I recently created another blog on Posterous but I wasn’t really sure why I would need it. To fill you in on what Posterous is, the tagline from the homepage: “is the dead simple place to post everything. just email us.” And after all, my tagline and the purpose of this blog states:
I’m here to learn, to teach and to connect!
Therefore, I consider adding another blogging platform to my social media arsenal, as a golden opportunity to share the experience with my readers.
Why use Posterous?
I like the clean look and feel of the template I’m using on Posterous. I find it a very easy alternative to the seemingly endless stream of widgets and themes found on WordPress.com. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the the multitude of features here, it’s just that there are times when I want sharing to be less complicated. Using Posterous I compose entire posts in an email, send it off and I’m done.
What is Lifestreaming?
I did some searches for Posterous and found this article by Mark Krynsky at his lifestreamblog, My Thoughts on Posterous as a Lifestreaming Platform. He uses this graphic to compare Lifestreaming with Posterous.
Lifestreaming or Posterous
Mark does an excellent job of describing both concepts and illustrating how they are different with this graphic. Lifestreaming sounds like such a cool thing to do, how can any social media addict like myself (and you of course) resist. On the other hand, Mark concludes that although Posterous bloggers have recently added some very intriguing content well worth exploring, Posterous remains on the opposite end of the Lifestream funnel.
It simply feeds into your Lifestream just like Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, Diigo, YouTube and all of your other social outlets.
Some alternatives that more closely match the definition of Lifestreaming are Tumblr, MyBlogLog and FriendFeed.
Additional insights on Posterous can be found in this post from David Breshears Posterous in the Lifestream.
Why do I need a Lifestream?
I like the logic found on this excerpt taken from Dana Lookadoo
Your online social network sharing is your lifestream, your vapor trail. I’m happy to share my trail, knowing it will be indexed in search engines. Actually, I’m counting on it!
Lifestream – Sharing Your Online Activity.
It reminds me of Biz Markie’s rap song “ The Vapors“. You can catch my vapors on FriendFeed for now.
Leave your comments and let me know if you have created a vapor trail (or lifestream) and where to find it.
Smooches!
UPDATE: A related post with a list of lifestreaming resources can be found on Haleybradshaw’s blog
Does Postereous send to Blogger – is that a part of “other social outlets”….this is interesting.
Would you consider this to be the KISS method for blogging?
Good piece, informative.
By: E. Marie on 10/31/2009
at 9:31 am
Thanks for the kudos.
Yes, you can autopost from Postereous to blogger. See the list of services you can autopost to here: http://posterous.com/autopost
It is indeed the KISS method. Let me know where I can catch your vapors!
By: ileaneb on 10/31/2009
at 9:59 am
Interesting concept, and it seems new words are being coined every day to keep up with social networking technology. I got a huge vapor trail – twitter to facebook to goodreads to yahoo groups to amazon – my blog syndicates to probably a dozen sites I have and they all drive traffic to each other. Pretty cool. But this posterous thingy sounds really interesting. I’ll check it out.
Marvin D Wilson
By: theoldsilly on 10/31/2009
at 6:55 pm
Old Silly,
Hey, thanks for the comment. I know, it’s hard to keep up with all your vapors. LOL! Do you use FriendFeed?
By: ileaneb on 11/01/2009
at 2:38 am
Friendfeed? No – new one on me … I’ll have to check it out – one simply cannot have too large of a vapor trail!
The Old Silly
By: Marvin D Wilson on 11/03/2009
at 12:25 pm
Ms. Ileane, thank you for sharing my Lifestream and my own little perspective. It’s amazing how our Lifestreams are each unique canvases upon which we are painting with each social media post, tweet, bookmark, vote.
I have intended for month now to test out Posterous as a feed. You motivated me to learn more, and I’m excited to learn of you and how you are sharing your social media journey.
Question, your http://msileanespeaks.posterous.com/ account has “msileanespeaks” at the beginning. Posterous says they assign the blog name based on the 1st email posted. Is “msileanespeaks” the user name of the email you used to first post there (msileanespeaks@#####.com) or the identity “from” attribute of the email?
Appreciate your insight!
Thanks again and nice to meet you!
