PR managers now have more options than ever before for communicating directly with their customers. Social networks, blogs, Twitter, and digital video and imaging sites all provide new opportunities for a two-way brand conversation. As businesses — and consumers — have taken advantage of these channels, there is now an urgent need for companies to grow their digital interactions into valuable, meaningful relationships that break through the clutter. It’s simply not enough to just be in the digital space anymore. To create these relationships, businesses must provide reasons for customers to do business with them, media and other influencers to produce content about them and analysts to study them. They must paint a picture of the company, its goals and its employees in a dynamic way that brings the brand essence to life.

1. lifestream
Given the rapid adoption of social technologies, brand and
PR managers now have more options than ever before for
communicating directly with their customers. Social networks,
blogs, Twitter, and digital video and imaging sites all provide new
opportunities for a two-way brand conversation.
As businesses — and consumers — have taken advantage of these
channels, there is now an urgent need for companies to grow their
digital interactions into valuable, meaningful relationships that break
through the clutter. It’s simply not enough to just be in the digital space
anymore. To create these relationships, businesses must provide reasons
for customers to do business with them, media and other influencers
to produce content about them and analysts to study them. They must
paint a picture of the company, its goals and its employees in a dynamic
way that brings the brand essence to life.
If you watch the digital and social media space closely, you can observe
how people are evolving their digital storytelling using a new format:
the lifestream.
Lifestream | September 2009
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2. what is a lifestream?
A lifestream is an aggregated, chronological view of one’s digital — and in some cases,
analog — activities. Lifestreams can simply be used to keep track of Twitter updates, blog
posts, comments on other people’s blogs and other online activity, as well as real world
activity documented through photos and videos. Others use lifestreams to publish original
content — blog posts, photos, videos, etc. — and syndicate it on other services.
Lifestreams have implications for how brands and agencies monitor online conversations and
behaviors as well as for understanding how to enter the various social streams in authentic
ways. As a tool, lifestreaming translates well for companies, provided the stream is run in
an authentic way that’s aligned with consumer interests, rather than purely the company’s
interests. Brandstreams, a lifestream for a brand, will lead to customer interaction, but the
unique content you create through them are a powerful tool to create brand advocacy.
why lifestream?
The goal of a lifestream is to publish your online activity for others’ benefit. Lifestreaming
can help build social capital for your company or personal brand; it supplements and
aggregates one’s social media profiles.
Because it presents many different types of content, a lifestream can serve as the hub for
one’s digital existence. Twitter, for example, is a valuable tool for customer interaction and
customer service, but its text-only nature and character limits (140 characters per post, or
“Tweet”) make it difficult to share any thought in full. Third-party services such as TwitPic and
TwitVid add a more visceral component to Twitter, but that content cannot be viewed within
the actual Twitter framework.
A lifestream:
•
the goal of a
lifestream is to
publish one’s
online activity
for others’
benefit
S
treamlines the content production process. If you seek to republish
blog activity in other places, lifestreams are an easy way to do it.
•
S
erves as a social bookmarking site. If you read an interesting article
online, you can save that article in your lifestream for later reference
or to share with others.
• rovides a content management system for a blog. If you want to
P
write full-length blog posts, you can do so in a lifestream.
Lifestream | September 2009
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3. types of lifestreams
A lifestream can have one of two formats:
•
B
log: A blog-like lifestreaming service like Posterous or Tumblr is generally used to
syndicate content. Content can be pushed to various social media accounts, which link
back to the lifestream. Readers can comment on blog-like lifestreams.
•
F
eed: A feed-like lifestreaming service like FriendFeed aggregates your digital activity
in one place. Other users of the service can comment on feed-like lifestreams.
Because different services present content in different ways, your communications needs or
audience demands dictate the platform you should choose. Fig. 1 shows a basic spectrum of
some services and how they compare.
More Feed-like
© Weber Shandwick 2009
More Blog-like
fig. 1 - the lifestream spectrum
Facebook lies in the middle of the blog-like/feed-like spectrum because of its
flexibility; Facebook has the ability to track both on-site and off-site activity.
It has microblog functionality through status updates, blog functionality
through its Notes application, and displays recently-uploaded photos in
users’ News Feeds.
In short, a lifestream is whatever you want it to be.
Lifestream | September 2009
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4. socialstream vs. lifestream
A socialstream is a service that aggregates and displays others’ online activity into a
single interface for consumption and response. In contrast, a lifestream can not only
pull in activity — it can also push activity out to other sites.
