msb-0307 The Meaning Of Economics

msb-0307 The Meaning Of Economics

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intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I'm still thinking of cutting the tail down to the last two or three months.

Unless I hear from you, I will get rid of everything else.

What do you think? Drop me an email Charles at MSBPodcast.com.

And today the music is computer based, in one way or another. I felt "techno". So sue me.

I'm featuring select YouTube videos on the website [ http://www.msbpodcast.com/ ] to send some of you from the iTunes from downloads back to the website. (Okay... about 85% of you are getting them from the web already, but I seem to discover another site where I'm listed every week so I'm wondering where you actually heard about this podcast from.)

---- "Computer Bitch" by: "Blood Bank" http://bloodbank.ideasdigital.com/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "Computer Nation" by: "Voide" http://www.voide.net/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Computer Blues" by: "Ken Tucker and James Swafford" http://www.myspace.com/jamesswafford

"Thesis:"

I'm still reading the book about producing video podcasts. (Its called "Producing Video Podcasts: A Guide for Media Professionals" by "Richard Harrington and Mark Weiser" ISBN: 978-0-240-81029-4.)

Producing video is extremely expensive, labor intensive and, to be honest, it wouldn't bring me a thing more.

Now, for the advertisers, they'll probably want to take advantage of video to demonstrate their products. On this podast, they "can".

Podcasting is the only game in town for which they can get a seat at the table. (Someday, I promise. Its bound to happen. Podcasting is just severely unknown right now and my "No Play, No Pay" ad delivery model is "orders of magnitude cheaper" than the current broadcast "Scatter-shot"model. I fact its so much cheaper that I believe it may suffer from a credibility gap. But its the same gap they crossed when going to "Google AdSense" and Google is now rolling in cash. [Even if it is only in US Dollars. :-])

---- "Duet for Computer and Human" by: "Superboom" http://www.renboy.com/superboom

"Synthesis:"

I must sound like a strange duck, quacking on about the need for socialized medicine on some posts while, uh, parroting, my faith in the capitalist system and in competition in some others.

The two views are "not" incompatible.

"Comparative Advantage" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage ] and "Social Responsibility" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_responsibility ] are "not" mutually exclusive goals.

This time, I'd like to focus on comparative advantage.

If you compare traditional broadcast advertising, or even that which is available on cable stations or networks, podcasts are so much more focused that they almost totally avoid the "tyranny of the masses".

That focus is a feature they share with traditional print media, but with none of the disadvantages of having to produce a dead tree issue, ship it to the subscriber or to retail outlets, deal with returns and so on...

Not to mention that a great many specialized journals eschew, or are precluded by clauses in their charters or because or tax advantages from, accepting commercial advertising.

And more power to them.

I would be be a little leery of research published in a "for profit" journal which solicits ads. (Its a systemantic truism that the very function of keeping a journal alive with advertising interferes with its function as a journal.)

But that still leaves two needs unfilled:

1. the needs of the advertiser to get the word out about his product, good or service,
2. the needs of the consumer to hear about the existence of a product which can fill a need which has remained unfilled and possibly unarticulated.

While Google and I can fill the first need, and charge for the privilege, and fill the second need for a "known condition", Google can't suggest that a condition being felt might not be normal and that there might be something that can be done about it.

Furthermore, Google is not going to further define the need by possibly devoting some time and episodes to it and handling feedback from an audience.

I this respect, podcasting is superior at filling its niche.

---- "Computer Chips" by: "aegis" http://www.virb.com/aegis

"Conclusion:"

For makers of products, goods and services that "don't" have the benefit of a large market, which means anybody who's not a well established maker of something with broad appeal, podcasting is really the smartest play.

Unlike Google Ad Sense which can direct ads for competing good and services, podcast ads can inform and suggest goods and services for something that is "not" being searched for but may be needed in the marketplace.

If you play your cards right, like with my "No Play, No Pay" content distribution model, it can also be the right size for whatever market size you're in.

Now for one last piece of techno music...

---- "Dreamcomputer" by: "Ibrahim Reevy" http://music.download.com/ibrahimreevy/3600-8261_32-100598738.html

Outro