My good friend, Eban Crawford, wrote a post today a few days ago called “Web 2.0 and the rise of the true pirates” that got me thinking quite a bit of the future of new media and the need for concentrated action to expose others to the wealth of content that is out there.

We are now a full 3 years into podcasting. A lot has changed since Dave Winer and Adam Curry wrapped our minds around the concept of sending a media file through a subscription. Most people have yet to even hear about podcasting. Many that HAVE heard of podcasting have never explored it. Even fewer have ever looked beyond the iTunes top 10 to see the wealth of incredible user-created content for virtually any topic you can think of.

We have tackled 2 of the 3 points of media. Production and distribution. We need to work on marketing now. Podcasting and new media has more than enough traction to consider it a true media source. But how do we draw people’s attention to it? One-to-one evangelism is effective, but we need some serious press to reach large audiences. How do we do this?

On the surface, one suggestion from Eban was that we need some sort of attention-getting “stunt.” While these often gain things rapid notice, it’s often very shallow and short-lived notice. Often, stunts also instill a mindset of “amateur” or “freak” in the minds of those that hear about it. Look at how you use YouTube. Have you watched more serious things there, or quick one-time, freak-like things? I would bet the later. I’d rather not see podcasting in that light.

Of course, this is not what Eban was referring to. We need some sort of uber-targeted initiative that the press can’t help but notice. I couldn’t agree more. But WHAT can we do? How can we show large numbers of people that there is a real alternative to traditional media? Bum Rush the Charts was one way to garner attention, and I think it did a good job. It managed to get press in a few newspapers and other places. Is there another targeted thing we can do that has a reach even further into the traditional media world?
Post a comment here or on Eban’s blog. Let’s hash out some ideas…

Eban’s blog post