Twitter, for instance, is a socialstream: it pulls Tweets from your friends into a single
interface. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) You can post your own Tweets to the stream, or you can
simply read others’ Tweets.
tweet
tweet
© Weber Shandwick 2009
tweet
Twitter
Stream
a socialstream
pulls in online
activity, but a
lifestream can
also push it out
As you can see, because Twitter is a socialstream,
individual Tweets are pulled into a single interface,
like so:
fig. 2 - the socialstream flow
fig. 3 - a twitter user’s home page
Lifestream | September 2009
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5. Many lifestreaming services not only pull in content, but syndicate content to other sites as
well. Therefore, a lifestream does not replace a socialstream, but integrates and enhances it,
as shown here:
story
link
photo
a lifestream
does not
replace a
socialstream
blog
post
facebook
wall post
link
tweeted
link
other
status
update
© Weber Shandwick 2009
Lifestream
fig. 4 - the lifestream flow
Many lifestreaming services can not only serve as a place to publish original content, but
can push that content out to your social networks of choice.
For example, if you post multiple photos to a single entry on Posterous, the service
creates a link for your page, and — if you choose to link it up with Twitter and
Facebook — it will:
•
A
dd the Posterous link to Twitter, along with the post’s headline,
in a published Tweet.
•
A
utomatically create a photo album on Facebook with
the pictures you uploaded.
Lifestream | September 2009
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6. Lifestream
content
Aggregate
content
from social
media
profiles
YOU
Syndicate
content
to social
media
profiles
Socialstream
content
© Weber Shandwick 2009
fig. 5 - the lifestream/socialstream cycle
Whether a lifestream or a storystream is the center of your social media presence —
it’s not an either/or question — a lifestream can centralize your socialstreams, and a
socialstream is a way to repurpose and republish your lifestream. Original content can
start from a lifestream or a socialstream, but it all becomes part of one’s digital
existence, which can be documented with a lifestream.
a lifestream
can centralize
your
socialstreams
Lifestream | September 2009
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7. creating a brandstream
A brandstream is a lifestream for a company or brand. Brandstreams help companies tell
their stories more effectively and distribute content on the web.
Whereas a lifestream typically has one author, a brandstream — depending on the size of
the company — may have multiple authors.
Brandstreams can be used both externally and internally, and can be authored by several
groups or departments within a company, including:
•
•
•
•
Communications team
Product development group
Company executives
Customer service team
Depending on who runs the brandstream, its focus can be on anything from product news to
customer service issues, to thought leadership. However, it must be focused, and depending
on audience needs, its author(s) should be an active part of the social web. If the site’s
authorship lies away from the company’s communication team, it should still serve a major
role in the brandstream’s planning stages.
types of brandstreams
© Weber Shandwick 2009
There are four categories of brandstreams:
mixed
brandstream
corporate
brandstream
fun
brandstream
eventstream
storystream
Lifestream | September 2009
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8. corporate brandstream
Companies that are new to social media may benefit from a brandstream. Because of its immediacy, a
brandstream can function as a more emotionally engaging version of the typical company blog. It can
be a valuable way to aggregate and publish all sorts of news and information about the company and
its leaders.
The following may be incorporated into a corporate brandstream:
1. ompany announcements. Press releases and other news can be posted in blog form on a
C
brandstream. Most lifestreaming services allow for on-site commenting, which can continue
a conversation. Product releases, announcements and updates can also be included on a
corporate brandstream.
2. uarterly and annual reports. A brandstream is an easy way to collect and publish a company’s
Q
quarterly and annual report calls for people to listen to and/or download.
3.
Company “X” in the news. If the company makes the news, or if one of the company’s leaders
is quoted in an article, you can provide a link in the brandstream. Promote the fact that your
company is smart. Promote the fact that your leaders are smart.
your company makes the news in a negative way, a brandstream will give you a forum in
If
which to post a response. If you go this route, be sure to post your response quickly.
Whenever possible, use multimedia to give a face and a voice to your company.
4. ndustry trends. If you see any articles or reports detailing a recent trend in your
I
business, write up a point-of-view document as quickly as possible and post it to
the brandstream.
5. ompany thought leadership. If you have an employee or executive who is
C
revolutionizing your company or industry, write about it. Interview them.
Post some audio and/or video. Once again, put a face on
your company.
Lifestream | September 2009
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9. provide content
that your
customers and
audience can
relate to
fun brandstream
Do you want to give consumers and prospective employees a peek into what life is really
like at your company?
