New: The Planet podcast, where you can"call in"

The Planet 2.0 will combine this newsletter and a new podcast

This week, I will start a new and exciting chapter for The Planet newsletter: a podcast. 

To be more precise: two podcast shows.

Most of the information I share is via Twitter or The Planet newsletter. While Twitter aims at short messages and is more on top of recent developments, The Planet newsletter is for background information and dives deeper than is possible within the 280 characters limit of Twitter. 

Podcasting is the third pillar

Podcasting will, from now on, form the third pillar in the communication: it will combine the direct interaction with the audience of Twitter with the chance to explore the real story behind a current issue like in a newsletter. 

A podcast also gives a unique experience that both other channels don't have. Audio means that you can listen to the podcast at home, while driving, or at different moments where you can listen but can't read. It is also my preferred way to follow an interview with an expert. Instead of reading an interview, you get the best connection by listening to someone. 

The popularity of podcasts is rapidly growing, and the pandemic seems to have given it a boost. Now that so many people have a smartphone, it means that they all have a podcast player in their pocket. 

But in 2022, we will see another development where smartphones will no longer promote the popularity of podcasts just by the ease of listening. Instead, a smartphone will be all you need to produce a podcast. 

In 2022, expect a revolution in podcasting.

This recent development will likely revolutionize podcasting. All those people, and you may have been one of them (I certainly was), who thought about starting a podcast but were reluctant to do so, can now start their own podcast with Callin. You don't need to worry about the amount of time required or technical difficulties that you have to overcome.

Callin was just launched in September for iPhone; it is still a relatively small but rapidly growing community. Since last week the web application has been available, and soon Callin will launch an Android version.

Callin, the first "social podcasting" app

It is not just the accessibility in one smartphone (and the ease of post-production work); Callin is the first app that bridges social media apps with podcasting. As a result, it is the first "social podcasting" app. 

What does social podcasting mean? It means, for instance, that when I interview an expert on climate change, everybody can listen to the live interview. I reserve a room where I can keep the door closed and keep it a private interview like you would do in a traditional podcast, or I make it a public space where you can be there too.

The Callin logo

This second option makes podcasting so much more dynamic. So, this means that you can "call in" to the show to ask questions and join the conversation. If this sounds like too much anarchy to you: the host can decide who can speak and has a mute button.

That concept may remind you about Clubhouse (although the callers' line-up seems to be much better organized at Callin). However, a significant disadvantage of Clubhouse is that the show is forever lost once it is over. So instead, at Callin, the host gets the typed-out version of the discussion on the app after the broadcast. The host then cleans it up where needed and posts the podcast on the app as an episode. 

In other words: you can be the live audience during the recording of a podcast. 

And that is also the main difference with a traditional podcast: the open recording room means that audience can join the podcast and is no longer the passive party that listens days or weeks after a conventional podcast was recorded.

The Planet 2.0

After having played for years with the idea of starting a podcast, I believe this is the right moment to step in. I see it as the third pillar of my communication, next to Twitter and The Planet newsletter.

There will be a close link between the newsletter and the podcast. For instance, we can now discuss the content from the last newsletter in the podcast. Or, when interviewing an expert in the podcast, I can write about it in the newsletter. Additionally, in the newsletter, I could also show you what you can't see in audio, like a graph or a map that a speaker referred to during an interview. Or, the other way around, I can let you hear what you can't read in the newsletter.

Most of all, I see the addition of the podcast can increase the engagement of all followers and subscribers. 

The Planet podcast

The main 'show' (podcast speak: several episodes form a show) will be called The Planet podcast; no surprises here.

I plan to use this show for interviews, followed by questions from the audience. The subjects that I will cover will be familiar to any reader of The Planet newsletter. I recently wrote a bit about the concept behind the newsletter; if you missed it, you could catch up here:

The ideas that guide The Planet newsletter

HOT

But like I have two Twitter accounts, I will launch a second show, which I will call HOT, the Alex Verbeek podcast. Hot, for an increasingly hot planet and for the hot news to be covered in the show. Although I have a clear idea about The Planet podcast, I will use HOT for experimenting with the podcast concept. Putting the expert interviews from the first show together with the still less defined idea of the second show into one podcast would be too confusing for first-time listeners.

My first ideas about that second podcast are to focus on the shorter news cycle than background information, more on quick items, more diverse content, and more focused on engagement with the audience. It is likely less polished, shorter, and more frequent. You may be more likely to listen to a live broadcast of HOT instead of tuning in later, and I may not even edit HOT's episodes into a published broadcast, while I intend always to do that for The Planet podcast.

In other words: The Planet podcast is more like the podcasts you know, while HOT leans more to the social side of social podcasting.

The Great Melt

I will start with The Planet podcast, and the first episode will be an interview with Alister Doyle. Many of you will know him as the award-winning journalist covering climate change for two decades. He was the first Environment Correspondent for Reuters from 2004 to 2019.

Alister Doyle just published The Great Melt, accounts from the frontline of climate change. He is a fascinating speaker who brings in a wealth of knowledge about what climate change means for people worldwide now that the sea levels are rising.

We will broadcast live this Wednesday, December 8, at 11 am ET. That means 8 am in California, 11 am in NYC, and 5 pm in Paris, Berlin, or the island in the Netherlands, from where I will do the interview. It is a bit of a tryout, and I officially start in the week of December 13. I hope you can join. 

You need the free Callin app to join the broadcast or listen to it later; it looks like this in the app store on your iPhone:

And anyone can now listen to full episodes and highlights on the new web app. If you prefer Android, you have to wait a bit. Callin is still hard at work on that version, but I guess it won't take too long. It just shows how new this development is. I will let you know when that one is available. 

Here is the link to The Planet podcast

Here is the link to HOT, the Alex Verbeek podcast

Here is the link to my profile page

Here is the link to the first episode on December 8, at 11 am ET

Any ideas for speakers, subjects, the setup of the podcasts, or anything else (encouragements?) are welcome. 

You can reply to this email (that goes directly to me) or use the comment button (that everyone can read). 

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More than eight months ago, we started this Planet journey together.

Yes, together, since a writer needs readers, and readers need writers.

That is even more so with newsletters; it's often a much tighter connection. Think for a moment about traditional journalism, where you can not get in touch, where nobody hears your voice, and you hope that your letter to the editor will be read or perhaps someday published.

Podcasting is a new exciting project that builds upon and expands this writer-reader connection. You are present when the podcast is made and can ask questions or join a debate.

This newsletter and podcast could use your support. I hope you will subscribe.

Increasingly I see that some of you give the newsletter as a gift subscription. Perhaps you know someone that would like to receive The Planet?

Giving makes three people happy: the one that receives it, me, and you because you made two people happy. All that for only 16 cents per day :-)

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