans and keep coming back. Be careful the callers don't all become self-promo dweebs, and if they sound like they are reading, cut them off quick. It looks like you are looking at something offscreen while you are referring to it, but I can't see it so I'm not watching it, and soon I'm not really watching you.Ah, at last, a cutaway. Cool the way you zoom in on the screen, can't read it in full size. I truly have Trinity lust. This reminds me, you need more cutaways and I wonder what can you do to give your callins a face? Too much time on the host. Get yourself a cohost with complimentary chemistry to take some pressure off of you to fill the screen. Balance, and remember we all are visually closer to TV, although multitasking onscreen is also a way of life.

Another weakness of the podcast is the long pauses happening when the bandwidth is overloaded. As a video producer, I long ago decided to keep video short for a short video attention span, and let the audio lead. I don't know. Maybe it's a toss up between more visual variety, or more visual simplicity so you can listen and not care about missing the visuals. In the future, when we have infinite bandwidth, I wonder what the multimedia multi-screen multi-point of focus attention span rules will be. Something like the magician spinning plates, so maybe we need a pulsed phased formula for recapturing attention as it wanders. But I digress. Or rather, I am out of time, and the bandwidth got overloaded and stuck. I caught 51 minutes of the podcast. I'll be back for more next time I take a long drive. I like the audio version better because I can save my place rather than starting the whole stream from scratch. It is easier to play a different stream than to come back to the place you paused on the video podcast. Somebody should fix that.

That's it for now. I clicked on all your sponsor links. Didn't Tweet because I wasn't live. (futurepeakSun) Thanks for your time.
TWIST #13 Review over and out.


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What's real? Eternal things last, and the rest becomes the past.