Here’s what I’ve been reading this week:

• The Editor Unleashed The Editor Unleashed Guide to Good Blogging - Good advice from the former editor of Writer’s Digest.
• The Huffington Post 13 tips for actually getting some writing done
• The Urban Muse I Said, He Said, We Said – Picking a point of view for your website.
• Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist Conflict of interest doesn’t apply to blogs (another reason newspapers are dead)
• Erik Sherman’s WriterBiz 6 lessons from using Twitter
• Blog Salad How to throw a Twitter party – Exceedingly detailed (and simple) instructions for using Twitter hashtags for “a conference, or a live guest lecture series, or just an exclusive conversation with a certain group or certain topic in mind.”
• Seth’s Blog Saying ‘no’ – To remind ourselves that sometimes turning down an assignment is the right thing to do.
• Bike with Jackie Embrace your supporters – Using social networks to give as much as you get.

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have created all kinds of new work-related etiquette questions:

Is it OK to post a link to that killer story you wrote for Ladies Home Journal on Twitter more than once – an hour?

Does memorizing the LinkedIn profile of an editor you’d like to pitch constitute stalking?

Is it OK to friend your editor on Facebook?

All humor aside, since social networks have become such an integral part of freelancers’ daily work life, it’s easy to forget some people – including editors – still use them just for fun.

When it comes to social networks, it’s important to look before you leap. And when it comes to connecting with editors or potential editors, that means looking at how they’re using social networks and acting accordingly. If an editor you’re dying to work for is on Facebook but only uses it for friends and family, don’t go there. But if the same editor is on LinkedIn and has specifically listed “Career opportunities,” “Job inquiries” or “Getting back in touch” in their LinkedIn profile, it’s a clear sign to use the service to introduce yourself.

Linda Formichelli has lots more to say about this in a post called Connecting with editors on social media on The Renegade Writer blog for freelancers. If you read closely you’ll see yours truly is one of the writers interviewed in the piece.

UPDATE: Online News Association members receive a $10 discount off the full Webinar price. To access the discount code, go to the Journalists.org Discounts page. Join ONA here.

News U. and the Knight Digital Media Center are hosting a Webinar on social networks on Tuesday, April 14, 2 to 3 p.m. EDT.

The Webinar, called Social Networks: The New Architecture of the Web will help decode what’s happening on social network giants like Facebook and Twitter as well as specialty groups and how.

The Webinar will be led by Paul Gillin, a well-known social media expert and newspaper industry analyst who blogs at NewspaperDeathWatch.com. Note: I’ve interviewed Gillin for WordCount and he knows his stuff. The cost is $24.95.

Although the information sounds like it’s primarily aimed at journalists working for MSM, it could be worth looking into for new freelance markets or if you’re contemplating starting your own social networking-based new media venture. Register or learn more here.

Here’s some promo copy from the site:

Media organizations can tap into the trusted advice networks that are forming online and leverage them to their advantage. You will learn:

• Why online “friends” are the foundation of social networks’ appeal
• How trusted sources are migrating from mass media to friends’ networks
• From examples of news organizations that are leveraging social networks to extend their influence
• What newspapers can do right now to tap into emerging communities

I’m a Savvy Networker. I know because I took this quiz and found out what kind of LinkedIn user I am.

The quiz was created by Tom H.C. Anderson, head of a New York Web 2.0 market research firm called Anderson Analytics LLC.

Anderson came up with the test so people could see where they fit in among LInkedIn’s 30 million members.

Anderson puts LinkedIn’s social networkers into four groups: Savvy Networkers, Senior Executives, Late Adopters and Exploring Options.

I didn’t really need a sophisticated algorithm to tell me I like to network and I’m hooked on LinkedIn. My connections are at 340+ and counting (but I’m way behind on Facebook and haven’t started using Twitter yet, although I plan to in 2009). When it comes to computers, software apps, electronic gadgets and Web 2.0 innovations I’ve never been the first in my circle – physical or virtual – to try something new. But I’m usually right behind, and love reporting on what I’ve learned – all those years spent as a tech writer I guess.

In his research, Anderson found that the more connections a person had, the more likely they were to have a higher personal income. You can read some of Anderson’s other findings here or on his blog here.

Any student of online social networks can see that right now, less is more.

