One quick note. After last night’s post about no more social media I forgot that I had an unpublished conversation with someone that does protect her updates. She raised some valid points, but at the same time she had also been debating on opening up her stream. Anyways below is the back and forth. And here’s the link to the original post.
I’m going to call her “Protected”
Protected: there are more reasons than I have time to share 
Mainly to keep follows low & so my updates aren’t broadcast everywhere.
dez: What’s the reason for reigning in your follow numbers? You’ve got quite a following, why not broadcast?
Protected: I guess in the end I don’t know if I want people following me because of who I am or they like reading. I think I’d rather have followers interested in having conversations. I know it’s kinda weird.
dez: So do you base allowing someone to follow you off how many @reply’s they have, or is it something else?
Protected: Starting to think about my method more closely. Unlocking would mean more weeding but maybe people would come out of the woodwork?
dez: Agreed. But from what I can tell more weeding isn’t the worst. Mr Tweet is a good resource as well. Apps help filter noise. And remember. If people are treating your stream as a resource you don’t really need to follow them back.
Protected: true I guess that might be something I need to get over. I don’t necessarily follow back but usually do. Hmm. Maybe I’ll try.
dez: I wasn’t trying to convince you otherwise. I was genuinely interested in why people protected them.
Protected: You’re not. I’ve been contemplating this for about a month now.