I’ll preface this by saying that if Leo Laporte is half as likable as his on air personality, he must be one helluva nice guy; also, yes, I know that Leo’s Twitter account is one of the most popular (if not the most popular), and he played no small part in kicking off Twitter’s publicity what with him featuring it on TWiT two weeks before SXSW .

Having said that (or precisely because of that), this announcement on his blog that he’s leaving Twitter because it sounds too much like TWiT, (his podcast “This Week in Tech”)?

Come ON, man!

If you’re going to go at it, jump in with both feet and fists, take a page from Kevin Rose or Steve Jobs and get some lawyers involved!

But come on — if you’re going to get upset, don’t act like someone just stole your ice cream cone. Leaving because you’re worried people are going to get the two confused?!

Listen, I do understand they sound (and are written) almost exactly the same. I understand that.

But in the spirit of web2.0 togetherness, isn’t there a better way of going about this than leaving for another Twitter-like service? While its possible that this kind of publicity will drive Jaiku’s userbase up (the TWiT effect), I sincerely doubt that it will lead to any lasting growth. I mean, we all know that the real key to any of these kinds of services is the network effects by the numbers (and kinds) of individuals using it.  And that’s besides what Jaiku is like compared to Twitter.

But I digress.

Listen, I understand that Leo’s got to do what he believes is right, but surely there’s a better way of dealing with this. I mean, couldn’t this be viewed as a great cross-marketing opportunity?

Why not have Twitter sponsor TWiT, or even the other way around? Why not get TWiT to sponsor Twitter? I’m sure there are some creative people who could figure something out.

And more besides, running away from the issue isn’t going to solve anything either. If some hypesters are to be believed, Twitter isn’t going to go away, but it might represent a new kind of instant publishing. If it becomes the powerhouse that some prognosticate it could be, wouldn’t it be smart to get onboard with Twitter right now, rather than divorcing your relationship with it?

At the end of the day, I just don’t see what this is going to solve. Twitter is going to be around for a while, and is in fact growing at an exponential pace, which is in no small part because of Leo Laporte. TWiT is going to be around for a while, and is enormously successful in its own right. But walking away from Twitter isn’t going to solve any potential confusion — if there was any in the first place.