Response to "Self Promotions vs Other Relations"

I had an interesting conversation with someone on Twitter today. He spoke up while I was giving a playful response to someone else. I felt like from there forward, he was misrepresenting me by misquoting me ("everything we do on Twitter", for instance, was a quote I didn't say) and inflating my language by using "everyone", "all the time" and "everything". It ultimately ended up in a blog post of his criticizing my position. I don't know this guy. He might be a troll... he might not... but I felt like I should post my response

I am doing this because I want to make it clear what I think about blogging and being in a community such as Twitter. I believe that there is a spectrum of self promotion, that starts at the core of what Twitter is and ends in the world of fembots.

Here was the Twitter conversation:

sbellware: the only thing more despicable about self-promotion on twitter is not having the guts to do it in the clear
BrianGenisio @sbellware: Aren't we all, in one way or another, promoting ourselves on Twitter? The act of blogging or micro-blogging is self promotion
vaspersthegrate @briangenisio: - Self promo means pushing links to product pages, blog posts, other sales or self-interest objects. Not altruistic sharing.
vaspersthegrate: Self promotion is not "everything we do on Twitter". There is also selfless interactions and sharing that may not benefit you much at all.
BrianGenisio @vaspersthegrate: Self promotion means a lot more than what you said. Self promotion also means "promoting your ideas". Many others as well
vaspersthegrate @BrianGenisio: - If you think everything everyone does all the time is ultimately selfish, then you can also justify all acts as survival.
BrianGenisio @vaspersthegrate: If you think that you are special enough to "altruistically share", then you are promoting your ego.
vaspersthegrate @BrianGenisio: Helping others on Twitter is not self-promotional, it is other-relational. We know the difference between mktg & helping
BrianGenisio @vaspersthegrate: Just to be clear, I never suggested that you are marketing. I also never used the word "everything". Those are your words

Here is his blog post

Here is my response:
My original statement, which I stand by, was meant to be more of a reflection on our existence on Twitter... I really do understand what the Twitter community means when they say "Self Promotional". I was merely playing with it (the moral relativism of the topic), as my language clearly states.

When we, bloggers, tweeps, professionals and individuals make a blog post or tweet, we are essentially promoting ourselves in one way or another. It may not be in the sense that the Twitter community is referring to, but it certainly is by the meaning of the word. If you look up the word "promote" in the dictionary you will find that what I am saying is true in the first two meanings.

In order to be a member of a community (any community), one must promote themselves in some way... be it through helping others, casual conversation or spouting their opinions. If you do not promote yourself, you are ignored by the emergent community.

Further, a blog is a perfect example of promoting one's ego. I have two blogs -- one personal and a newer, more professional blog. I am not trying to say anything bad about promoting an ego... but instead I am trying to point out that if you are writing something that you think might be useful to others, your ego is being promoted by you -- thus "self promotion".

I urge you to look deeper into what I was saying and not think I am trying to compare you to a fembot on Twitter. I understand the difference.