Jeff Brunelle is an aspiring entrepreneur and a big fan of the social web, currently residing in New York City. A former University of Oregon lacrosse player, Jeff is co-founder of LacrosseAllStars.com, a content hub focused on bringing fans together to grow the game. When not in front of a computer, you can probably find Jeff being social in real life or fly-fishing on the outskirts of his hometown, Boise, Idaho. Check out his personal site, or find him on Twitter.

Ed’s note: Jeff’s going to be around more and more here on the 2.0 Life. Look for more of his writing, and make him feel welcome!

Are you on Twitter yet? You ought to be. If you’re hesitant about sharing bits and pieces of your life, think again. The value you’ll get from opening up is well worth the effort to sign-on, find friends and start sharing.

If you’re on Facebook, you already share information in a closed network. You’ve posted pictures, written notes, interacted with friends constantly and shared things you may only want your friends to know. Your Facebook information stays on Facebook, and is only accessible to the people you give access to.

Within your network of friends, you’re opening up and sharing facts about your life – you’re being transparent. Active Facebook users have become comfortable sharing on a daily basis, openly engaging with friends in their networks. Today, thanks partially to the media spotlight, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking services have become widely accepted as alternative communication channels. People are talking more and more about these tools and as a result adoption rates have sky-rocketed.

These days, Twitter seems to be that buzz word that won’t leave you alone. One reason factoring into this is that it’s a completely open forum. Twitter isn’t exclusive. Absolutely anyone can participate, and everyone is equally accessible.

While Facebook requires two people to confirm their relationship, Twitter enables you to vicariously enter the lives of anyone you want, extracting information from any source. In this aspect, Twitter flattens the hierarchical pyramid. The CEO of Zappos is just as accessible as your Average Joe. Twitter’s avid fans understand the value in this and they embrace it. They comb through search results and find people with whom they share common interests.

In doing so, they are customizing the stream of information they are going to get from their Twitter account and they’re enabling themselves to build relationships.

Essentially, it’s all about transparency. Other Twitter users normally won’t follow you unless you’ve got something in common with them. So, those that are transparent – sharing thoughts, interesting links, and bits and pieces of their day – reap the rewards of this open communication channel. They connect with people from all walks of life and get the opportunity to learn from the masses.

In my opinion, there are endless number of benefits to being transparent and opening up on services like Twitter. A few days ago, when I decided to write about this topic, I asked my Twitter friends a simple question: “Why are you comfortable sharing information about your life on Twitter?” All of the responses I received shared underlying themes of personal growth and being part of community. One response, which came from Alex Mann, an entrepreneur who’s currently focusing his efforts on creating the ultimate social media measuring tool, summed it up best:

If you open your life up, people are more apt to get interested in you and relationships are born. Think of it this way: If you’ve got nothing to hide, then what’s the point of hiding anything? Make yourself a blog where you can post random thoughts, set your LinkedIn page to public, go into your Facebook privacy settings and enable search engines to find you.

Google your name. What do see? Can people learn about you with just a few clicks? As society progresses these are factors that will play into the success of every individual. While it may seem odd and shamelessly self-centered to put effort into building your personal online presence, it is important to keep your long term goals in mind and realize the value in Alex’s comment about getting more the more you give.

As you become more social online you’ll start to feel like you’re learning constantly. That was the selling point for me. As I started using Twitter, I discovered a whole online community of real people doing real things that I wanted to learn more about. It kept me connected with my friends, my industry, my world. Aligning with my personal interests, I began following CEO’s of web startups, graphic designers, journalists and lacrosse enthusiasts.

The more attention I paid to what they were sharing, the more intrigued I was to get involved and join the conversation. The relationships I’ve built through Twitter since then have been priceless and completely genuine because we were able to connect solely based on a common bond.

As a testament, it’s interesting to point out that David Pierce and I actually met on Twitter, and as our online conversations progressed over the past few months I was inclined to inquire about writing for The 2.0 Life. Bottom line: I wouldn’t have this opportunity to write if it weren’t for Twitter, nor would I know the benefits of being transparent.

So, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to take a chance and get involved in the social web. As society evolves more and more, I believe we’ll all see and feel the value of building relationships in the online space. And down the road, if nothing else, we will have left footprints of our past for others to learn from.

For information on Twitter and the future of social media, take a look at the links listed below. In terms of becoming a fan and avid user, these are what did it for me:

The Tao of Twitter
10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009
The Future of Social Networking
Using Social Media for Social Change (PDF file)

Your turn. What do you think? How does transparency fit with our online lives, and what else do we need to consider?

Photo: pieceoplastic