{"id":349,"date":"2007-11-01T07:36:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-01T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulgillin.com\/2007\/11\/how-podcasting-has-worked-at-ibm.html"},"modified":"2007-11-01T07:36:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-01T14:36:00","slug":"how-podcasting-has-worked-at-ibm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/how-podcasting-has-worked-at-ibm\/","title":{"rendered":"How podcasting has worked at IBM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Podcasting has become the second-largest social media vehicle at IBM, an executive told a Podcamp audience this weekend. <\/span>George Faulkner, Advanced Communications Professional at IBM and one of its most visible podcasters, gave an enlightening overview of how IBM’s podcast library has grown and flourished with almost no internal promotion, and he shared some ideas other companies could learn from. <\/p>\n

Podcasting has succeeded at IBM largely because the workforce is so distributed, Faulkner said. Some 40% of IBM’s 400,000 employees work primarily outside of an office. <\/span>The initiative was launched four years after IBMers started blogging, but it has raced ahead of blogs in popularity. <\/span>Faulkner cited the example of one executive who shifted from a weekly conference call with 500 people to a weekly podcast. <\/span>The move doubled the listenership of the executive\u2019s briefings, and made him into an evangelist.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p>Next, executive speeches were converted into podcasts, followed by interviews with employees. <\/span>People talk about anything and everything, he said, including hobbies and interests. <\/span>IBM takes a mostly hands-off approach to dictating content.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p>IBM\u2019s internal podcast library and has more than 100,000 unique members and 12,000 files. <\/span>The medium\u2019s popularity has grown despite some rather onerous regulatory requirements. <\/span>For example, IBM must transcribe the contents of any executive interview.
<\/o:p>
Faulkner said the first podcast he produced was a battle of the bands, featuring groups made up of IBM employees. <\/span>The show was enormously popular and ran for 35 weeks. <\/span>IBMers lobbied for an opportunity to be featured on the program. <\/span>“That was the moment I realized this wasn’t about knowledge-sharing; it was about community-building.” <\/span>Faulkner said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p>The initiative has spread virally within IBM. <\/span>“We never made an internal announcement that the blogging and podcasting platforms existed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some secrets of the program\u2019s success:<\/o:p><\/p>\n