Charlene Li, Forrester Research blogger, reported recently that podcasting is not catching on like people thought it would. (Okay, she said it lot more researchy than that, but that’s the gist.)

When you spend too much time analyzing the numbers of a thing you miss so much. Blogs, RSS and podcasts have given small business marketers another way to communicate with markets. Maybe it’s not the biggest way, but it is another tool to communicate and connect.

People who go on about the demise of the once hot trend usually have no idea how people are really using the technology – guess what, it’s not in ways that you can measure in a lab.

Research reports from organizations like Forrester hardly mean much to the typical small business, but the overall tone of the report could discourage some from even exploring the new mediums, and that would be a shame.

Small businesses that use new media tools to find prospects, serve customers, elevate their expert status, create referrals, build communities, generate leads, increase search engine traffic and easily build libraries of content may never get measured in the research reports but, they will forever change the conversations they are having with their markets.