There’s no one answer. Some journalists have cashed in indirectly by using Twitter to find sources for stories, or to find and follow publications or editors who they’ve subsequently pitched story ideas.

There are more direct ways to make money from Twitter too, including getting paid to live tweeting news events, meetings, conferences and other happenings.

I recently got my first assignment to live tweet a meeting, and shared my experience with April Choi, a freelancer for Ebyline, and a fellow Portland, Oregon, writer. In a Q&A that was originally posted earlier this week, Choi and I talk about how it went and how freelancers can get similar gigs. We also discussed Twitter chats and other ways writers can make money from social media.

Here’s the beginning of the Q&A:

You recently got paid to live tweet AARP’s annual conference for SecondAct. How did you get the gig? And how did it go?

I’ve been a regular contributor at SecondAct, Entrepreneur Media’s website for people over 40, since April 2010. I blog twice a week and write features and slideshows. I originally pitched attending the AARP convention, called Life@50+, for material for future blog posts, and my editor liked the idea. A few days before the conference, she offered to pay me to live tweet the conference. The original plan was to write a dozen or so tweets a day. I ended up doing a lot more – and she increased the compensation.

Do you have any advice for other freelancers who are looking to get similar gigs?

Know your way around Twitter. Live tweeting is reporting in real time, you have to have the mechanics of hashtags, RTs, etc., down cold because you’ll be working fast. If you’re tweeting news, follow generally accepted journalism practices. Approach publications you already work with first because they’ll be more familiar with what you’re capable of doing than someone who doesn’t know your work.

Read the entire post here: Freelance journalist Michelle Rafter on Finding “Tweet” Success

As a journalist, I’ve found Twitter to be extremely useful. Here are 10 ways that I and other reporters, writers, freelancers and editors use it:

1. As a news service – I use Twitter’s List feature to create a list of news organizations that I call the Daily News I scan in the a.m. to find out what’s happening in the world. I have another list for Portland so I know what’s going on where I live.

2. To track sources – I maintain lists of sources, analysts, companies, etc., on a couple subjects I write about regularly, including business and finance, workplace issues, boomers and media. New to a beat, or starting to do background research for a story? Get up to speed by finding and following lists created by other reporters who write on the topic.

3. To crowdsource for stories – Pose a question to your Twitter followers and see what happens. One caveat if you do this: always identify yourself as a reporter when throwing questions out there so people understand their responses are on the record and could be quoted. Also, ask people to send you their contact info (via DM if they prefer) so you have a mechanism for following up – you may need to to find out more about them or if the publication you’re writing for requires this.

4. To interview sources – Yes, I’ve actually conducted short interviews via DMs.

5. To broadcast links to stories and posts I’ve written – I routinely tweet links to stories I write for the publications I work for and for these blog posts (which could be why you’re reading this). When I tweet links, I use bit.ly to shorten the URL. For blog posts, I use the link shortener that’s built into WordPress. According to Twitter etiquette, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the service to promote your own work, just don’t make it the only thing you ever use it for.

6. To catch up with friends. Twitter’s a great substitute for an instant message or chat service for sending a quick “Hi” to colleagues or friends during the work day, especially people who might live across the country or who you don’t see on a regular basis. It’s also great for organizing colleagues or friends who might be attending the same conference to get together for coffee or making other kinds of inpromptu plans.

7. For regularly scheduled live chats. Twitter is my venue of choice for the writers’ chat I host on the last Wednesday of the month called WordCount Last Wednesday. To create or join a chat, you’ll need to use the appropriate chat handle – usually an acronym or short phrase – that includes the hashtag symbol, Twitter’s signal that the tweets thus marked are part of a larger conversation. If you’d like to check out my chat, use the hashtag #wclw and join us for the next one on Wednesday, March 30, at 10 a.m. PST, when my guest will be Marla Beck, a life coach for writers. Read my Q&A with Marla here: WordCount Q&A: Marla Beck, Life Coach for Writers. When you participate in a chat, using a Twitter add-on like TweetChat automatically adds the appropriate hashtag to your tweets and makes it easier to follow the conversation.

8. For live tweeting a meeting. Share what’s happening at a meeting, seminar or conference you’re covering with readers or colleagues by live tweeting. These days, most conferences and meetings have a designated hashtag. In the next week or two, for example, Twitter should be deluged with people sharing #SXSW tweets from the South by Southwest conference, which happens every March.

9. For sharing interesting things I’ve read or that other people have read or written. A good way to make friends and influence people on Twitter is to RT (retweet), forward or otherwise share what they are saying, reading or writing. And who knows? Some of the people you RT could do the same for you.

