James Cridland of Podnews broke the news that Apple Podcasts will soon the word “subscribe” and present the option to “follow” a show. 

Tom Webster from Edison Research has plenty of survey data that show almost half of non-podcast listeners say they don’t listen because podcasts cost money. For the better part of 17 years, we’ve been asking people to subscribe. Yet most people still don’t have the podcast listening habit. Will it be more inviting—and will see a spike in new listeners—if we ask people to follow our podcasts instead?

But there’s another problem I think Apple is trying to do something about it: Getting someone to just listen to your podcast is a big ask. If they weren’t likely to hit subscribe before listening, I’m skeptical the word follow will fare any better. So is Apple, apparently, as the new big-button action will be focused on listening. Nothing else. And if they like what they heard, they’ll (hopefully) hit the “+” button at the top to follow the show.

But back to the “follow’ change. Does this mean Apple is about to to add social networking components to podcasting, with publicly displaying follower counts, hearts, and even comments? Well... maybe. But let’s reign in that wild speculation with four healthy doses of reality.

• Bolt-on social media doesn’t work. The last time a behemoth hardware, OS, and app store vendor with zero experience building social networks made their big push into social, we got Google+. Yeah.
• Podcast listening is anti-social. With one notable exception, creators cannot post directly to a podcast listening app; and listeners cannot post anything directly to a podcast listening app. That notable exception: Anchor. Yeah.
• Who owns the podcast account? Were social components added will they be tied to the hosting company, forcing you to social engage not with the app itself, but within your podcast hosting company?
• Podcast listening is commoditized. Today’s podcast listening apps are more like web browsers. None of us want to maintain accounts on two dozen or more podcast listening apps in the off chance someone leaves us a comment… somewhere.

Questions aside, one thing I am certain of; you need to watch your language and get rid of subscribe in favor of follow on your web pages, in your in-app episode details, and in your recording scripts. Stop telling people to subscribe. Might as well get ahead of it.

-----

A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/follow-this-apple-podcasts-is-killing-the-subscribe-button

Follow @EvoTerra on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit