A new study from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science called “Who Gives a Tweet: Evaluating Microblogging Content Value” has unveiled what we like to read, and what we don’t like to read, on Twitter. I have to say, the results aren’t all that surprising.

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Georgia Tech launched a site asking for anonymous feedback from people like you and me in exchange for rating their tweets. Users had to sign in to their website and rate 10 tweets before getting any feedback on their own tweets.

Luckily for these researchers, their project went viral. Sites like Mashable, TechCrunch, and CNN wrote about their study. The analysis of the study was taken from data received between December 30, 2010 and January 17, 2011. They had over 43,000 responses to work with. Here’s what they found: Continue Reading

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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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

Credit: Jeff Turner on Flickr

One of the amazing things with Twitter, Facebook and Google+ slowly gaining maturity is the power coming through it to build my personal brand. What I found most crucial when doing so is that I don’t waste all of my day doing this.

The best part here is that this can become very powerful for many aspects of your life. If you develop a fairly large and engaged Twitter following these are only a few of the great aspects you can leverage:

• Amplify your voice for distributing your knowledge and content
• Find new jobs and projects by interacting with like-minds in your field
• Get feedback on ideas and projects from your followers
• Have quality conversations with people interested in the same fields

Here are tips to build your personal brand on Twitter on the side, without wasting hours each day on it. In fact, I believe these things can be done within 30 minutes of effort each day.

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Credit: Steve Garfield on Flickr

Twitter is a great social media resource for any business, freelancing included. It can help you brand yourself, build a network of like-minded users, promote your work, and share news about your business. As the social media manager for three print publications, I spend a fair amount of time on Twitter each day. And I’ve learned a thing or two about Twitter etiquette.

Twitter offers you 140 characters to share information, but there’s much more to it. No matter if you are new to the Twittersphere or you already have a Twitter handle, here are five things that can kill you on Twitter.

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As Twitter continues to grow at an incredible pace each day, the importance of the platform grows with it. Developing a strong social media presence and growing your network of followers demands being active on Twitter. Fortunately, there exist many tools out there that assist us in making our life easier and more efficient on Twitter.

Here are ten tools that will increase your efficiency, while allowing you to retain your genuine personality when tweeting.

1. Buffer – Never Flood Your Followers Again

Buffer

Full Disclosure: I work on Buffer.

Buffer is an App that allows you to tweet more of the great content you come across each day, without overwhelming your followers. Via one of the browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) you can “Buffer” any article as a Tweet that you come across. Instead of being posted immediately, all these tweets will be tweeted well spaced out over the day.

Best bit: To understand more about what your followers like, you will receive analytics about clicks, retweets and reach for every Tweet Buffered.

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By now, thousands of freelancers tweet, growing their brand and connecting with others 140 characters at a time. It’s an important tool for promoting your freelance business. And one of the most powerful aspects of promotion on Twitter is to get retweeted (or RT in Twitterspeak).

It’s the Twitter equivalent of forwarding an email or sharing a link you enjoyed in Facebook. RTs benefit freelancers by helping them spread content, grow their followers, and position themselves as experts. So, how can you help ensure that your tweets get retweeted and (hopefully) go viral? Follow these tips.

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She’s got a well-known celebrity client and tons of tricks for getting and retaining clients. And she wants to help entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.

That’s why I thought we could all get something out of an interview with Laura Roeder of Roeder Studios. This California-based social media and publicity guru has plenty to share about how she’s effectively positioned her company—and how you can do the same with yours.

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What’s your attitude like? It’s a good idea to think about the answer, because your attitude is one of the keys to your success as a freelancer.

Take this example, for instance. If you were in the hiring seat, would you want to work with a freelancer who answered you like this?

“I guess I could work on this project. It’s a a tough job, but I might be able to work something out. The worst that can happen is that we have to take another look at it after I try. Does that sound okay?”

I wouldn’t. That person sounds uncertain, unsure and under-skilled.

What about this freelancer? Say you’re just talking shop over coffee. What would your impression be?

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In a short period of time, our @FreelanceSw Twitter account has gone from 0 updates and 0 friends to almost 7,500 followers and 715 updates. In the capable hands of Roger Byrne, the FreelanceSwitch Twitter account has become more than just a link feed — it’s a freelance resource of its own and a way for our readers to interact with us on a daily basis.

We want to interact with even more of you, so we’re working with our friends at Freshbooks to offer a whopping twelve months free on any Freshbooks subscription plan and a couple of additional runner-up prizes of two months free. All you have to do is follow @FreelanceSw on Twitter — and why not follow Freshbooks while you’re at it?

Once you’ve followed us on Twitter come back here and leave a comment containing:

• Your Twitter username for verification,
• And tell us why a Freshbooks subscription would benefit you.

Good luck!

People can get so caught up in doing things a certain way. It’s important to remember that there are many methods of doing things. And as freelancers, it’s equally as vital to be kind when explaining your school of thought. After all, you represent your business now, so it’s imperative to stay professional.

Whether you use a specific program to develop websites, or you like to use a certain format when writing a document, there is likely more than one way to do it. I find many freelancers like to discuss the different strategies they use to work—but some can be a little too gruff and pushy when promoting their method. Others can get very defensive when someone offers a different suggestion.

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Photo by Noël Zia Lee.

Since freelancers tend to spend long hours hunched in front of a computer, it makes sense that many of them have also congregated on Twitter. Think of it as a virtual watercolor where you can chat about new projects, catch up on industry news, or just take a quick break. Some freelancers are also using the microblogging platform to find new clients and promote their business.

For those who are new to Twitter or just need some new follows, we’ve rounded up 50 users who often tweet about freelance-related topics. Not surprisingly, writers are very well represented on Twitter, but we’ve also uncovered some designers, developers, and other freelance folks. Obviously, there are many more than 50 freelancers on Twitter, so feel to leave your username in the comments.

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