This past weekend I attended the Niagara-on-the-Lake Podcasting and Social Media Meetup organized by John Meadows, Keith Burtis and Bill Deys.

There were a couple of dozen of us gathered in a conference room at The Prince of Wales Hotel, thereby collectively decreasing the Oxford shirt and linen skirt quotient of the establishment dramatically. I was surprised we werenâe(TM)t all issued âeoerespectable guestsâe dickies at the door.

It was a great meetup that really came together just because John and Keith wanted to spend time with folks theyâe(TM)d hooked up with on Twitter and because Bill is great at getting sponsors to chip in.

A number of folks volunteered to give talks on vocal technique, couple-casting, podcasting novels, video production and other aspects of social media. I want to focus in on two of the sessions by Sean McGaughey and Mark Blevis. Both of them, in very different ways, encouraged us to pay attention to the power of metaphor as weâe(TM)re creating content in emerging media.

Seanâe(TM)s an elementary school teacher, podcaster, folksinger/songwriter and a volunteer narrator for the free audiobook LibriVox project. So, not surprisingly, he pays attention to the power of words, especially metaphors and frames and how they can influence how we use and think about technology. We still talk about âeoetapingâe a music track from an âeoealbumâe , when no tapes or albums are involved in copying a digital file.

As Sean reminded us, we âeoeccâe an email when far more silicon than carbon is involved in duplicating digital missives. We continue to call Internet radio shows podcasts, even though no iPod need be involved, although a majority of the general public thinks quite the opposite.

And, and here is the crux of Seanâe(TM)s thesis, we casually call the people who follow us, or we follow, on facebook and other social networks âeoefriendsâe , when many are almost complete strangers.

Facebook itself is a conceptual metaphor. A facebook was originally a printed document used at U.S. colleges to help students get to know one another. When Mark Zuckerberg launched the online service it was restricted to students at Harvard University and was an online version of the print publication. It then expanded access to other Ivy League colleges, then anyone in university or high school – then anyone.

So, at first, the friends students added in facebook really were friends. Now, not so much. But, the word remains even though the larger conceptual metaphor of a âeoefacebookâe has ballooned far beyond its Ivy League roots.

Conceptual metaphors and the words we use for them can trap us, Sean argued. They can limit how we use technology and restrict how we think about technological tools. And, when we use words like âeoefriendsâe for what are often at best just âeoefollowersâe and at worst opportunistic strangers, we weaken and dilute the true meaning of friendship and community, according to Sean.

Mark Blevis is a social media strategist, one of the organizers of the very popular Podcasters Across Borders conference and a total Police fanboy. His talk cast the British band as role models for podcasters and other social media creators. What can Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland teach us about being successful in social media? A lot, according to Blevis.

The trio, flying under the âeoeflag of convenienceâe of the burgeoning British punk scene, became known as a reliable, hardworking band that would play anywhere for anybody in any fleapit. âeoeThey were hungry and they stayed hungry,âe said Blevis.

In America, where they were virtually unknown even after the 1978 UK hit âeoeRoxanneâe the band went on a gruelling U.S. tour living out of an Econoline van and crap motels. At one gig in Poughkeepsie, after playing CBGB in New York, they had an audience of six. The band âeoeplayed their asses off,âe said Blevis, then invited the half dozen fans backstage. âeoeCan you imagine being one of those six?âe asked Blevis. âeoeIt doesnâe(TM)t matter how many people listen to your podcast, if theyâe(TM)re the right six people,âe he said.

Thatâe(TM)s an important lesson. Podcasts produced by ordinary people and not corporations have failed to break into the mainstream, despite years of trying. But what Blevis says is true, itâe(TM)s not volume, itâe(TM)s engagement.

And that goes back to Seanâe(TM)s point. The word, the conceptual frame of âeoefanâe is different in social media and sometimes what really matters is that you welcome the six true friends behind the curtain. Or, for that matter, that two dozen people collectively lower the dress code at a swank hotel.

wayne

Wayne MacPhail

Wayne MacPhail has been a print and online journalist for 25 years. He was the managing editor of Hamilton Magazine and was a reporter and editor at The Hamilton Spectator until he founded Southam InfoLab,...