I was reading an article written by Roland Piquepaille for ZDNet.com and I was struck by one of his comments.

“Podcasting is a one-way medium: a producer talks to consumers. There is no interaction between both except through posts on blogs. In other words, podcasting is not a collaborative medium. On the contrary, it follows the traditional one-to-many communication model. Sorry, after several years of blogging, I like to be able to start a conversation.”

Agreed, there’s no live interaction between the host and the listener (as you would find with a call-in radio show), however, even with a blog, I would argue that the interaction isn’t live either.

Frankly, as with any other non-real time media eg. TV shows, magazines, newspapers, blogs, books, movies, none of these things can be considered collaborative either. One can’t have a conversation with the author after reading a chapter in his book. Nor can we voice our distaste for a particular storyline to the actors in a TV show.

The only true live collaboration that takes place is when I pick up the phone to speak to someone or, when I have a face-to-face conversation with someone else.

The collaborative nature of podcasts comes through different means:

1. By having a discussion forum where people can leave their comments.
2. By having a comment line where people can phone in their feedback.
3. By allowing comments under the blog posting for your podcasts (something this author has on his blog).
4. By providing an email so that listeners can send their feedback.

Yes, podcasting may not be for you, but don’t blame the non-collaborative nature of the tool for your lack of interest. Otherwise, I’d recommend that you stop blogging altogether.