Public or private online

My colleague Tapio has asked in a post on his blog, what's best? To be public or private on Twitter?

To answer his question simply, I have tried both private and public profile settings on Twitter. I choose public because it's better at connecting you with other people. And that's the main reason I use Twitter. Good things tend to happen.

In comparison, choosing private settings creates a situation where fewer people gather online, but it does keep your online chatter private.

If you feel that what you say shouldn't be shared beyond your friends and family, lock the door. If you want new avenues to present themselves, open up.

I'd tag Will, Clogger, Dom, Ben and Antony, a broad mix of public and private twitterers, to see what they think.   

Comments

[Ben Matthews]

Hi Drew,

Thanks for tagging me.

I have tried my account on private, but got tired of filtering through the requests to follow me. I find it much better to let whoever wants to follow me and let Twitter send me an email to let me know when someone does. I can then check their profile at my convenience and if I feel like following them back I will. And that's an important point - even if people follow me I don't have to follow them back, which is especially useful given the rise of spam bots on Twitter recently.

It is important to remember though that whatever I put out on my Twitter stream of consciousness are things that I'm happy for all of my followers to see. If I did have highly personal or sensitive conversations, then I would set my account to private. But then again, people can direct message each other if things are more appropriate that way, then there's even the options (as crazy as they may seem) of email and phone conversations.

My response post is here:

http://puddingrelations.blogspot.com/2008/07/question-of-privacy-on-twitter.html

Cheers,

Ben

[Jonathan Hopkins]

I've just read via Ben (above, on Twitter!) and would agree - public is best but then that does mean you need to think before you Tweet and accept as with many other parts of your digital self, your entire timeline can and will end op in Google AND used in mashups and all sorts of stuff. In short - anything created in pixels can be copied indefinitely and lasts forever.

The exception - private Twitter groups/profiles created for specific things.

[Sandrine]

I wasn't tag but I thought I'd answer anyway ;o)

As far as I'm concerned, "all my life" is available to anyone via the net: via my blog, my Flickr, or on Facebook (which was fully open until 3 days ago).

And I'm ok about it - I don't feel like I have anything to hide... but my Twitter in a way is the space where I can say anything, it's my "free space" to complain about brands, work, anything. That's why I'm private on Twitter.

So yes it really depends on what you want to say...