Livestreaming has arrived.

In my last post, I talked about dark social, one of the two seemingly diametrical evolving trends in the digital space. Now I want to talk about live everywhere.

Don’t confuse the livestream with video.

Video has been a hot trend on marketers’ Top 10 lists for a few years. (Which of course begs the question of just how trendy it can possibly be.) While lots of people see video as a shiny object, it’s really a tactic in the marketing toolbox. A form of content. Another way to package content, educate and entertain your audience, and get your message out.

To be clear, video is really important. It’s not going anywhere. But video’s a static medium. You create it, and then I watch, comment on, and/or share what I’ve seen.

Livestreaming is about engagement.

I touched briefly on the concept of instant video streaming in your brand is live. But that description is incomplete. The medium is streaming — and the technology that preserves your event is video. But the livestream isn’t about the video.

It’s about the “live” piece.

What makes a livestream new is that it connects the video + the conversation. A bit like live TV for everyone. Periscope, Facebook Live, and Blab are examples of apps that enable you to broadcast, people to watch and comment live, and you to respond, take questions, and otherwise engage with your audience.

I used Periscope to give my Twitter audience an idea of what it was like walking around in the middle of DC’s monster snowstorm earlier this year. I used Facebook Live just the other day to get friends there to join me in wishing my brother a happy birthday.

The home hub is dead.

I think livestreaming is going to be really, really valuable as it moves from the bleeding edge into the mainstream. It’s why Twitter paid for the right to stream NFL games — and why the NFL wants a streaming partner.

I’ve decided to test it out. Step 1 was to develop a content calendar, and now I need to figure out the best times to hold my first livestreams around these topic areas:

• the home hub is dead
• our macrowiki world
• our algorithmic overlords

Stay tuned for details. I’ll be using Blab, which is really easy to access by connecting your Twitter or Facebook account — and mostly idiot proof to use. Hopefully you’ll join me on this journey.

And, of course, we can also talk about how to use livestreaming in your business.