I read a quote in an article in a legal publication the other day providing advice about Twitter. The “expert” quoted advised against providing “personal information” on Twitter. The article was about business development and how Twitter might help with generating new business.

Don’t provide “personal information?” I was stunned.

Twitter can be used in a variety of ways and everyone must find the perfect use for themselves. I’m good with you using Twitter in whatever way you want.

But if you’re trying to build business with Twitter, then you’ve got to provide “personal information.” To generate new business you’ve got to have people know you, like you and trust you, right? We can all agree on that, can’t we?

Well, we don’t trust people who aren’t human. We’ve implicitly agreed on that for a long time. Isn’t that why we have pictures of our spouses and kids on our desks? That’s why we share information about our hobbies and interests with our referral sources, friends and clients. We let people know that we’re involved in our church and our community. All of that personal information is an important part of sharing ourselves so that we can better connect with others.

We don’t trust people who don’t share. We don’t feel like we really know you if you don’t fill us in on your life. Go ahead and share some “personal information” with us. You don’t need to tell us about your mental illness or anything – feel free not to share everything. But give us a feel for who you are. Let us in on your life. We want to get to know you so we can trust you.