I just decloaked @alevin for the Socialtext Signals launch, with ambivalence. There are two main reasons I was private. I tweet about trivia sometimes — farmers market visits, workouts, misadventures with car repair. I know that’s supposed to be sympathetic and human and “good for the personal brand” but darn it, I’m an introvert. I feel much more comfortable sharing trivia with people who know me, even a little, and who have chosen to pay attention. And I hate spammers and MLM scum with a passion. I hate to think they get whuffie by following me.
But public tweeting makes it easier to participate in the public conversation, so here goes.
1. I’d argue you get negative whuffie from following. You need followers plus good tweets to compensate for following a lot of people. Else you get a bad rep (== bad whuffie)
2. Twitter seems pretty good at kicking spammers these days. The spammers I’ve reported have been gone within a day. http://help.twitter.com/forums/23786/entries/18398
3. I’m enjoying Facebook a lot for all the reasons you are ambivalent about Twitter
Chip, I really like Twitter, for the conversation much more than for the fame. I’m just uneasy about complaining to the big wide world when my car doesn’t start.