This is one of the most misleadingly named services I’ve seen in quite a while: Readspeaker Podcaster.
It’s a text to speech service that reads out webpages, and puts the enclosure into an RSS feed. Now while technically I suppose you could say that’s a podcast (it’s an MP3 file delivered through RSS), in no other way is that a podcast.
This kind of thing makes me furious – it’s a real case of jumping on the bandwagon (in this case podcasting), without taking the time or effort to find out what this new communication tool is all about.
I don’t blame Readspeaker, as they’re just trying to make more revenue from their very good technology that reads webpages. But it does make me despair that users of this service will start promoting what they are producing as podcasts.
If the first podcast someone downloads is produced with Readspeaker Podcaster, then they’re going to get a pretty poor impression of what a podcast actually is. This will affect the perception of podcasts as something of value to listen to, and that’s a bad thing because podcasts can be a good way to reach some audiences as part of a communications mix.
For the record I think a genuine podcast needs to be presented by a human being, and is characterised by two-way communications between the presenter and the audience. That’s a pretty wide definition that reflects the wide range of podcasts out there.
However my greatest fury is saved is for the communicators who commission this kind of service and then call it podcasting.
If you want to include podcasting (or indeed any social media) in your communications mix then take the time to get to know how the channel works in detail – listen to podcasts, even produce your own, or take advice from someone who knows better.
Don’t just jump on the podcasting bandwagon. Providing a “podcast” like this won’t add to the effectiveness of your communications like real podcasting can, so why bother?
When is a podcast not a podcast?

About SIMON
I work as a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO), consultant and advisor. I created the B3 framework® for company building and I also write a newsletter called Build for leaders who care about creating resilient and sustainable businesses.