Sharing Recommendations
We treasure recommendations, whether that be movies, TV shows, restaurants, or books. There are top and best lists all over the internet but they never seem as trustworthy as when you get the recommendation from someone directly or hear them talk about it with enthusiasm. Who knows who created the list and if they had any influence over them while creating the list.
Facebook "Like"s have become almost meaningless to me as some people like nearly everything. To a certain extent, Twitter followings have followed the same pattern. I'm sure you've never thought "Hmmmm I should look at ______'s Facebook profile" while deciding what to read/listen/watch. (Maybe if you're trying to get on their good side...)
As I ramp up my reading, I found goodreads to be an amazing resource. The site specific for books does what Facebook can't do: provide a useful tool for book readers. Being able to see what other people have read and what they have rated highly is valuable information, particularly if you have similar reading styles. I only have a limited number of friends on the service but they are of quality; this actually may make goodreads even better. And as they only curate books, recommendations are usually on page given the data I put in for myself.
As far as I'm aware, there isn't a goodreads equivalent for music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. At least none that has gained significant traction that some of my friends have joined it. Music, movies, and TV shows may not need a goodreads since they are very common conversation topics.
Now to the real reason I wrote this post: There should be a place to review podcasts and see what specific people are listening to. Everyone and their mother seem to be making podcasts, so there are tons of terrible content.
Sometimes, there are gems in a podcast show but they lost in a sea of bad episodes. Unlike TV shows, most podcasts don't really have a sequential flow so individual episodes can stand on their own.
Like shows, books, and movies, there are individual podcast episodes that are "classics" and tend to be timeless. There isn't a good way of finding these episodes. There isn't an easy method of "catching up" on podcasts if you haven't started early.
Podcasts aren't brought up in conversation often, but when they are, I seem to get great recommendations all the time. There must be a better way for discovering podcasts.
What's on my list?
This American Life, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, Snap Judgement, TED Radio Hour, Ask Me Another, Reply All, Freakonomics, 99% Invisible, The Moth, Radiolab, Reply All, StartUp, Ask Me Another, Planet Money, Fresh Air, Note To Self, The Startup Chat, The Pitch, Traction, a16z podcast, 20VC, Invisbilia, Unthinkable, Seeking Wisdom, and of course, The West Wing Weekly