The New York Times recently wrote a piece on lifestreaming. A lifestream is the story of your life told through an ongoing time-ordered stream of digital snippets. The most famous site for this is Twitter. And in the article, Brave New World of Digital Intimacy, they create several new vocabulary words to attach to this interesting new concept, and the way people have been connecting with each other via sharing lifestreams.
Ambient Awareness: The effect of individual bits of socialized information, which seem insignificant on their own, forming into a highly sophisticated portrait of the information provider, and allowing followers to gain a sort of ESP on the followed.
Co-presence: The effect of tiny updates in real time giving a feeling of intimacy, as if the users participating in the messaging were sitting side-by-side and acknowledging each others activity.
The article struck a cord with some of the Organics who are on Twitter, but especially those who have yet to join.

“I have two small kids, and I barely have time to send an email note, and even those are getting shorter and shorter. It seems silly to send such short notes by email, so I wait until I have time to either call or write a longer note — but then I end up not connecting at all. My best intent of connecting is backfiring.
For me, what stuck out about Twitter was the view on the connectedness with friends via little snippets over time that aggregate into an awareness and/or presence with people.”
Ellen Nearman

The article turned Ellen from a Twitter-skeptic into a Twitter-hopeful. But she wasn’t the only one affected. Many of us frequent Twitterers felt inspired to come up with a few of our own vocabulary words…
The Twitter Tabloid

“It’s a little addictive. I mean, if I follow Britney Spears on twitter, I might feel closer to her, but I’m not. It’s no different than reading about her in a magazine or in Perez Hilton’s blog. But it feels personal because it’s on my phone or my twitter page. I feel a bit like I’m in a virtual version of Rear Window. I know they left the curtains open and all but am I really supposed to be looking?”
Tracy Cote

Tweepsourcing

“Recently, I was at a Mashable party and everyone is Twitter about it. It was a great way to see how people felt about the party and whether or not you wanted to invest more time or not. At the same time, people were also Twittering (or Tweeting) about 2 other parties happening in SF that night. It was a great way to see if you were at the coolest party. It was such a great utility. Of course, maybe this just happens in SF.”
Marita Scarfi

While I haven’t experienced the draw of the Twitter Tabloid, I just recently Tweepsourced my vacation out to the Northwest with great results. It all comes back to the magic of “weak ties”. I might only have a few close friends who have been to Portland and Vancouver, let alone know it well enough to make recommendations. But with the power of Twitter and social networks, my social circle is far larger and more diverse than it ever has been.
Marta Strickland