Want to Talk About Podcasts? Try a Listening Community
Have you ever heard a podcast episode that you wanted to share with someone immediately? This used to happen to me all the time and too often I was in an environment where there wasn’t anyone around to have that conversation with. After I got my best friend into podcasting I had her to talk to about it but she wasn’t always into the same content that I was. So I went searching.
I found a few online spaces where I could share podcasts. Not only could I share the ones that I desperately wanted to tell someone about but I also learned about podcasts that were well beyond what I would have discovered on my own. It’s rather magical actually, our collective podminds helped me learn more than I could have with just my own listening experiences. I socially stumbled upon lesser known stories, communities and experiences with this collective podcast sharing.
This all transpired years ago for me. So now when I see people online asking for podcast recommendations, I want to send them ideas for podcast listening communities instead. One podcast will not satiate you, I want to say. In lieu of doing that individually online, I’ll share a few of my favorite ways to find your podcast listening communities.
Searching for a new listening community
Now I’ll guess that most of you are thinking that I’m going to spend time talking about the obvious podcast listening communities like Podcast Brunch Club. This was one of my first podcast listening communities and I’m still active in the group some 4 years later. But since you’re reading this post on Discover Pods, I’m guessing that you’re quite podcast sophisticated and thus already aware of this wonderful community. What’s needed is something more.
With that in mind, I want to highlight 3 online spaces where you can find podcast listening and sharing communities that are very active. Participation in all of these 3 spaces requires what I recently learned is called “social listening.” This is a term used for when we listen, or said another way, pay attention to what you’re reading online. Really take it in, not just scan it quickly so you can leave a comment.
Podyssey: A podcast app with listening community built in
When I first started getting social with my podcast listening shares, the podcast apps were not very flexible. Back then we had to walk 20 miles to download a podcast. Oh, wrong story, sorry. You searched for a podcast, you subscribed (that’s what we called it back then) and you listened. End of experience. Things have changed a lot with this listening workflow in the past couple of years, and Podyssey has played a huge part in shaping this change.
I first heard about Podyssey from a podcast guest of mine. He was the kind of super listener who used a few different podcast apps. You know the type: they’re smart, creative, curious. In this multi-app experience, Podyssey was his discoverability tool. I remember him excitedly describing the follow your friends feature.This is similar to following your friends on other social media apps except that in this case you see the podcasts that your friends are listening to, not the photos or videos that they post.
And he was excited for very good reasons. The app’s listening community features are very easy to set up and use. In fact, the first tab at the bottom left of the screen is “community,” where you can see what your friends are listening to as well as some of Podyssey’s recommendations based on the interest profile that you fill out. But not only can you see what your friends are listening to, you can see their episode comments. These aren’t stereotypical reviews, which I admit, can be long winded. The comments you see here are quick hurrah comments, questions about the episode content, quick complaints or compliments about how good/bad an episode is and literally anything that is a reaction to the episode. You know how some people write in the margins of a book? I do that, don’t judge me. Well, Podyssey’s comments feel like you’re privy to that kind of creator-consumer dialogue.
And I’m not the only who’s keen on these joyous listening community aspects of the app. Melody Ma, Co-Founder of Podyssey said, “The most surprising aspect of the listener community is the serendipitous and rich discussions that happen in the app among listening community members that are sparked by podcast episodes. Also, the amazing breath of less known podcasts that podcast fans listen to that are absolute gems.”
Another nice feature that scratches the listening community itch perfectly are the categories. There are regular categories like Comedy, Economics, etc but then there are ones that will help us find lesser heard voices easier (and the listening communities that are talking about them) like LGBTQ+ Pride, Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories, RPGs, Women Supporting Women and so on.
As with all socially driven content, it takes time to build up who you follow so if you try this app to expand your podcast listener community, be sure to give it some time.
