Facebook’s new Timeline format has already kicked off in come countries, but its U.S. launch has been slowed by a lawsuit from Timelines.com. They are claiming their service would go kaput once Facebook’s Timeline platform launches, as functionality is so similar.

A counter suit by Facebook has been filed, so instead of sitting back and twiddling your thumbs waiting for the whole mess to be sorted out, why not take advantage of some useful Facebook eBooks on the market?

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Last week, Twitter released a new online and mobile interface to try to simplify and make it easier to connect with others. I think it’s also because both Facebook and Google + have recently offered businesses a new way to use their sites to brand themselves online.

As more businesses—large enterprises, as well as small and midsize firms—delve into the world of social media to help market their products and sell their services, the Twitter redesign can help companies reach their potential audience more quickly, as the site now offers greater simplicity, thanks to four menu tabs, which are the same across mobile and desktop devices. –eweek.com

Here are some of the changes happening for Twitter, according to this eweek.com article, that could affect freelancers…

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Is it just me or does it seem like everyone is rolling out new technology this time of year? Facebook has its Timeline, Twitter has a new interface, YouTube has bought a company to help license music, and LinkedIn has partnered with Cvlynk to simplify and accelerate profile sharing.

And we can’t forget Google+ Pages for businesses—one of the more talked about changes for one of the world’s most talked about businesses.

When Google+ was originally launched, it didn’t offer business pages, and people were hesitant to join. What could Google+ do that their Facebook business page couldn’t?

John Haydon, founder of Inbound Zombie, a social media strategy firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, offers these differences in his story for The Huffington Post.

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Did you know that November 23, 2011 was National Freelancers Day in the U.K.? This year marked the third annual NFD, which was launched by PCG—a trade association and support network for freelancers.

On Wednesday, November 23^rd, St. Luke’s in London was host to leading industry experts who debated key topics on flexible working and varying workforce trends. The entire day’s activities were designed to assist freelancers in building their business for success.

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Are you planning on taking some time off this holiday season?

Are you sure?

If you have international clients, you’d better double check your deadlines.

According to a recent Businessweek story, workers with international clients are finding it increasingly difficult to rest on national or religious holidays.

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We’ve just launched a free newsletter you can use to keep up to date with the latest news and articles from FreelanceSwitch. Every week you’ll get a digest of everything we’ve published over the past seven days, mailed straight to your inbox. If there’s a big announcement coming, newsletter subscribers will often be the first to know!

We’ll also be releasing an exclusive series of articles in the New Year, just for FreelanceSwitch newsletter subscribers.

The newsletter is free to join and ad-free. Subscribe now to make the most of this new way to easily receive the latest FreelanceSwitch content in your inbox, or read on for a preview of what to expect in our newsletter…

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The Associated Press has recently forbade its writers from expressing their opinions on Twitter, including implied opinions in retweeting posts by others. This has caused a bit of an uproar.

Many journalists and other media-industry observers on Twitter responded to the AP’s edict with scorn and derision, as detailed in a Storify roundup of some reactions. New York Times media writer David Carr, for example, simply said: “Good luck with that.” National Public Radio’s Andy Carvin—a pioneer of using Twitter to report on breaking news events such as the Arab Spring revolutions—said the policy was “an homage to lawyers” and suggested that he had no intention of following such a rule. Someone else said the AP was now just “hiring robots.” –Businessweek

The AP is worried that when their reporters retweet, they are sending the message that what is being said is an endorsement and a sign of approval. Many journalists have tried to deal with this by including the verbage “retweets are not endorsements” in their Twitter bio, but since such disclaimers in a bio are rarely seen by viewers, the AP isn’t accepting this. Continue Reading

More than ever, people are using social media to find jobs, according to a recent study by Jobvite Inc., a California-based social-recruiting software maker.

In 2011, 22 million Americans found work through their contacts via Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter accounts. That compares to 14.4 million who found work the same way in 2010.

If such a large group of people have found work through their social media contacts this past year, why can’t you be one of them?

One in 6 found work through social networking; of those, 83 percent credited Facebook – generally regarded as a personal social-networking site – for their success. That compared with 46 percent for LinkedIn and 36 percent for Twitter. –SFGate.com

Couple these statistics with the growing number of people in Europe accessing social networking sites on their mobile devices, and freelancers have cause to celebrate. Continue Reading

A recent New York Times article follows a handful of people who have left their high paying jobs (either by choice or by the recession) to start small businesses focused on their dream jobs. The spoiler? It’s really hard—but that hasn’t stopped anyone.

“Indeed, since the dawn of the Great Recession, more Americans have started businesses (565,000 of them a month in 2010) than at any period in the last decade and a half, according to the Kauffman Foundation, which tracks statistics on entrepreneurship in the United States.” —New York Times

The lures of quitting your day job to focus on freelancing are pretty much the same as starting a small business—no boss, working from home in your pajamas, fulfillment that you are doing what you want to do. The downside is the same, too—lack of security, pay fluxuation, and sheer exhaustion. Continue Reading