If this is the case, you may want to loan the brandstream keys to your employees and give
them free rein to talk about whatever’s on their mind: a new hire, an article on their favorite
blog — anything.
The key to maintaining a successful fun brandstream is providing content that your
customers and audience can relate to. If your customers feel they have a connection with
your brand and the people behind it, they may be more likely to do business with you.
Therefore, fun brandstream posts should be a bit personal. After all, employees make a
company special. (The Tweetdeck brandstream is a great example.1)
The following may be incorporated into a fun brandstream:
1. hotos, videos and audio from company events or around the office.
P
Make your customers feel like they’re behind the scenes at your company.
2. hat your employees are doing, thinking, reading and watching. If you have a
W
company social bookmarking account on Delicious, or if your employees are sharing
links, post them on the brandstream to share with your audience.
3.
Customer-centric content. Companies that have a customer base of rabid fans
may benefit from acknowledging their supporters through interviews, profiles and
other editorial content. A good example is USA Today Pop Candy blogger Whitney
Matheson’s “Reader of the Day” posts.2
4. Socialstream content. Tweets from a company or employee Twitter account, YouTube
videos and other content can all be aggregated on your brandstream, either as a new
post3, or in an integrated widget.
Lifestream | September 2009
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10. mixed brandstream
Mixed brandstreams are a combination of the serious and fun sides
of a company. They are a place for company news and information, and
a place for the company to let its hair down — a bit.
Components of both corporate and fun brandstreams may be incorporated into
a mixed brandstream.
eventstream storystream
An eventstream is a lifestream created for a particular event, comprised of multiple posts that tell
the story of that event. Eventstreams can be either personal or professional, and can be managed by
single or multiple authors.
A storystream helps bring to light, through a chronological narrative, a particular issue, concept or
process over a more significant period of time than an eventstream typically covers.
There are several differences between eventstreams and storystreams:
1. Duration. An eventstream is usually shorter than a storystream.
2. requency. An eventstream usually comprises many posts over a short period of time. With a
F
storystream, posts may be much less frequent.
An eventstream can be created for
any type of event, including:
A storystream can be used to document
the following:
• Conferences
• Concerts
• Picnics
• Protests
• particular issue in the news, such as
A
breast cancer research
• Training for a marathon
• woman’s pregnancy
A
The terms eventstream and storystream are used interchangably in some circumstances, such as when
they are used to chronicle a multi-day conference, or when they are used for journalistic purposes.4
Lifestream | September 2009
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11. conclusion
Lifestreams and brandstreams are connected to, but distinct from, socialstreams. And there is
a service to fulfill your particular need.
If you’re looking to publish a lot of content, you may want to use a service like Posterous,
Storytlr or Tumblr, which allow for both short and long posts and have the ability to include
multimedia content (e.g. photos, video) on the page.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to aggregate your external content (blog posts, Tweets,
etc.) in a single interface and export it on a single feed, FriendFeed may be a good choice.
Facebook’s large user base and the ease of user interaction make it a good option for people
or brands who want to communicate with others directly on the feed, and don’t consider
content publishing a priority. If you don’t think your audience is lifestreaming yet, there’s a
good chance it will be soon.
A lifestream or brandstream might not be right for every company and every brand. To
determine how and if you should apply this type of communication to your brand or
corporation — and ensure that it’s aligned with your audience’s interests — follow these three
basic steps:
1. Determine your needs. Are you looking to communicate directly with your current
customers? Are you looking to bring in new business? Your business needs will help
shape the type(s) of content you need to produce.
2. Determine your format. Are you looking to publish more original content? Aggregate
other content into one stream? A lifestreaming service may be well-equipped to display
your content, original or aggregated.
3. Determine where the content will live. Will it live internally or externally? Will it live in
an internet press room? If you create a brandstream blog, how will you promote it?
In order to pick the lifestreaming service that’s right for your brand, you must first determine
your objectives. Work with your company’s communication and web professionals to
determine your needs and find the site to help you accomplish your goal.
1.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy “Pop Candy”
3.
http://pomwonderful.tumblr.com “Pom Wonderful!”
4.
Contact:
http://tweetdeck.posterous.com “Tweetdeck’s Posterous”
2.
http://austinheat.posterous.com “A Day in the Sun,” Austin American-Statesman
Daniel Honigman
312 988 2428
dhonigman@webershandwick.com
Lifestream | September 2009
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