Obsessive Podcast Stat Disorder

The Podcasting Pocket Guide , the work of Kirk McElhearn, Richard Giles and Jack Harrington, is out and available at Amazon.com.

Check out this little bit from the book's description:

For aspiring podcasters, Podcasting Pocket Guide introduces you to the tools and techniques you'll need to make and publish podcasts with the most basic of equipment: a computer, a microphone, and some free software. It includes practical tips and how-tos for creating, recording, editing, and uploading your own, professional-quality podcast. Once you've made that first recording, you can publish it online, get it listed, and start obsessing over the size of your audience!

(And yes, yours truly is listed in the book and will be reviewing it shortly!) And as I read this post in John Wagner's communication blog, I had to chuckle. I'm not sure why exactly we care so much about our numbers and rankings, except perhaps for a high-school-like yen for tangible popularity stats (ah, if we'd had them back then!), but it's true that it's difficult not to obsess over the size of your blog audience or podcast listenership.

I've gleefully watched my stats rise for Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter and for this blog as well, although I'm not quite sure where that glee comes from. Perhaps it's just the instant gratification or the whole "feeling like you've made a difference" thing. Perhaps it's just the yearning for true, two-way communication that those stats seem to validate--you are blogging/podcasting, and you can verify that others are reading/listening.

Or perhaps we're just obsessive. :-) Any thoughts?