Putting Twitter to Work For Your Freelance Writing Business
Robert JanelleTwitter is some kind a strange marriage between a blogging platform and an instant messaging client.
You post updates that are made public (known as “tweets”) and people are able to respond to you directly, should they feel the need to comment. Keeping the platform “micro” is the 140 character limit on anything you post.
Posting can also be done in a variety of ways: through the Twitter web site, through integration with some IM clients like Google Talk, by text messaging a number from your cell phone or through a desktop client like Twirl.
Like almost every web-based service these days, it has a social aspect as well. You can make a list of people to “follow” so you’re given a list of all their updates.
Now, like many, when Twitter first hit the scene I raised an eyebrow and said “Why?” At first it seemed to be people posting instant updates and updating the world on how fast the line at the grocery store was moving.
But as I’ve slowly adopted the service, as a freelancer writer, I’m beginning to find more and more uses for it.
Providing updates on projects
Most traffic through my Twitter feed comes through during the 9-5 hours while people are working away, generally stopping briefly (or more likely procrastinating) to tweet about what they’re working on and how it’s going.
While the details of your workday may be mundane to anyone outside your line of work, they can be of great interest to your clients if they’re interested in following along with the project (and if you’re willing to give them your user name to follow.)
Finding work
It may not happen often, but it is possible to find work on Twitter by following potential clients.
Every now and then a tweet pops up along the lines of “Need someone to produce content for my blog, anyone know a good writer?”
That’s the spot where you come to the rescue.
Finding sources
As a writer, I frequently need to find warm bodies to interview for stories. By following a lot of folks in the sector I cover, I often learn little details that indicate that they may be useful for a story.
From the tweets I follow, I can see who likes or dislikes a certain product, who holds certain views on a subject and well, almost anything folks are willing to share with their followers. All of which can lead a journalist to someone to speak to.
An example: A few weeks ago, the front page of the local newspaper had a piece dealing with a labor dispute between the government and the public service union. By the time I turned on my computer, government employees were already tweeting their thoughts on the issue.
Admittedly, I wasn’t working on this story, but I realized I’d have known exactly who to contact for comment if I had been.
Will
July 27th, 2008
I use Twitter to test design ideas. I have a decent set of people who follow me, and are good at giving me great feedback that I trust (for the most part). I use TweetCube (http://www.tweetcube.com) to upload my file, and it automatically tweets for me, with a link to the file for everyone to see. Feedback is quick and effortless.
Ani
July 27th, 2008
Let me highlight the one word that sums up Twitter made in your post - procrastinating. Twitter is a waste of your life and is not worth your time. If people want to promote themselves, spending their time on Twitter is the last place you should be.
Want to get ahead in your Freelance career? Stay the hell away from Twitter it’s the worst thing to happen since mIRC.
Bob
July 27th, 2008
Is it just me, or is this one of those “Well DUH!” posts stating the obvious?
pavs
July 27th, 2008
I think twitter is over-rated. There is nothing you can do with twitter; that you can’t already do with IM. If you need people following you and see what you do; just add them to your favorite IM client. you can also provide on the fly update to your client.
Twitter is a joke IMO. It’s a new way to do something; you already do.
Robert Janelle
July 27th, 2008
@Ani You know, a few months ago I would have completely agreed with you. Now though, it’s become an indispensable resource. I’ve made far more valuable business connections through it than any other social networking site along with all the uses I’ve listed for it in the post.
And who on earth usess mIRC? Xircon is a far superior IRC client!
Erica DeWolf
July 27th, 2008
Thanks for the post- some solid suggestions for how Twitter can be used to help you out!
Zackery M
July 27th, 2008
http://www.thesocialpath.com/2008/07/the-real-streng.html
Here is an interesting blog about twitter. It’s not from a freelancer’s standpoint, but interesting none the less.
ZM
Lawrence
July 27th, 2008
I opened a twitter account a while back, checked out the public timeline, found a couple of friends and thought it was a waste of time, people were giving updates on toast, belly fluff and the weather. A few months down the line a fired it back up again and decided to use it as an integration tool for my website. I post tweets about my work: e.g. “Books back from the printers, very happy with the binding” “Heading to London to meet Dave about web project” - you get the idea. These tweets are integrated into the about me section, so they don’t intrude on my site. The psychology behind this is that first time viewers/potential clients perhaps see me as a little more human than just a website and they can see I am productive. It kind of is a little bit like crack though, and I have strayed away from just tweeting about creative stuff. Mahh, totaly 2.0 credit crunch!
Trent
July 27th, 2008
You’re right. I thought the same when I heard about it, but now I really like Twitter.
Timo
July 27th, 2008
In his podcast, Scott Kurtz from PVPOnline.com mentions that when a lot of people are emailing you and asking you the same question, it is easier to just post the answer/solution on Twitter and that will take care of most questions, especially if it’s questions from fans that you do not want to address in a full blown post on your main site
Stephen Tiano
July 27th, 2008
Generally, as a book designer, my social networking experience has been pleasant but not led to any work. I’m on Twitter, which can be a sinkhole and keep you from having a life, I suppose, and LinkedIn, which seems mostly inhabited by HR types.