10. To tweet for a client. I regularly tweet links to stories for GettheInsideEdge.com, the CFO website I edit for American Express. I tweet about Inside Edge from my primary Twitter account and from a separate one I set up for Amex. If you’re tweeting from multiple accounts, using a Twitter add on such as HootSuite makes it easier, and allows you to pre-publish posts.

What I don’t use Twitter for very much is soliciting business – I think that’s happened one time. Every writer’s experience will be slightly different, but this is what’s working for me.

How are you using Twitter?

Love Twitter?

Love Mad Men?

Whichever it is, tune into the WordCount Last Wednesday live chat tomorrow for a chance to meet the award-winning tweeter behind the @Peggy Olson Twitter account.

That would be Carri Bugbee, a Portland, Oregon, social media, marketing and public relations executive who took home a 2009 Shorty Award for anonymously tweeting as Olson.

Bugbee will lead a chat on how writers and bloggers can use Twitter to crowdsource and promote their work. She’ll also discuss some of the best Twitter apps for writers.

The one-hour chat takes place on Twitter at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time.  To follow along, use the hashtag #wclw.

The format of tomorrow’s live chat is as follows:

• 8:30 – Log on, introduce yourself with your name, city, type of writing you do and what Twitter-related topics you’d like the chat to cover.
• 8:35 to 8:40 – I’ll ask Carri a few questions to get things rolling.
• 9 a.m. – We’ll open it up to questions from the audience.
• 9:30 a.m. – The chat ends.

Although it’s possible to use the standard Twitter interface for a live chat, you might find it easier to follow along with an add-on application such as TweetGrid, TweetChat or HootSuite. This tutorial explains how to set them up.

If you’re afraid you’ll offend followers by tweeting too much during a chat, you can suggest they use an app called TwitterSnooze to temporarily turn off your tweets. In case you haven’t done this before, when the chat starts, tweet a message like this: “I’ll be in a live chat for the next hour; if you don’t want to follow, turn off my tweets with TwitterSnooze.com.”

Coming attractions

Stay tuned for more on tech tools for writers and running a writing business in coming months. Here’s what you can expect on the next few upcoming WordCount Last Wednesdays:

• August 25 – Using an e-newsletter to promote your business, with Susan Weiner, writer-editor, chartered financial analyst (CFA), blogger and author of a long-running monthly e-newsletter on investment and wealth management.
• September 29 – Facebook fan pages for fun and profit, with Tricia Lawrence, writer, blogger, social media strategist and instructor of an upcoming Writer’s Digest University class on social media strategy for authors.
• October 27 – Creating and marketing your self-published ebook, with Susan Johnson, writer, blogger at The Urban Museand author of the new ebook, The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets.

If you’ve got a suggestion for a subject you’d like to see covered, send it my way.

If you’re an expert in a particular aspect of freelance writing, running a freelance business or tech tools for writers and are interested in participating as a guest speaker, contact me.

• Pitched a story about Twitter.
• Found sources for the story on Twitter.
• Had sources use Twitter to publicize the story once it went live.
• Watched my Twitter followers have a real-time debate over pros and cons of issues raised in story.
• Had a Twitter conversation with one of those followers over what was being debated that led to an idea for follow up piece.

When I mentioned this chain of events on a writers’ board, one friend wrote:

I joined recently and don’t get it. I thought I’d be able to drop in and out of streams of conversations on certain topics, but I don’t even know how to get anything meaningful out of anything. I click on “Everyone” and just have a static list of who said what in the last few min. I click refresh and get a bit more. I really thought I’d be able to see more real-time action.

I get similar questions from writers who’re  just starting to use Twitter – and it wasn’t that long ago that I was in the same boat.

So for what it’s worth, I’ve taken everything I’ve learned since my first tweet and compiled this, a writers’ guide to getting the most out of Twitter.

Have a plan. Think about why you want to use Twitter. Is it to find sources? Troll for story ideas? Promote yourself as an expert on a specific topic? Build a platform for your book or blog? Look for work? Deciding what you want out of it will drive how you use it.

Follow people. Once you’ve figured out why you’re using it, follow other Twitter users who fall into one or more of your designated Twitter areas of interest. If you write about gardening, for example, you’ll want to follow gardening experts. Do a Twitter Search to find them. Use the Search link at the bottom of the Twitter home page and search for “gardening” or use the hashtag #gardening. If you spot someone who’s tweeted something interesting, click on their bio, read more about them, and if you like what you see, follow them. You can also use directories like WeFollow.com to find people whose interests you share or who you think would make good sources.

Introduce yourself. If someone you follow follows you back, or someone you don’t know follows you, introduce yourself. Send them a DM – Twitter speak for a private message – explaining who you are, where you’re located, what you write about, and throw in a link to your Website or blog. That’s a lot to fit into 140 characters, use a service like Tiny URL to keep it short. Tailor your DMs to new followers to their interests. I cover HR, tech and social media and when someone new follows me, I rewrite my initial DM depending on common interests or geography.

