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A workstream is a live updated record of work you’ve completed. When doing group work with remote colleagues, it allows you to keep track of what everyone else is doing. When working solo, it helps you keep track of your own productivity. You can learn more about workstreams in the free sample chapter of Connect! by Anne Zelenka of Web Worker Daily.

Adding an item to your workstream can help the achievement of finishing a task hit home. It can also help keep separate tasks mentally distinct and prevent them from bleeding into one another.

A workstream is quick and easy to set up. As it turns out, an account at any good microblogging service has the potential to become a quick and easy workstream. In this post, I want to provide some simple steps you can follow to start workstreaming with microblogs.

Which one is best for workstreaming?

I actually think any quality microblogging service (like Twitter, Tumblr and Soup.io) could be used as a workstream. For convenience sake, it makes sense to use a service you don’t usually use to avoid having to switch between accounts every time you want to update. My favorite microblogging service is Tumblr but, since I already use it regularly, I have a private workstream on Soup.io to avoid this problem. I find it works just fine for text updates and links.

Workstreaming with Tumblr and Soup

These are the two microblogging services besides Twitter I’ve had enough experience with to write about and recommend confidently. I’m sure the others share similar features but to avoid the guide getting bloated, I’ll be discussing Tumblr and Soup.io here.

Tumblr would be my first choice of these two because it allows for text, photos, quotes, links, chats and videos on the fly, whereas Soup.io only supports on the fly adding of links and quotes, meaning I have to go to my dashboard to make text updates, rather than being able to update from anywhere. For me, this is still preferable to switching between accounts.

Here are some suggestions for workstreaming with different input formats:

Text (Tumblr and Soup.io) — descriptions of tasks you’ve completed, tasks you aim to complete today, tasks you are currently working on, reflections on tasks.

Images (Tumblr and Soup.io) — screenshots of work, graphics you’ve designed, sketches, photography work.

Links (Tumblr and Soup.io) — links to published and finished work, links to resources, useful tutorials.

Quotes (Tumblr and Soup.io) — reproduce quotes relevant to your work, use quotes to designate notes to yourself or to colleagues.

Video (Tumblr and Soup.io) — share or save video diaries, video work or video relevant to what you or your colleagues are doing.

Chat (Tumblr only) — share or save work-related chat.

Workstreaming with Twitter

The minimalist option, workstreaming with Twitter will restrict your items to 140 characters.

Using Twitter has both advantages and disadvantages.

Pros

• Minimalist expression means you’re unlikely to spend too much time perfecting your workstream.
• Text and links are quick and easy to interact with.
• Twitter’s interface is well-suited to group workstreaming.

Cons

• Limited input formats.
• Detailed entries are difficult.

Workstreaming with Twitter is less flexible than using Soup.io or Tumblr, but it would be less tempting to fuss around with.

Which one’s best for workstreaming in a group?

Twitter really hits its stride in a group workstreaming situation. You can add only workstreaming colleagues to your dedicated profile, meaning your updates will live update along with theirs. It also allows for communication through the Twitter interface.

If you’re using Tumblr or Soup.io, your group will need to subscribe to the RSS feed of each microblog profile to receive updates. If you want to communicate, you’re unable to do this without opening another interface.

If you want to workstream and communicate heavily as a group, Twitter seems like the best choice. Group workstreaming through a feed reader is ideal if you want to check up on your group’s workstream once or twice a day and be done with it.

Private workstreaming

A workstream only you can access allows you to record useful, confidential details like how much you earned for completing a task, honest reflections on work and so on.

All the services evaluated in this post lend themselves to private workstreaming, but with varying levels of security. Twitter allows you to protect your updates under the settings tab.

Soup.io and Tumblr don’t allow you to hide your profile, so the best you can do is pick a URL that wouldn’t be obvious to anyone snooping (i.e, not your name!). Using Tumblr, you can also tell it not to ping the blogosphere or promote you in the Tumblr directory. It is possible that Tumblr and Soup.io entries could appear in search results. If you’re very concerned about privacy, an invite only Twitter profile is probably your best match.

Related links:

• Good microblogging services — Twitter, Tumblr, Soup.io, Pownce, Jaiku.
• Twitter as virtual shared office space.
• Lifestreaming.

Photo by TheBusyBrain.