Your Lifestream Sucks

Excellent post, I couldn't agree more.

good post

good post

good post

good post

Well aren't you being a Squidward now! LOL JK - Your question is indeed a burning one: Why is it seen as innovative when influential bloggers <strike>move to lifestreams as exclusive means of communication</strike> do anything that's already been done or been discussed?

because the web is becoming more real time and the tools to post content are becoming more abundant, there is more information and content on the web which people can read more of and obtain more ideas. All these ideas cannot all be put down on a blog unless u have a supported team in place.

Bravo. Well said Stuart.

Hi Stuart,
Agree - context, content and choice of an appropriate medium - all make for interesting social media. Sometimes its great to share an unfinished idea or a spur-of-the-moment observation. But not all the time!
I also think people should invest time learning how to use a medium and delivering value to their readers one at a time - instead of launching multiple accounts and blizzarding the same stuff or worse, nonsense!
Kudos for triggering off an interesting conversation here!
Cheers
Anita Lobo

I agree with your thinking, Stuart. Perhaps it is that longer forms of communication take more reflection and critical thinking. Both of these values take time to percolate. But we don't have time. It's all about who can report on the news first. It's all about what's happening now. Maybe some just run out of things to say in long-form. I think that's natural. But if your purpose for "lifestream" is to stay constantly in the mind of your audience, maybe that's just narcissistic.

long live long form

Here's my take: http://www.oldmedianewtricks.com/lifestreaming-...

Imagine a lifestream of an event -- a concert, a conference, whatever -- instead of reading together a blather of sometimes silly Tweets.

Just saying.

Great thoughts Stuart. And I agree with Edward, one of your best posts ever. Why? Because you ask very good, relevant questions. However, I hesitate to say your best ever. Why? As much as I appreciate you asking these questions, I'd also love to see you stretch out a bit more and try to answer them.

Don't think I'm trying to detract from what you write. It's obvious to see how you are improving every day with your blog, the results are tangible. Consider this gentle criticism & encouragement, a sign you're really moving up in the social media world!

As for the topic of your post, it's no doubt you and I would agree. We are both products of our generation, and one of the typical underlying themes of Generation Y is the appreciation of those who are real, authentic, genuine, whatever you want to call it. More than any other generation, we are willing to quickly look past stereotypes & taboos as long the knowledge we seek is going to be valuable to us personally in some way. This is a sign of progressive thinking. Men like Robert Scoble are progressive thinkers, but sometimes it's easy to get caught up in what we're doing, and Scoble is only human after all.

I'm glad you write about this stuff, it's important for thought leaders to hash this out, or nobody would do it. Just remember that this field is still very young (like us!) and we're all in this together, figuring it out together, one step at a time.

Keep up the great work!

truth will be somewhere in the middle - for me, blog remains center of all, augmented with various livestreams like twitter an friendfeed.

Another component will get more attention in the future: the commenting systems like Disqus and JS-kit: they enable the integration of these platforms.

One of your best posts. Cogent, clear and thoughtful. Hate to say it, but I actually agree. Has nothing to do with the technology, it's only about the content. In some ways the short form is a little self indulgent, simply says pay attention. Of course, the longer form is harder calls for more work and a greater responsibility to an audience who may be developing a shorter and shorter attention span. Doesn't it really come down to understanding your audience, what they want and need, how they prefer to interact and/or receive content from brands or individuals and then act accordingly? Whether we're marketing ourselves, our companies or our clients, seems that we should always start with our customer.

True...but I never looked at Calacanis as being a particularly adept blogger. Short form is where his strength is.

An avatar is a poor excuse for face to face interaction.

This statement=Win.

Looks like I may just gain a few more readers...

Thanks Mack. Always love hearing your thoughts on stuff like this. I want context and fleshed out thoughts damn it!

Exactly...context always wins over content in my opinion.

The funny thing is, I remember hearing how big lifestreaming was 2-3 years ago when iJustine and others were taking to using 'lifestreaming' tools. Now blogging early adopters seem to have caught up to this 'cutting edge' trend.

Over the past 4 years I've noticed two things: 1 - There are always people that want to be the first to proclaim that Tool X is going to be the next 'big thing', and 2 - There are always people that want to be the first to proclaim that Tool X is dead.

It's silly. Like I said on Twitter this morning, stop trying to come up with the new 'cool phrase' or try to call the death of the next tool, and just worry about sharing and teaching others. I don't care about your efforts to draw attention to yourself, I care about what you contribute to the larger community.

Great post man.

I can't say I disagree. I was wondering if Steve Rubel was basically scuttling all of the work he's done thus far in the hopes of being "current".

Personally, Lifestreaming is good, but only as long as people give that stream context by going back to a blog and fleshing everything out a little more. Important concepts deserve more than 140 character sound bites.

But hey: if the "Thought Leaders" want to run off and Lifestream, plenty of new readers for us second and third tier bloggers.

As you well know, I for one prefer the telephone and the lost art of telling the story with inflection, suspense, and engaging the audience on a deeper and more personal level.

All this wonderment of online.. cloud computing.. community.. SM.. sharing.. collaboration.. freeconomy.. Awesome tools to live alongside your life.. AWAY from the computer.

An avatar is a poor excuse for face to face interaction.

I think the most innovative thing that any new media luminary has done with their blog is what Calacanis has done - drop the mic and walk away. His infrequent emails are far better than his blog was, anyway, and his engagement with his audience has gone through the roof.

I'm with you, SF. The proclaimed ease of Lifestream seems to favor the streamer, not the followers.

I track the blogs and Tweets of people who interest me. The music, pictures, videos or Facebook friends they track have no context, and therefore no value to me.

The value of social media is in the details and data that interest us, not their aggregation. Maybe I'm missing something, but Lifestream seems to favor content over context and/or conversation.