By: Dana Lookadoo on 10/31/2009
at 10:17 pm
Hi Dana,
Nice to meet you too and I’m so glad you stopped by.
I’m not 100% sure about the steps I took to get my choice of user name on Postereous. I do remember that I signed up and the account and it just sat there for a couple of weeks before I posted anything. I didn’t use email for the first post I added since it was actually a re-post from my blogger (I know, I know – I have way to many blogs). Bottom line is that I suspect I picked (or changed) the name when I established the account.
I hope we can talk again soon. Thanks.
By: ileaneb on 11/01/2009
at 1:44 am
You are light years ahead of me with social media. I have to catch up. Very interesting post. I will have to read up on it a bit more. Happy to see you are Social Media butterfly.
See you soon
By: Camari on 11/04/2009
at 7:57 pm
Nice to see you here old friend. Anytime you have questions just let me know. Thanks so much for the “butterfly” comment!
By: ileaneb on 11/04/2009
at 8:03 pm
Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.
By: Peter on 11/05/2009
at 1:53 am
this is great. i might take a second look at posterous
By: Logan on 11/06/2009
at 1:59 pm
Logan, thanks for stopping by. Glad you liked the post.
By: ileaneb on 11/06/2009
at 2:47 pm
Excellent post, Ileane. I signed up for a Posterous account sometime last year, but haven’t done much about it. I should probably have another look. After all, we are all learning, aren’t we? Best regards.
By: Romy C on 11/06/2009
at 6:18 pm
Hi Romy C. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Let me know how to find you on Posterous so that I can subscribe. Chat with you soon.
By: ileaneb on 11/07/2009
at 10:11 am
Looks interesting…I wonder how do you manage to keep up with such a large number of sites…
By: Gouri on 11/08/2009
at 4:10 pm
Gouri, I know, I spend way too much time on the internet, but I’m having fun. lol
Thanks for stopping by.
By: ileaneb on 11/08/2009
at 4:23 pm
Great blog!!! I feel so inferior. I’ve subscribed to the feed. Great stuff!
By: yourpetstoreblog on 11/08/2009
at 10:06 pm
Cool. Glad you enjoyed your visit here. Thank you.
By: ileaneb on 11/08/2009
at 10:24 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ileane: Postereous – Lifestreaming or Not?: http://ow.ly/xXYu http://wp.me/pAvrk-f7...
By: uberVU - social comments on 11/09/2009
at 11:00 am
You say: it’s just that there are times when I want sharing to be less complicated.
I Say: try using quickpress from within wordpress. You should also try having your own wordpress blog, not the self hosted one. Posterous is pointless, my content on their site so that I send them more people which in turn grows their traffic?
By: Zahid Lilani on 11/13/2009
at 7:55 pm
Zahid,
Thanks for your input. There is only one problem, I did not set up my access to quick press yet and besides on my WordPress blog I like to use all of the formatting tools (like more tags, headings, etc). I don’t think you can access the “kitchen sink” from quickpress (see http://wp.me/pAvrk-8Y).
I don’t have a self-hosted blog, but I think you meant to say just the opposite. FYI – I like free stuff!!
Even though you don’t like Posterous, please feel free to visit my blog there, I have some good post there that you might like.
Thanks for stopping by!
By: ileaneb on 11/13/2009
at 11:54 pm
Found your blog through Mitchell Allen and I am subscribing. Thanks for the link to lifestreaming resources.
By: Sharon Hurley Hall on 11/16/2009
at 6:09 am
Hi Sharon,
Great to meet you. I’m on your site now, thinking “What a great idea!”
I followed you back on Twitter also.
Mitch is such an amazing guy. I am honored that he added me to his list of Linkable Ladies http://su.pr/2xmi3n#.
See you in Twitterville!
By: ileaneb on 11/16/2009
at 6:21 am
I like this article. And the graphic is terrific. Gives the correct picture of what Posterous is all about
By: Nish on 11/28/2009
at 10:29 am
Hi, thanks for visiting my blog. The credit for the graphic goes to Mark Krynsky, I’m just glad I was able to find it. Please visit again soon.
By: ileaneb on 11/28/2009
at 11:02 am