To be “cool,” you need to have a podcast, not a blog. Or so a lot of podcasters think. There are certainly times when a podcast is more appropriate. When musical performances are the point — FilkCast, for instance — then a blog with links to audio files doesn’t work as well as an all-audio presentation.

But if the point is to present news and commentary, then give me a blog. Here are a handful of reasons why blogs are better:

1. You can read at your own pace, going back to something and thinking about it if you want.
2. All you need to access a blog is its URL; no gatekeepers have to list and find it for you. In principle you can publicize a podcast the same way, but that lacks “coolness,” so a lot of podcasters give you just the name, and you can only hope that your favorite podcast app will find it.
3. Blogs are text-searchable on three levels. Relevant articles turn up in search engine results, you can search a single article’s text, and many blogs include a text search of all the articles.
4. You can click on a link in a blog. Podcasters have to speak the URL.
5. You have to focus when reading a blog. I know, a lot of people consider it an advantage that they can just leave a podcast playing while they drive, do housework, or whatever, but this leads to uncritical absorption of whatever the speakers are saying. When you read something, there’s a better chance you’ll think about it.
6. Some podcasts are available only through one channel. There’s at least one podcast I’d likely be interested in if I didn’t have to switch from my player app to Spotify to hear it.
7. If a blog needs audio or video occasionally, it can embed it.

If you’re thinking of starting a podcast, think about whether it would work better as a blog. Thanks.