I’m definitely in favor of extending the bounds of where and how I look for work, so I try to tweet about work-related things. Of course, in any social networking environment, you need to show some interest in others and see it as being part of a community for anyone to pay any attention whatsoever to you after long. So that leads to non-book design/layout exchanges for me.
I originally tried to follow only people in book design. But that was too narrow. So gradually it’s come to include anyone in publishing, anyone remotely working with books and print, and—now, finally—writers and web designers.
Haven’t run into, say, a single author who’s publishing him- or herself and is looking for a book designer/page compositor to make their printer-ready files. Yet. But who knows?
That all said, I’m also always looking for discussion about making books from the designer/layout artist’s perspective. I can’t notice every new typeface family there is, for instance, or consider all possible configurations for page make-up. But kicking these subjects around with others who are interested—even in 140-character burst, which may be better at stimulating my own creativity than having a whole article just laid before my eyes—is helpful.
So, against all odds and opposite my first reaction when hearing about Twitter, I’d have to say it’s got merit.
id_eric
July 27th, 2008
Twitter has been a great asset for our business, as it has facilitated communication between us and the local blogging community in our area. We have made many new contacts and been invited to local blogger events.
Niki Brown
July 27th, 2008
Ive found design work via twitter. Most of the local designers in my area are also on twitter and its a great resource to ask a mass group of people a question and get quick responses.
Eric Thayne
July 28th, 2008
I was hesitant at first to sign up for Twitter, but I did and now I really love it!
Something about it draws me in… but not enough to distract me from work!
Gadget Nerd
July 28th, 2008
I find Twitter extremely addictive. I started off by following designers… web designers, graphic designers…. so that I could learn a thing or two, this then developed on to photographers and writers, but I’ve recently been following people who have nothing to do with the design or creative industry.
Twitter is now one of my home pages and I have it on my mobile phone and iPod Touch.
Ben Walker
July 29th, 2008
Like all social media platforms, Twitter is useful when you are part of a group of people who are also on Twitter. Facebook is useless unless your friends use it. IM is very lonely without any contacts.
Once I found the group, Twitter was an amazing networking resource, and saves me a lot of petrol money.
Duncan
July 29th, 2008
i’m so oldschool it sickens me. i like writing letters to people about what i’m up to… where i’m at, signing my name filling the envelope with fun stuff i’ve found that they might like (very little of which i have to print out),etc… otherwise i’ll end up flickring my tumblr because if all the twittering and i’ll have no time to manage my portfolio on 37 different available sites, let alone doing any fecking work.
technology’s great ‘n’ that, but so i’ve heard is coke, until it starts eating away at you…
Sally Richards
July 29th, 2008
For those of you who like business exposure and networking opportunities, I am looking to post “Freelancer Profiles” each week on our blog http://www.blevinsfranksaccountants.com/blog
If anyone is interested in promoting themselves please email me sally@casaviola.net and ask for the profile document.
Nathan
July 29th, 2008
Like most others, I found Twitter to be a waste of time at first. Then after hearing about it non-stop for a few weeks, I gave it another shot. Boy am I glad I did! I’ve made countless contacts I wouldn’t have met otherwise and I don’t have to post often to keep a following. When I do post, they check out my links (usually). I use a Wordpress plugin to auto update my twitter and I use Twhirl to manage everything else. I’d say I spend 10-15 minutes max per day using Twitter/Twhirl. Now Friend Feed? That’s an entirely new ballgame.
Real Freelance Life
July 29th, 2008
I love twitter as a way to play with my friends, but I don’t know how much I can use it as a business tool. Twitter is a lot like the flash fiction of the business world for writers. I’m not sure it gives me a chance to highlight my skills.
David Suska
July 30th, 2008
Hi, I think that twitter is waste of time. I don’t have time for writing blogs and I completely don’t have time for writing short messages to Twitter. Maybe I will realize in future that Twitter is great tool for comunication
mikko
July 31st, 2008
just wanted give you all e tip about Jaiku …
It’s like twitter, actually, just like twitter. You post short messages, follow people, join groups, u can have links to feeds you like on your profile (and I think if you comment on blogs that shows up on your jaiku feed to, not sure though).. well thats some of the features, guess they had some more than Twitter…They are coming with some additional features to the ones they have now [so they say] !!! For all google fans I can say they[jaiku] are now days part of google, what that will bring them and the growth of jaiku remains to be seen. I’ve been @ jaiku for a about a week ( I pushed for twitter until recantly, when I caved :P) and I like it..
check it out for your self -.> http://www.jaiku.com
freelance writer
August 12th, 2008
I think twitter is over-rated. There is nothing you can do with twitter; that you can’t already do with IM. If you need people following you and see what you do; just add them to your favorite IM client. you can also provide on the fly update to your client.
Rachel
October 30th, 2008
This is a great article for freelance writers. I have started using Twitter a few weeks ago and I am having a hard time getting ‘in’ to it. Your article has helped motivate me to get started again. Thanks. By the way, I just posted a list of sites to find freelance jobs on and a List of Social Networking Sites for Freelancers that your users might be interested in.
Great article.
Thanks.
Rachel