Tweet. That is to say, don’t just lurk, enter the frey. Most writers are born sharers so this shouldn’t be hard, but the 140-character format and constant stream of tweets it could take some getting used to. What to say? That’s the easy part: talk about what you’re working on (without giving too much away), crowdsource for stories you’re doing, vent about workplace frustrations or comment on someone else’s tweet. It’s also perfectly acceptable to promote something you’re written or your latest blog post, just be careful not to overdo it.

Use Twitter tools. Widgets and apps like TweetDeck and TweetGrid can keep track of followers or tweets by grouping them into categories and replying to comments after they’ve scrolled off the screen. Mashable, the social media Website, has as list of 140+ Twitter tools with links to even more.

Take it at your own pace. Freelance writer Donna Hull suggests:

Don’t feel like you need to read every twitter, even TweetDeck can’t help you keep up with all of it. Be sure to check your DM’s and @replies as they are the most important. Otherwise, think of it as communicating in real time. Jump in the info stream, get as much out of it as you can. When it’s time to jump out, forgot about it until the next Twitter session.

For a lot of people, Twitter is a numbers game that’s all about how many followers they can get – similar to the open networkers on LinkedIn or friend fiends on Facebook who collect connections like baseball cards. But a worthwhile social network is based on quality, not quantity. You want to know the people you’re adding are there for a reason. If that means you only add a couple new Twitter followers a week, so be it. On the other hand, the more people you follow, the more conversations will be going on in your tweet stream and the more you’ll have to read, learn from and reach out to when the occasion comes.

Restrict your intake. It’s easy to get caught up in the flow, literally. But if you’re billing by the hour or project like most freelancers, you can’t afford to spend all day on Twitter, even if it is great for finding sources and ideas. Donna Hull put herself on a “Twitter diet,” giving herself Twitter breaks like coffee breaks. Other writers check in before or after their workday.

Here are some other blog posts from tech-savvy freelancers sharing how they’re making the most of Twitter:

Getting started on Twitter – Twitter basics from Elizabeth Kricfalusi, the tech writer behind the excellent Tech for Luddites blog.

8 ways Twitter can grow your freelance business – Bizzia.com’s Jennie Cromie penned this guest blog post for TwiTips, a newish Twitter tips Website from ProBlogger.com’s Darren Rowse.

25 publishing industry people to follow – Former Writer’s Digest editor Maria Schneider’s list of Twitter must follows includes book agents, publishers and social media gurus.

Editorchat – In early February, Motley Fool writer Tim Beyers and freelancer Lydia Dishman started this gabfest for writers and editors that takes place live on Twitter every Wednesday from 8 to 9:30 p.m. EST. Use #editorchat to follow the action or read entire transcripts on the Editorchat blog.

Which got me to thinking -  just how many Twitter accounts does one person need?

I have one, all-purpose Twitter domain, @michellerafter, and I use it for everything – hunting for sources, promoting a story I’ve written, announcing when I’ve posted something new on this blog or just ruminating about the vagaries of freelance life.

But would I be better off separating the different ways I use Twitter into their own entities? Should I have one account for the tech writing I do, and another for my HR and careers stories? Am I sending my Twitter followers mixed signals by mashing together all aspects of my work life?

I have no idea. So I’m asking  – what do you do? How many Twitter accounts do you have? Please take a minute and fill out the poll that follows. If you’re reading this through an RSS reader or email, please click through to the blog to take the poll. Ff you have multiple Twitter accounts, please consider leaving a comment explaining what you use them for.  I’ll follow up with my thoughts on the results in a future post.

Take Our Poll

When you’re learning to drive, are you dumb because you don’t know how much pressure to apply to the gas pedal? No.

When you’re learning to dance, are you dumb because you step on your partner’s toes? Clumsy maybe, but not dumb. Just learning.

It’s the same with Twitter. If you just signed up – and lots of people have only recently discovered Twitter -  and are still getting the hang of it you’re not going to know everything there is to know about using it.

And that’s OK. Think of how long it took to get used to Facebook, or blogging or using Microsoft Word for that matter – a lot of people still don’t use all the features of Word and it’s been around forever.

So don’t apologize because you haven’t figured out everything there is to know about Twitter. You’ll get there eventually.

There are a few things I’ve learned since starting to use it that I’m happy to share:

* Introduce yourself. Once you sign up, the most important thing you can do is tell people who you are – fill out your profile, add a picture, link to your blog or Website. People decide who to follow or who to accept follows from based on what they see in a profile, so give them plenty of information to work with.

