This year Elon Musk and Clubhouse burst onto the scene. The Google Trends data on Clubhouse speaks volumes about the hype. After Clubhouse comes Linkedin, Reddit, Facebook and Twitter. Then there's Discord, of course, the audio first dark horse app hit chugs away in the background with 120 million users. (a more detailed trend comparison of Clubhouse vs Discord) And Podcasts. 1 Billion Weekly Listeners. All of this is not going without Mainstream attention. Washington Post this week wrote an article headlined: Video is so 2020. Now Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are going all in on audio. Why? Audio 2.0 is on the rise in 2021 because of 2021, not as a coincidence. 2021 has been one of the most disconnected eras of our modern history and with that we have collectively sought out ways to connect. If we consider disconnection as the pain point of the modern consumer, we as audio professionals need to deliver. This means a) acknowledging that the core power of audio is connection and b) building connection into our audio content. If there's one thing we've learned that makes us happy from its absence in the last 18 months - it's Community. More than anything, we crave the contact of other people. That's why Audio is enjoying a resurgence. It's audio's ability to connect and create community that we are attracted to. In Season 3 of Podcast Maps I discuss the backstory to the rise of Audio 2.0 and share examples of how technologies and audio content creators and engaging communities. I hope this helps you see audio for what it really can be - not as another content channel but as a powerful medium for us to create authentic connection in a very disconnected era.