My pal Seth Goldstein asked an interesting question on Twitter and his blog last week. He posed this:

“Is podcasting just a form of busking?”

For those who don’t know, busking is a term used mostly in Britain to describe street musicians and performers. The root of the definition is people who perform publicly for tips. Seth is not only a friend, but one of my fellow Marketing Podcast Network hosts and creators, so I chimed in.

My response was quick, but I think accurate and definitive: I said, “Certainly not. Podcast listening is opt-in and on-demand. Busking would be pushing  your podcast through a loudspeaker system and blasting it to people who didn’t ask for it.”

Tanner Campbell disagreed on Twitter. And then devoted an entire episode of his show Podcasting Sucks, to arguing against my position. He called me out and picked apart my answer in a good, old fashioned, social media throw down.

Perhaps Tanner doesn’t realize that the first time I came to anyone’s attention on the Internet, I posted a scathing review of a social media conference by calling out the speakers there I thought did the attendees an injustice. The dais included Rand Fishkin, Danny Sullivan, Neil Patel and many others considered luminaries then and now.

And I stood my ground. Which is, incidentally, why I started getting invited to speak at conferences rather than attend them.

That’s right Tanner! I was kicking up stuff on the social medias before you had facial hair. You poked the bear, son. 

I respond to Tanner’s rebuke in today’s commentary, which for the record, will be presented in a satirical caricature for fun. This is, after all, as Tanner put it, a silly topic. So I’ll be silly with it. Enjoy!

More Links:

This episode of Winfluence is presented by Tagger. It is a complete influencer marketing solution. You can find out more for yourself at jasonfalls.co/tagger

In this episode, we visit with Meredith Jacobson from We Are Boosters, about how she uses Tagger. 

Tagger - Influencer Marketing Software

To start building your own experiences with my influencer marketing software of choice, go to jasonfalls.co/tagger today.

The Winfluence theme music is “One More Look” featuring Jacquire King and Stephan Sharp by The K Club found on Facebook Sound Collection.


Jason Falls at Social Media Marketing World 2022

Don’t Miss The Most Amazing Social Media Event of 2022!

Join me in San Diego, March 14-16 for three of the most amazing days you’ll ever spend at a conference. Social Media Marketing World grew from a few blog posts on Social Media Examiner years ago (I was one of the authors). That content became webinars of helpful social media how-tos and ideas. Then what became the largest and most impactful social media conference on the planet was born.

Join me and a Who’s Who of social media marketing experts and thinkers as we dive head-first into 2022 and help your business know more, do more, measure more, and succeed more. Just click on the registration button below and sign up! You can attend in person or virtually and even access recorded sessions after the event, all for discounted prices since I’m speaking. See you in San Diego!

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