What Is Lifestreaming? And Why Should You Do It?

If you’re “into” the world of social media and online social networking then lifestreaming is, I’m sure, not a new concept for you. You’ll have heard of blogs of course and you’re also probably on Twitter, Facebook and maybe you even use FriendFeed. You’re already streaming aspects of your life to the world at large and anyone can dip in and out of what you’re up to at any given moment.

If you’re a relative novice to this weird and wonderful world of online communities, then lifestreaming might seem an unnecessary, frivolous and utterly stupid waste of time.

Who is really interested in reading what you’re doing every day? Does it matter? Who cares?

Me? I love lifestreaming. I have multiple blogs, I’m a daily Twitterer, I use Facebook, FriendFeed and now I even have a totally separate lifestream using the cool new tool, Posterous (more on that later). My dedicated lifestream is like a mini blog – updates on what I’m doing throughout the day, pics to prove it and sometimes random thoughts and feeling that pop into my head.

Why? Ultimately because I want to and I enjoy it – which is also why I blog. I have so many things to say – a constant stream of thoughts, comments and observations – running through my head that if I didn’t express them somewhere they would very likely drive me mad inside my own head. Now I have multiple means to express them and drive others mad too.

However there are other, more pragmatic reasons for lifestreaming which include:

• As we live overseas and often thousands of miles from most of our friends and family, it’s an easy way to share what we’re up to in our lives. Facebook, in particular, is also a great way to keep up to date with what they’re doing too.
• Whilst our location independent, work from anywhere lifestyle isn’t all that exciting on a day-to-day basis, many people are curious about what we do, how we earn money and what this lifestyle entails. I’m happy to share all of it, however mundane, if it’s useful to even just one person.
• Lifestreaming is really just an online diary/journal; it’s a nice, personal recollection of your own life which you can choose to share with others or keep private if you wish.
• If you do run a business like ours, which relies on people trusting you enough to work with you without ever having met you, then lifestreaming provides them with an excellent window into your world.

Lifestreaming isn’t for everyone – and I know some people react in horror to suggestion that they share their life with ‘virtual strangers’. That’s the best bit though…lifestreaming helps you to turn those strangers into friends.

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