* Write tight and bright. Twitter limits messages to 140 characters. That forces you to be concise without being cryptic. You can accomplish that by using abbreviations and emoticons, or just limiting what you’re writing to one well constructed sentence or idea. If you want to add a link, use one of the services that shrinks links, like Tiny URL.

* Learn the lingo. A DM is a direct message that only the person you’re sending it to can see. An @replies is a message you send to a specific person that everyone else on Twitter can see too. It’s like talking to one person in a crowded room so other people can eavesdrop on your conversation, and possibly cut in if they’re interested – which in many cases you want them to do.

* Pay it forward. When you see RT in someone’s Twitter post it means Retweet. Use it to send a post or a snippet of a post that somebody else wrote to your own Twitter network. When you RT someone it’s like paying them a compliment because you’re basically telling the world they’ve said something interesting. RTs are good, and the general Twitter rule of thumb is if you RT what other people say often, people will RT you in return, and that will build up your exposure, Twitter followers, people who visit your blog or Website, etc.

* Be picky. Don’t feel like you have to follow everyone who’s following you. That guy with the hairy back, the company selling time shares, the make-money-online scammers – you do not need to follow them. And if they’re spammers, you can report them by forwarding their Twitter user name to @spam.

* Get real. If all of a sudden lots of people start following you, it could be tempting to set up some kind of robo-reply to send an automated response. But that’s cheesy and Twitter users will call you on it. The whole point of Twitter – and all social networks for that matter – is connecting with people, not racking up numbers.

* Hash it out. Twitter users will mark certain tweets with hash tags – they look like this # – when they want to keep track of a particular topic, like the conversations that took place during the Super Bowl or earlier during the presidential inauguration. People who use Twitter for regularly scheduled online meetups to talk about their jobs or another shared interest use hashtags to mark their comments so their fellow meeting attendees can follow the conversation.

* Pick a path. People use Twitter for lots of different reasons – to promote their business, swap shop talk, follow the news, debate the issues, tell jokes or just hang out.  If you’re using it for something other than purely personal reasons, it’s good to think about why you’re there and how you want to be perceived, then act accordingly. I’m using Twitter to build a network of sources for the freelance writing I do – much like the LinkedIn network I’ve created. I also use it to let people know when I’ve written a new blog post or if one of my story’s has been published.

What do you want to know about Twitter but have been too afraid to ask? Leave your questions here and I’ll do my best to come up with an answer – and if I can’t, I’ll call on some Twitter-using friends – or should I call them fiends? – who can.

Meanwhile, you can find me on Twitter at @michellerafter. See you there.

Last fall I started hearing more writers talk about using Twitter for work, so in December I signed up. It’s easy: you pick a user name and password, write a brief description of yourself, upload a photo to go with your profile and you’re in business – able to post messages of 140 characters at a time, sign up to follow other people and ask friends to follow you. Think of it as a pint-sized version of Facebook or LinkedIn, but heavier on the conversation.

People have likened Twitter to a cocktail party or a class reunion. To me it’s more like the scene out of Finding Nemo when the sea turtles catch a ride on the East Australian current – fast, fun and filled with bodies.

Since taking the plunge, I’ve discovered what my Twitter-using friends already had: it’s a good way to track down sources.

Here’s an example. Last week I did a news story for a trade magazine I write for regularly. I tweeted about the story once it ran, which is to say that after the story went online I posted a link to it on Twitter. People clicked on the link and that helped bump up the page views the story got on the magazine’s Website. I’m pretty sure that fact, plus the fact that it was breaking news and I turned it around quickly -  led my editor to call me when he got a tip on some other breaking news to see if I could do that story. I said yes and immediately put out a call out on Twitter for an industry expert – and got a response within 15 minutes. I turned in that story the same afternoon – not bad for a day’s work.

Once the second story was up, I posted a link to it on Twitter and a couple of the sources that I quoted broadcast it to their Twitter connections, or retweeted it in Twitter lingo. Ever since, professionals in that industry have been adding me to their Twitter connections, which adds to my pool of potential sources.

That’s the good stuff. Even so, Twitter still has its faults. People gossip, overshare, flog their businesses and themselves. All that’s easy enough to ignore. The biggest downside is how much of a time waster it can be – and that’s why it took me so long to start using it. It’s too easy to cross the line from trolling Twitter for sources to hanging out just to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Obviously that thought has occurred to other people because there are now a host of Twitter tools for people to use to read Twitter posts offline, send new comments through email, link directly to blogs, etc. – all in an effort to stay productive. I’ll take a look at some of those in coming weeks to see which ones are most useful for writers.

To other freelancers, if you’re using Twitter, how has it helped your writing business?