Google Buys Jaiku, Lifestreams Go Mainstream

Disclosure, Jaiku is a client of FutureWorks and all opinions here are my own.

Jaiku confirmed today that Google *hearts* the lifestream/microblog underdog, officially announcing that the previous rumors of a potential acquisition were true.

The first question that I've been asked over and over again was why didn't Google acquire Twitter and whether or not I think Yahoo will be forced to respond with the acquisition of Twitter or Pownce.

While those discussions are indeed interesting, I think that the conversation should focus on something much more than merely posturing for market share, stock valuation, or business strategy.

From a communications perspective, I think the most interesting angle is why Jaiku, and platforms like it, will evolve to take a much larger and more important role in how we broadcast thoughts, activity, milestones, information, tidbits, and content related to our personal and professional lives.

Remember, Jaiku and Twitter are very different and the reasons for the acquisition go way beyond the narrow topic of microblogging.

As I've written in the past, Twitter and Jaiku are similar in only the most basic features. Jaiku is about lifestreaming, social aggregation, presence, and conversations combined with location-based beacons (Nokia users), whereas Twitter's strength is in its simplicity for updates as well as conversations.

With Google's acquisition of Jaiku, the art of lifestreams, presence, and social aggregation takes center stage, serving as a validation for the new medium and ultimately enabling people to foster existing and new relationships at levels not before possible.

Social aggregation is becoming more prevalent as waves of people start to embrace multiple, simultaneous facets of Social Media. For example, I use Jaiku, Facebook, Tumblr and also Yahoo Mash as my satellites for channeling all of my online activity into one one river of relevance, which ultimately funnel into one unified online personal brand. Each stream is populated by the multiple nodes that define my online persona including, PR 2.0, bub.blicio.us, delicious, dopplr, upcoming, Last.fm, Twitter, Pownce, flickr, YoutTube among many networks that produce a feed.

This is not unlike the popular News Feed feature in Facebook or Yahoo Mash and soon to be a common component of many social tools. Basically the News Feeds aggregates all of your activity and the interaction with your profile within the network and channels it into one stream for people to see on your page as well as in their overall stream of the combined activity of everyone in your network.

Jaiku and Tumblr however, are channels devoted to broadcasting all social activity across all of your social networks.

While there is a crossover of people who choose to follow me across every network, the majority of my friends are distinct for each aggregate stream. People can choose which "news feeds" they choose to follow based on my activity within specific networks.

This is so much more than the purported"social graph," which is the buzz word of the moment " it's about people and the technology available to help me cultivate relationships.

At the end of the day, these tools help me expand my reach, brand, opinions, and experience by going directly to the communities where my peers congregate.

I earn the friends that I deserve.

As the market evolves, lifestreams akd workstreams will become pervasive for not just personal activity, but also business applications including corporate communication, customer service, entertainment, promotion, and support. If done right, this helps strengthen

How ever Google chooses to nurture Jaiku's technology and network, it will only be a greater example of how technology is facilitating more sophisticated and personal global conversations between friends, associates, customers, and peers.

For more information, please read:

Lifestreams channel online activity, creating rivers of relevance.

Facebook is the online hub for your personal brand

Connect on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce or Facebook.

jaiku twitter google microblog bub.blicio.us
tumblr lifestream pownce social+network pr pr2.0 pr+2.0 public+relations communications microblog flow workstream river+of+relevance riverofrelevance