Press play > pause II and rewind<<

This week something has been playing and replaying in my mind. Who influences us? Who do we listen to in this world? Are podcasts influential? If they are why? What makes them influential? And after we have listened to a podcast do we actually do anything differently?

This thinking was triggered by a couple of things. At Lincolnshire Voluntary Engagement Team (LVET) we are always open to hearing our members thoughts throughout the year but at the end of each calendar year we ask our members how we are doing, what challenges they think they will face in the coming year and what they think we should focus our efforts on in order to support them. I am looking forward to reading and reflecting on what our members tell us and using their carefully considered responses to shape what we do in the coming year. I hope that as many of our 170 members as possible share their thoughts with us. This made me wonder how many organisations and individuals have contributed to the Change NHS consultation and how those contributions will be used to shape a 10-year plan. What will be done with more challenging or dissenting responses that perhaps don’t fit in with the current thinking of those leading the development of the 10 year plan?

This week there has been quite a bit of murmuring about health and wellbeing misinformation shared via Steven Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO – which claims to be Europe’s biggest podcast. It has had over 1 billion streams since launching in 2017 and has 7.65 million subscribers (are you jealous Matthew Evans ?)

I have previously shared thoughts on nudging and behaviour change (though do check out Social Change for a wonderful blog and loads of insight on this) and I continue to think about how we share the collective knowledge of LVET members in a direct way with the people of Lincolnshire so that they can take more control of their health, social care and wellbeing. Part of that sharing could be done using an app, a zine, a podcast or short animations or YouTube clips or whatever it is different groups of people view and respond to.

But here’s the thing that is playing on my mind - do people respond to podcasts or zines? Do they absorb and use the knowledge to change their habits and behaviours?

Just because the numbers streaming it are large does that mean it is actually influential? Does it change anybody’s view of the world, their thinking, their behaviour? And it also made me wonder how do you make money from podcasting? I guess it is through advertising? Having done some digging Steven Bartlett reportedly made around 1 million pounds from the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021 – so could we create an LVET podcast that connects with a large audience and generates enough income to sustain it when advertisers pay around ￡20 per 1000 listeners? What are the magic ingredients? But then I flip back to the question – do people actually act or think any differently after listening to a Diary of a CEO podcast? Does anybody listen to public sector or health charities podcasts or do you need to be a celebrity, like Fearne Cotton and her Happy Place podcast or JOE WICKS LTD to succeed, or do you need to have big broadcasting backing like ‘Fit & Fearless’ on BBC Radio 5?

I have no answers but I do know we need to find new and better ways to communicate the knowledge that our members have and that could make a real difference to the health, social care and wellbeing of people living in Lincolnshire. ?Maybe we need to just try some things out by pressing play > pause II to reflect and then rewind << before we press play > again.

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Oh and look out for me talking with Matthew Evans and Caty Collier on the Its All About People podcast early in 2025 ??

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