Ethics In Podcasting

It's Time To Address Podcasting's Facebook Problem

Facebook has become an invaluable tool and resource center for many podcasters. But Facebook’s tarnished underbelly is coming under scrutiny, and future increased blowback could negatively impact your podcast.

July 9, 2020

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Podcasting has a Facebook problem. Well, truth be told, most industries, verticals, and even pastimes have Facebook problems. But this is a show about podcasting, so we’ll stay focused on the topic at hand.

We podcasters have come to rely quite heavily on Facebook. The podcaster-ran support groups on Facebook are clearly the most active source of information that's out there. If you have questions about podcasting, whether you're new at this or old hat, you’ll get dozens of responses to your questions from those groups.

Then there's the ability to quickly build a Facebook community for the listeners of your podcast. Some podcasts have Facebook communities that dwarf the size of their listening audience, racking up tens of thousands of members.

Live streaming has really taken off. In fact, the first 30 episodes of Podcast Pontifications were not only streamed live on Facebook, they were only available as that live Facebook video! (I’ve since rectified that and you can enjoy (?) all of the episodes in audio-only form.)

Facebook And Podcasting Are Often Tightly Coupled… For Now

We podcasters relegate a lot of what we do to Facebook. Many of the comment sections on our websites are powered by a plugin that uses Facebook. Others use Facebook for membership sites or granting access to private content. Facebook is deeply ingrained in the podcasting world. It's almost second nature because we can safely assume that because virtually every podcast listener has a Facebook profile, that ever podcast should have a Facebook presence, right?

So what happens when Facebook goes away?

I know that sounds very alarmist. But hen's the last time you updated your MySpace profile?

On a long enough time scale, everything disappears or changes into something unrecognizable from its origins.

Facebook Under Fire

Facebook isn’t immune. July 2020 is only nine days old as of this writing, and Facebook is taking a very public beating. It failed its own civil rights audit, a two-year endeavor where Facebook-selected independent auditors struggled to find good evidence that Facebook actually wants to fix the rot happening from within.

Representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, ad Color of Change met via conference call with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and other top Facebook officials this week. Those reps left the call angrier than they were at the start, citing little in the way of substantive change and an abundance of oft-repeated platitudes from Facebook rather than actually responding to the group’s demands.

Along with those PR nightmares, Facebook’s taking a financial hit this month from the #StopHateForProfit campaign as several big-ticket advertisers have stopped their ad spend on Facebook for the month.

That last bit has less impact than you might imagine. Clearly Facebook (and their shareholders) doesn’t like seeing any revenue drop. But the majority of Facebook’s ad revenue doesn’t come from big, giant advertisers. Instead, Facebook makes most of its money from very small advertisers spending small amounts of money (like single-digit or double-digit dollars) on a monthly basis.

Perhaps your podcast is one of those small advertisers?

When Facebook’s Problems Become Your Podcasts’ Problems

Even if you haven’t spent any money on Facebook ads, you still need to consider how the world looks if Facebook’s ire-stoking activities continue unabated. Facebook’s brand is being tarnished. And that tarnishment will spill over to people - and podcasts -- who actively use Facebook. It’s only a matter of when.

That spill-over will happen in several predictable ways. A growing number of people will become less comfortable using Facebook on a regular basis. Like all free platforms, the users are the product. Continued exposure to manipulative content held up as “free speech” will result in more users using their own individual freedom to walk away and spend their discretionary time elsewhere.

Of more concern to the topic at hand is the spill-over that tarnishes the reputations of the companies and organizations that continue to rely on and actively promote the use of Facebook. A lot of podcasts and podcasters fit that bill.

In reality, I don't know what the blowback will look like or how severe it might be. But I don’t need the power of a quantum computer to predict that, at some point in time, the Facebook you know and love today will cease to be.

So, what do you do as a working podcaster to prepare for that eventuality?

Preparing Your Podcast For A Post-Facebook World

The steps are a little unclear to me, to be really honest with you. One option is to diversify. That's always a good idea. Never put your eggs in one basket. It’s why we podcasters distribute our shows to every single listening app, directory, or platform. Not just Apple Podcasts or Spotify. (Unless, of course, Spotify throws a bag of money at us for an exclusive deal. But that's a topic for another time.)

So yes, you should diversify your social media presence as a podcaster and for your podcast(s). And not just the old standards built in the 2005-2006 time frame. Spend some time getting to know some of the new up-and-coming social platforms.

I know some podcasts are trying to own the relationship with their listeners directly, reducing their reliance on social media platforms as the center of their community. I’m of two minds on this, mostly because “people gonna do what people gonna do” and it’s important for all podcasts and podcasters to meet people where the people are. You should not assume that people will switch to commenting on your website or other owned property just because you’ve made the decision to shut down your shows’ Facebook group. If you build it, they probably won’t come. Not without some significant work on your part.

One of my consulting clients is headed down that road. They have a very large and active community on Facebook and are in the process of moving it off Facebook to a new completely owned community inside of their own website. I'm not convinced it's going to work. I love the idea of moving as many people over as possible to a “fully-owned” community. And maybe as more people find their moral compass pointing away from Facebook, that might get easier. It’s just really hard right now.

But there is one thing you can do immediately: stop pushing people to Facebook.

Even if you have a thriving, active community on Facebook right now, you can keep it and you can stop pushing new people to it. That’s my approach. Even though my community is neither very large nor very active, I still push out episodes of Podcast Pontifications to Facebook. I’ll continue to occasionally share information on Facebook, but I do it via Buffer as I’m sharing that same content on other social platforms as well. To me, Facebook has become a little-to-no-effort publishing destination

But I'm certainly not asking anybody to join me over on Facebook. And if Facebook’s reputation continues to be torn to shreds, maybe you shouldn't either.

Speaking of things you shouldn’t do, you probably shouldn’t share this depressing look on a Facebook group! Though I’m sure some of you will. A much better option, if I may be so bold, would be to send an email to someone you know who’s also skeptical of Facebook’s future with a link to this article/episode attached. Or share it with your podcast team as a way to start the conversation of a better approach to social promotion of your podcast.

Finally, if you love what I'm doing with Podcast Pontifications Season Three, I would love for you to go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra, and, you know, buy me a virtual coffee! Monthly memberships make it easy to buy me a virtual coffee every 30 days and is really, really nice.

For the new person reading this or those who’ve forgotten during my season break, I remind you that I take Fridays off. So I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He’s on a mission to make podcasting better. Allie Press proofed the copy, corrected the transcript, and edited the video. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.

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PPS3E4 It's Time To Address Podcasting's Facebook Problem Transcript

Evo Terra: [00:00:00] Facebook has become an invaluable tool and resource center for many podcasters, but Facebook's tarnished. Underbelly is coming under scrutiny and future increased blowback could negatively impact your podcast.

[00:00:20] Hello, and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me, Evo, Tara podcasting has a Facebook problem. Well truth. Be told most industries and even hobbies and verticals. They all have pastimes, even they all have Facebook problems, but this is a show about podcasting. So let's stay focused on the topic at hand.

[00:00:43] See, we podcasters have come to rely on Facebook quite heavily, a community aspect alone, not just for your show, the community aspect of the support center that the support groups on Facebook, which are ran by other podcasters are. Clearly the most active source of information that's out there. When you have questions about podcasting, whether you're new or old and doing this, then there's the ability to build a community for your own podcast.

[00:01:13] For the listeners of your podcast. Facebook makes it very easy for you to build that community. Let the Kimani foster some podcasts, Facebook community have. Tens of thousands of members, if not millions of members are huge, huge numbers of people utilize Facebook for its community options. And that's what I probably really good at a live streaming, which I have used the first season of podcast pontifications was all streamed live on Facebook fact for the first 30 episodes.

[00:01:42] It was only available as a live Facebook show. We use it for comments on many of our websites are powered by a plugin that uses Facebook to handle the comments it's everywhere. It's deeply ingrained. It's almost second nature. We assume that every podcast has a Facebook presence, right? And we as podcasters, relegate, a lot of what we do to Facebook.

[00:02:12] So what happens when Facebook goes away? I know that sounds very alarmist. What do you mean? Facebook goes away, but that's the way things happen, right? When's the last time you updated your MySpace profile? Huh? So at some point in time, Facebook's going away. And most recently, I mean, if you've not been following the news just this month, which by the way is only a few days old right now, Facebook already failed its own.

[00:02:47] Civil rights audit a two year endeavor with people looking at the civil rights issues. Facebook has over two years failed miserably just a few days ago. There was a conference call with representatives from the anti defamation league. The NAACP color change with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg on there together.

[00:03:13] When those reps got off that phone call, they were more displeased than when they were first on it. They're really not happy with Facebook's policies. And maybe you've noticed, but this month is beginning of this hashtag stop for stop hate for profit campaign, which some of Facebook's biggest advertisers, very, very large advertisers are not spending any money on Facebook this month.

[00:03:37] Now, of course, Mathematically speaking Facebook doesn't really care about that too much. I mean, clearly they don't like losing any money whatsoever, but Facebook makes most of its money on very small advertisers, spending small amounts of money, like single digit or double digit dollars on a monthly basis.

[00:03:55] That's where most of their money comes from for every small places, perhaps like you. So I say again, what happens if Facebook. Goes away also what happens if these continued outrageous activities continue unabated, we're going to see some tarnishment. If you will, of Facebook's brands, we're already seeing a tarnishment of Facebook brand Facebook's branding brand identity that will spill over to people who actively use.

[00:04:37] Facebook it'll will spill over in several ways. It will spill over to the point where some people will be less comfortable using Facebook on a regular basis as individuals, because they all know that since Facebook is free, your, the actual product and people are being advertised to and getting messages that are garbage.

[00:04:59] So access of people might actually drop. You could also tarnish reputations of the companies that still are on Facebook or organizations that are still on an actively promoting the use of Facebook or podcasts that are still on and actively support the use of Facebook. Maybe it's a real possibility. We don't know what the blowback looks like, but I think one thing that we can know.

[00:05:30] For sure is that at some point in time, the Facebook, you know, and love today will not be that anymore. So, what do you do about it? What are we going to do about that? The idea here behind podcast pontifications is to give you things to think about related to the future of podcasting in this clearly, is it, what do we do if in the future there isn't a Facebook or the Facebook that is there.

[00:05:57] Isn't something we want to be a part of. Well, the remedy for it's a little unclear to be really honest with you. One option is to diversify and that's always a good idea. Never put your eggs in one basket. That's why we distribute our podcast to every single platform, not just Apple podcasts or Spotify, unless of course, Spotify has given us a lot of money for an exclusive deal, but that's a topic for another show.

[00:06:21] So yes, you want to diversify your social media presence as a podcaster. Someone with a podcast, he should totally diversified, especially experienced some of the new platforms that are up and coming, not just those that were all built in 2005, 2006 timeframe. Yeah. Explore, try new things without a doubt.

[00:06:40] Make sure you have a presence everywhere. That's just good social media strategy. Should you try to own the relationship with your listeners directly and reduce your reliance on social medias? Honestly, I have mixed feelings about that. And I have fixed mixed feelings because people gonna do what people gone to do and where people are.

[00:07:03] I think you, as a podcaster, should meet people where people are. And if there's a way for you to convey the message that is from your show, or even you as a working podcaster through social media, like Facebook, I think you should do that more importantly. I don't think you should assume that if you say I'm not going to communicate on social anymore, now you have to come to my website and do it.

[00:07:25] I think that's harder to do. I have a consulting client right now that is thinking of doing that. They've got a very active community on Facebook and they're well not thinking about it. They're doing it. They're trying to move all of their people onto this new completely owned community inside of their own website.

[00:07:41] And I'm just not convinced it's going to work. I think they should try it. I think you should try and get as many people over as possible. To own the relationship, but it's going to be hard, hard to do that. Should you stop pushing people to Facebook on your podcast? I think that's probably a really good idea.

[00:08:03] I mean, I think if you have a thriving community on Facebook right now, keep it. You know, stay active and engaged. It's kind of the way that I do it. I don't really have an active community on Facebook, but I do push out episodes of podcast pontifications to Facebook. I will occasionally share some information via buffer that goes to amongst other.

[00:08:23] Locations Facebook, but I'm certainly not asking anybody to come join me over on Facebook. And maybe you shouldn't do that. Either things to think about, because I can tell you this, the future of Facebook is going to be quite different. Then the current reality that we have right now, speaking of future things do not share this post with someone on a Facebook group.

[00:08:51] I mean, you can, if you want to, but I like when people share my show with others, that's helped the show like mine grow word of mouth is what we actually do. So maybe just send an email to somebody who also has had some nagging doubts about Facebook. Who's also a podcaster and say, Hey, this guy over here thinks the way you do.

[00:09:09] Let's collaborate, not a bad idea. And of course, if you love what I'm doing, I would love for you to go to buy me a coffee.com/evo, Tara, and, you know, buy me a virtual coffee, monthly memberships, monthly memberships to buy me that virtual coffee are really, really nice. Now with season three resuming, I need to remind you that I am off on Fridays.

[00:09:33] So I shall be back on Monday with yet another podcast. Pontifications cheers.

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