Ask HN: People with decently sized internet followings, how is it?

What’s your situation — ie blog, Twitter, newsletter, and approx number of followers or subscribers, and to what extent is your name and/or your face a key part of your online brand, and what have been the most significant or most frequent benefits and detriments?

I’m asking this mostly out of thinking about doing more online writing on my personal name. I’m pretty private, and I’m hesitant about the downsides of being more out there, but also interested in the upsides. Would also be interested in hearing from people with pseudonyms.