Choosing Twitter in particular as vehicle to say "most people aren't public online" has an odd logic to it.
Twitter has a reputation as one of the most toxic of social networks. Stories of Tweets that exposed someone to tremendous harassment or embarrassment are rife. I make quite a variety of posts and comments online, occassionally publishing article in blog and so-forth. But I avoid Twitter in particular "like the plague", which it seems resemble.
Yet it also seems to be true that Twitter is taken as the standard of "being public" by much of the press. And it seems like this standard comes from both journalists operating by the instant-answer, instant-gratification standard of Twitter and an overall, "you have to be willing to take the heat to be credible" attitude of those in high government, private industry, bureaucracies and so-forth. And this expresses a toxicity to not just Twitter but our entire society.
I would guess that the representation of public figures on Twitter is pretty high, maybe 70% or more (absolutely no data behind this, just my guess based on personal experience and a subjective definition of "public figure").
That said, the vast majority of those people just use Twitter to announce their various public events, professional accomplishments, media releases, etc.
IMO this is the way to go, unless you enjoy and get something out of the rough-and-tumble of direct Twitter engagement. I used to for a little while, but got over it. It definitely made me a more contentious person, for better and worse.
Twitter has a reputation as one of the most toxic of social networks. Stories of Tweets that exposed someone to tremendous harassment or embarrassment are rife. I make quite a variety of posts and comments online, occassionally publishing article in blog and so-forth. But I avoid Twitter in particular "like the plague", which it seems resemble.
Yet it also seems to be true that Twitter is taken as the standard of "being public" by much of the press. And it seems like this standard comes from both journalists operating by the instant-answer, instant-gratification standard of Twitter and an overall, "you have to be willing to take the heat to be credible" attitude of those in high government, private industry, bureaucracies and so-forth. And this expresses a toxicity to not just Twitter but our entire society.