What is lifestream?

So what the heck is "lifestream"? According to lifestream blog 

In it’s simplest form it’s a chronological aggregated view of your life activities both online and offline.  It is only limited by the content and sources that you use to define it.

My life on the web?

Whooaa Nellie!!!  I have been extremely cautious about posting personal information on the web.  My personal life is mine ... it's private and quite distinct from my professional life.  I'm reluctant to share details of my personal life beyond trusted friends and family.  On FaceBook my page is spartan. I use LinkedIn cautiously.  I think before I tweet.  Privacy is important to me - especially personal data privacy.  

All those bloggers and social media nuts streaming the minutia of theirs lives on-line seems really odd to most of us.  Sure it's "kinda cool", but who would want to do that?  Five years ago who would have thought that millions of grandparents would be FaceBook friends sharing pictures and status updates?  The times are changing. Fast!

Know you, like you, trust you

John Jantsch says we all want to do business with people we know, like, and trust.  If you need insurance, an eye doctor, or just about anything else you're likely to ask friends and colleagues for recommendations.  These are your friends - people you know and trust.  Merchants and professionals with good reputations get a lot of business from word-of-mouth referrals.  As we increasingly go online for goods and services how can you develop that same level of trust with people you've never met?  Social media sites like LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter make it easy to have lots of online friends.  Are these people we can trust when it comes to making important purchasing decisions for our businesses?

Lifestream for business

If your perspective customers are online rather than playing golf at the country club how will they get the information they need to know, like, and trust you?  Enter the lifestream.  Social media marketing guru Justin Levy recently explained that he purposely puts a substantial amount of personal information on his blog site so people can learn who he is.  By providing more than the standard business bio visitors to Justin's blog can learn about Justin's cooking blog Prime Cuts, work as a restaurantuer, interest in Jay-Z, follow his twitter stream, or learn about some of his professional interests.  For Justin putting his lifestream on the web allows people to get to know, like, and trust him ... on their on terms, as they need.  That's a compelling business case for putting your lifestream on the web.

Update:

This article by Susan Payton is a good illustration how people are using social media information to approach journalists - HOW TO: Use Social Media in Your PR Pitch Plan

http://mashable.com/2009/10/12/social-media-pr-pitch/