How Do You LifeStream?

This is part 1 of a 5 part series on LifeStreaming.

Let me start off by giving you my explanation of Lifestreaming. To me, Lifestreaming is the collection and presentation of all the footprints I leave on or off the Internet. Things that may be part of a life stream are RSS feeds from your blogs, you bookmarks or photos. You may also collect things like web clips, video, audio, presentations, other blog feeds, chats and more. The amount of data you can collect in your life stream can be incredible.

My first introduction to LifeStreaming was justin.tv, this crazy guy who wears an always on video camera and streams it out to the Internet. I still think its a little over the top, but that's because I would never do it. But what I did learn was people are voyeurs. They want to know a little about you. They want to see what you do and how you do it. They want to see where you've been and what you did there. They might even find some type of social connection because of what you present in your life stream.

There are hundreds of ways to capture and present your life streams. I'm currently using Tumblr, which isn't 100% reliable, but does what I want. Together with Yahoo! Pipes I've created a Tumblr blog that reads a single RSS feed that mashes up all my blogs, links, social chats and photos. It's currently the number one offsite link on my blog.

So the question I'm asking, Do You LifeStream, is really something I want you to evaluate. First, is this for you? That's the big question. The second question becomes what will you present in your life stream? If you decide to create a life stream, you need to look at several things:

1. Where will I present my life stream?


2. What will I include in my life stream?


3. Who will I let see my life stream?


4. What can I do with a life stream?

Let's take #1. I suggest you take some time to look at lifestreamblog.com and learn about the various platforms available. It can be as easy as adding the links to your existing blog or building something completely separate. Depending on your blogs focus it may be worth creating a different site just for your life stream.

Item #2, What are you going to include? I would say start off small then build up from there. Include you blog posts, flickr posts, and maybe your Twitter tweets. Once you've had a chance to see how it works then you can expand to other options.

Item #3 is pretty important. If you are building a life stream that is public, you need to make more secure decisions on what you present. If this is a private life stream, maybe something only your family or friends have access too, you may be a little more liberal. In either case, just be careful what you present because once it's out there it's hard to remove it.

Item #4 is a great question. The initial thought of a life stream was just to collect all the various bits of information I created or was interested in presenting. But now I see people creating life streams on social sites where advertising or other monitization exists. If you're ok with someone else making money off your data great, if not find a solution you control.

LifeStreaming can be fun. I've learned a lot and am now expanding my life stream to include other data bits that create something I can make available as a personal journal for my family.

In the next couple of series we'll look at specific solutions and where you can find your bits to include in you life stream.

If you are already LifeStreaming, post a comment here with a link to your stream, or tell us how you life stream.

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Honoring American Veterans

I had the privilege of serving in the United States Marine Corps twenty something years ago. It was one of the best things I could have ever done. Countless thousands have served before and after me. But there is one common factor among all of us; our desire to keep America free. The reality of our time is the necessity of a strong defense. Whether it was you or someone you know, average Americans become extra ordinary by taking on the responsibility to defend the very freedom each of us enjoys.

We could get into a bunch of political debates about where our Country is, but that's not what today is all about. Honoring our Veterans is the moral and appropriate thing to do. If it were up to me all Veterans would get the day off with pay for the rest of their lives. It's important that we remember these people, where might we be without someone willing to put their life before yours?

Thank you, every vet, past and present, for your honorable service and sacrifice. Many are not with us and while it's heart breaking, we know that with out their actions we would not enjoy what we have today.

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Great Links From The Past Week

Here are some great links I came across during this past week.

1. Resolve Conflict Quickly with The Four Agreements. I've read this book before. It's fairly small, both in diameter and number of pages. But the content is very strong.


2. Blog World Expo - Day 1 Recap. My good friend Ash Buckles spent a few days at the Blog world Expo in Las Vegas. Here is his take on the first day.


3. Term Sheet for an LLC vs. a Corporation. This was a very relevant post seeing how I'm facing that exact question right now. Perfect timing and great advice.


4. Advertisers- This is Sexy. Chris caught an ad from Blackberry that was inconspicuously part of the layout. He didn't need to click on anything the advertiser was relying on the fact the name would stick with the reader.


5. Getting Too Old? Dye Your Hair Before The Interview! Jason caused some ruckus around the blogosphere with this post. It's pretty good.


6. Guy Kawasaki - 5 Books you Must Read. I'm glad Janet captured the books Guy suggested, I had to walk out of the presentation just as he was naming them off.

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Listen to Cadillac Slim by Rick Braun

This morning I was jammin to some great Jazz. I hadn't really listened to this track all the way through. I felt the beginning was a little slow for me, just didn't reach and grab me. However, I finished listening to it this morning, and you are treated one of the best Bass solos I've heard. This is great. I love the flow and style. Please, just listen, I promise you won't be disappointed.

You can also watch the YouTube video here.

Rick Braun
"Cadillac Slim" (mp3)
from "Sessions volume 1"
(ARTizen Media Group)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

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Facebook Pages Get You Noticed

Facebook recently launched a new feature to their fairly closed site called Pages. Everyone is hung up on the advertising part of pages. But, a savvy networker can create a page as an external profile. Unless you are a Facebook member you really can't see much. But now with a Page you can create something everyone can see. Let's try it out:



As you can see from the image above, when you try and access my Facebook profile you just get a login page. Not real cool but that's how it is. Now, if you create a Page in your Facebook account you can have some public information exposed including a picture and some summary information:



The area in red to the right is where I think Facebook should allow for additional content. When you are logged into Facebook there are several sections of details.

The bottom area in red is where you are able to provide some type of summary information. A web site link, a description, a mission statement and product information. You could however set your page up to provide links to several of your web sites, a little about you and maybe what you do for a living.

This isn't a perfect solution but at least someone can see who you are without actually being a member. There is one draw back to this though, no vanity URL, mine looks like this, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6351869262, and I'm not sure how search engine friendly that is. You could do some type of domain forwarding like profile.digitalthom.com and point to this page but it seems like a lot of work.

Here is a link to iJustine's Facebook page. Here is her blog post about it.

Oh, and what would be really cool, is to put an invitation to join Facebook on your profile page. You really can't get the full experience unless you're a member. And being a member of Facebook isn't a bad thing.

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