#podsincolor hashtag on Twitter
The #podsincolor hashtag on Twitter functions quite a bit like the Podyssey community function but for a very specific group of podcasts: podcasts of people of color. Berry runs this hashtag as well as the #podin hashtag via the Podcasts in Color Twitter account. The pinned tweet on the account shares that in 2015 she was “unemployed, loved podcasts and decided to create a space to find the POC podcasts that I rarely saw other places back then.” And in 2021 the #podsincolor hashtag is very busy, so Berry was definitely onto something.
Probably the most popular types of posts on the #podsincolor hashtag are new episode posts from POC podcasters. The podcasters reading this just started to tune out because new episode tweets have a high potential to be very boring and non-descriptive. DON’T. This group of folks know how to self promote. There are some amazingly creative, funny and informative new episode posts here. I found a few new podcasts to listen to myself while scanning the tag to write this very post. Like this funny tweet from the Black Me Up Podcast and this multi-post example from Afropolitan. I wish all episode drop posts on Twitter were this engaging!
But this hashtag has much more than just new episodes. What kind of listener community would it be if it didn’t have engagement? You’ll also see collaboration requests and connections happening on this hashtag. One of my favorite community moments is this before and after Podcast Movement tweet from Stephen A. Heart from earlier this month.
I know what you’re thinking: how do all of these podcaster tweets make a podcast listener community?
Easy. Podcasters may be writing the majority of these tweets but this hashtag is packed with podcasts that listeners can scan, listen to and comment on. And this IS done. Spaces like Berry’s #podsincolor are a prime example of an open space where creators and listeners can both benefit from sharing episodes, announcements and such. If you scan this hashtag and don’t find a podcast that fits what you’re looking for, then you’re just not pod hungry. It’s that simple.
Some other hashtags I noticed while perusing through the #podsincolor one that I thought would help you find more podcast listening communities on Twitter are:
Lastly, Berry has also created a Podcasts In Color database that can help you discover new POC podcasts by category on their website.
Find That Pod: Podcast Review Newsletter
We’re all keenly aware of the EarBuds Podcast Collective’s weekly podcast recommendations newsletter. However, did you know that there are now a plethora of podcast recommendation newsletters available, all with their unique personality? And like many of the above mentioned podcast listener communities, the Find That Pod podcast review newsletter created by Sebastian Arciszewski, exists on a few platforms. Probably most obvious to start with is the newsletter itself. Once a week they publish a newsletter that has 5 podcasts to listen to.
How can a newsletter be a podcast listener community? That’s where we need to jump platforms a bit. There’s usually a CTA (call-to-action) that brings the listeners in closer. Like in the August 6th, 2021 issue, they asked “a very important question on Twitter.” It’s a survey asking for podcast recommendations but not the kind you’re thinking of.
And this isn’t the only CTA. At the end of every newsletter they remind us “Know Some Podcasts I Should Recommend” and add an email address. And they do incorporate these recommendations into the newsletter. Sebastian mentioned that this is how they discovered Nerds Amalgamated.
There’s more than that. He selects podcasts for the newsletter that you don’t read about in many other places. And I know that we’re talking about listening communities, but how the podcast logos are lushy displayed instead of living in tiny, tiny boxes in many other places online is part of why I started subscribing to podcast recommendation newsletters in the first place. What can I say, I pick my wine by label, my books by title font and my podcasts by logo. Don’t you?
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, the CTA for podcast recommendations are not just in the newsletter. He frequently asks for them directly on the Twitter account also. And I think the background art on that Twitter account sum up what their Twitter listener community of 5,000+ followers might agree with him on, “You are what you listen to.”
So there you have it: 3 out of the box podcast listening communities that you may not have been aware of. The most important thing of all is that you find a podcast listening community that you feel comfortable in and that it helps you discover and discuss podcasts what you are excited about. It doesn’t matter if this community is online or in person. It doesn’t matter if it’s one person or a group of thousands. It does matter that you don’t get all pod up inside, I mean pent up inside. Share your podcasting life with the world, we are all better when you do this. When we all do this. Happy podding!
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