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Eric Johnson, the founder of Bumblecast, launched the podcast Follow Friday on January 2021 where he talks with Internet creators whom he admires, about who they follow on Twitter and why we should follow them.
Before BumbleCast, Eric was a tech journalist at Recode and then a podcast producer at Vox Media, where he produced shows like Recode Decode with Kara Swisher (2015-2020).
BumbleCast is an independent podcast consulting firm that launched last year and he works with podcasters of all backgrounds and experience levels to help them start podcasts or improve shows that have already launched.
Guests of Follow Friday have included Alie Ward from Ologies, Avery Trufelman from 99% Invisible & The Cut, and Devindra Hardawar from the Engadget Podcast & the /Filmcast. He says it’s his attempt to counterprogram the way we discover new people to follow online, but it’s also a living laboratory where he can experiment with things that may be useful for his clients.
He says he wanted to start the podcast for a few reasons. Here’s what he had to say:
1) I love discovering people who are doing original, creative things online and getting obsessed with their work; I also love talking about these obsessions with other people and hearing what they’re super into (which often leads me down new rabbit holes).
2) I’m wary of letting algorithms decide what we see online; it’s always easy to find something to occupy our brains, but when we over-automate media it’s easy to get stuck in a filter bubble, never broadening your taste to more diverse mediums and ideas
3) As a professional podcast consultant, I wanted a straightforward show that would give me a place to be creative & experiment with anything I’m learning about the industry and best practices.
You can follow Follow Friday on Twitter and Instagram @followfridaypod and Eric himself @HeyHeyESJ and @bumblecastfm