Building Communities
Back in July 2014, a small group of podcasters banded together to launch The Gaming and Entertainment Network, a website which aggregated the content of eight independently produced shows. This eclectic group of podcasts covered a range of subjects such as gaming, movies, TV, hats and bacon as well as other aspects of popular culture. The project was conceived and implemented by Braxwolf from the popular blog Gaming Conversations. It was designed to raise awareness of the respective shows, as well promote group collaboration between the content creators. In addition to the website, TGEN (as it was abbreviated to) also had a presence on twitter, Facebook and Anook ensuring that the network was represented on all popular social media. Initially 8 podcasts participated in the project. Aggrochat, Battle Bards, Beyond Bossfights, Cat Context, Contains Moderate Peril, Couch Podtatoes, Massive Failure and Roleplay Domain.
The TGEN Tribunal #6
The Gaming and Entertainment Network was set up in 2014 by several podcasters as a way to promote each other’s shows and reach a wider audience. All the networks members have strong views regarding creating and maintaining communities. Hence it was decided to produce a quarterly roundtable podcast made up of network contributors to discuss and explore a wide variety of subjects. The shows are lively and informal in nature, although there’s often a lot of passion when it comes to the topics being discussed. Frequently the shows are based around questions that our network listeners have asked and the idea of the tribunal is to reflect the feedback we receive.
Support Your Local Podcasts
A recent discussion between the various contributors of The Gaming and Entertainment Network highlighted a recurring g theme; that of listener comments and reviews. My own experiences are that you only get any real feedback and an indication of whether you’re doing a good or a bad job, when you announce that you’re quitting. This issue never seems to go away and despite a wealth of tools to make the process easier, it’s still hard to address. You can’t force your readers or listeners to leave comments and you don’t want to start badgering them over it. Often if your audience is listening to your show while at the gym or commuting, then they can’t always address any call to action immediately. Yet feedback, both good and bad, can have a positive impact upon bloggers and podcasters. Creativity abhors a vacuum and echo chambers are also unhealthy.