I was talking with Marc Meyer yesterday about this post, and the conversation expanded as it often does. And I tweeted this–

@Marc_Meyer: Good thing we don’t have reticent personalities.
about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to Marc_Meyer

–and he replied–

@dariasteigman: Reticence and social media are like oil and water…
about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to dariasteigman

But are they?

I have a good friend who’s very reserved when you first meet him. But once he gets comfortable, he opens up and his personality comes through. He’s on Twitter, but he’s not in his comfort zone yet. So his tweets have this formal, wall-between-you feel, and I haven’t figured out how to help him break through.

It’s no surprise that many of the people I interact with on social networks are naturally conversational. But what happens when you aren’t? Can you teach someone how to open up online?

Photo by TAHANI al oSiMiY (Flickr).