While Nielsen has blown all credibility with me (and to be honest I can't even find the survey that Bobbby Pickering refers to), there are some interesting points in the survey that may help us understand why there's so much gibberish in the podcasting space.
...although 42 per cent know what podcasting is, a third have heard of it but don't know what it is, and almost a quarter have never heard of it at all.
This is a mouthful, but it makes sense. 42% know what podcasting is, 33% have heard the term, and 25% have no idea. I'm actually quite surprised at the 42%. I'm pretty darned sure that if I walked out my door and asked the first 100 people I see what podcasting is, I doubt I'd get 10 affirmatives.
Acronyms are a big bugbear for most. While 29 per cent understand the term 'IM', 86 per cent understand 'instant messaging'. The term DVR is understood by only 48 per cent, although 94 per cent understand the term 'digital video recorder'.
Now this is an interesting point and I wonder how deeply this has been explored to date. Do surveys ask the right questions or do they tend to assume too much knowledge on the part of the respondents and end up baffling them with bull?
