There’s a certain amount of intimacy associated with certain types of new media. For me, it’s sort of like dating–you know, you start out slow by meeting and getting to know someone (Twitter), then get to know one another the relationship progresses (blogs, Facebook). In my book, anyone who has my email address is practically a lover. Here’s how it breaks down:

Twitter
As long as you’re not a spammer and I like what you have to say or what you do, I’ll follow you on Twitter. Like a drunk girl at a frat party, if you have a sexy avatar and can form a semi-coherent sentence, I’m all yours.
Intimacy rating: I’d only give you my number if I’ve had a few drinks, but we can hang out and chat by the hors d’oeuvres.
Subscribe to RSS
I’m somewhat wary of clogging my RSS feed with even more information since it already takes an hour to get through it all. If I subscribe to your feed, I expect to see you at least once a week…and I’m okay with that.
Intimacy rating: You’re fairly articulate, kinda cute, and have all your teeth–all right, let’s dance!
Friend/Fan on Facebook
I’m letting you get to know the real me, so it’s getting serious. I must really like you. How much depends on which group of privacy settings I put you in, so don’t get too excited.
Intimacy rating: We’ve been out a few times and are dating, though not exclusively. I might even hug you after dinner.
Work email
Like the RSS feed, I’m wary of clogging my inbox and there’s only so much you can do with filters. I actually want to hear from you on a regular basis.
Intimacy rating: We’re officially exclusive and I’ve talked about you to my friends. I better not hear about you hangin’ out with no (other) Twitter hoes.
Personal email
At this point, you’re one of my bestest friends and I trust you enough to know you won’t be sending me spam. We’ve exchanged some one on one messages and gotten to know one another on a personal level.
Intimacy rating: I know you snore and how you like your coffee in the morning.
Do you segregate your contacts into different social funnels or is it just me? How do you decide who goes where?
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