It’s not what you think. Social networks aren’t shrinking. The audience they’re trying to reach is. Think LinkedIn or Facebook, but way smaller.

Exhibit A. Today, a new Website for women over 40 called Women on the Web, or Wowowow.com, said it would launch Saturday. According to this story in today’s New York Times, the backers are a who’s who of big-name women in media including Leslie Stahl, Liz Smith and Mary Wells. Celebs like Lily Tomlin, Candice Bergen, Whoopi Goldberg, Marlo Thomas will make guest appearances.

Earlier this week, Penelope Trunk spun off the BrazenCareerist.com, network from her long-time blog of the same name. The Website is a mash up 50 Gen Y bloggers writing about all the stuff that Gen Y-age people care about from a Gen Y perspective.

Recently, I got invited to join The Content Wrangler, a Website for people who manage content in some way, shape or form. A couple nights ago my husband the lawyer brought home the latest issue of California Lawyer with an article about social networks for lawyers. I’m sure there are more out there now, and lots more to come.

It’s something to watch. These networks are to the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world what niche magazines are to Good Housekeeping, People and Reader’s Digest. No doubt they’ll go after advertisers that want face time with the particular demographic they represent. Watch for big membership drives so they can boost their circulation figures and attract more ad $$$.

Many of these networks are relying on blogs and contributions from members for a substantial part of what they publish. That could be an opportunity for freelancers, to market ourselves, build up expertise, and who knows, maybe even make some money.

Companies use blogs and social networks to keep customers informed and employees happy. But Web 2.0 technologies can open the door to corporate spies and hackers, which is why if a company uses them, they also need strong security policies for protection. You can read more on the subject in my new story, Keeping Web 2.0 Platforms Private and Secure on Inc. magazine’s IncTechnology.com Web site.

Social networks are slowly oozing inside companies, which are rolling them out to better connect with employees and former employees. You can read more about the trend in OurSpace: Creating An In-House Network, a new story I wrote for IncTechnology.com. Inc., the magazine for entrepreneurs and small business, started IncTechnology in 2007 to cover technology issues of interest to small and mid-sized companies. The site is edited by Elizabeth Wasserman, a former colleague of mine from our days at The Industry Standard. I started writing for IncTechnology this fall. Look on my Clips page to see more of my work at IncTechnology.

Here are some more ways that writers can use LinkedIn, the business social networking site.

To change who you are. You can change how you want to present yourself to the world by changing your LinkedIn profile. Do you want to depict yourself as a veteran writer? Change agent? Accomplished editorial manager? It’s kind of like writing a resume, you craft your profile into whatever you want or need it to be. If you decide you don’t like the first version you come up with, it’s very simple to redo it. I would recommend that while you’re tinkering with your profile, turn off the notification settings in the My Account section so your connections aren’t notified every time you make a change, that would get pretty annoying! If you’re struggling for ideas, look at what other writers have used as their profiles and steal from the ones you like the best. You know what they say about imitation…

I joined LinkedIn, the business social networking site, in September when I started working again. I’ve been a regular ever since. I posted some thoughts about how writers can use LinkedIn on Freelance Success, a freelance writers Web site, and people found them so helpful, I’m sharing them here.

Here’s how writers can use LinkedIn:

To reconnect with former colleagues from various places you’ve worked on staff or as a freelancer. If you’ve kept email addresses of old buddies in Outlook or another contact manager, you can import those into LinkedIn and see if they’re also members. If they aren’t, their email addresses are right at your finger tips to invite them. If you’ve created a detailed LinkedIn profile that lists places you’ve worked, you can go to the LinkedIn Home page to see how many other people at those companies are members and invite them to join your network. In my case, one of the ex-colleagues I asked to connect with is now an assigning editor at a couple news Web sites. She immediately offered me assignments and I’m writing a couple stories a month for her.

As a contact manager for all of the editors and editorial staff you work with. Most of the editors at publications I’m writing for are on it, as are their bosses, art directors, etc., so it’s kind of like a company directory.

As a contact manager for sources and potential sources. As I work on stories, I ask sources or the PR rep who set up the interview if they’re on LinkedIn. If they do, I ask them to join my network. If they don’t, I evangelize a little about the benefits and ask if I can introduce them to the service by inviting them to join my network. In most cases they accept. By doing this, I’m building up a virtual Rolodex of sources for future stories.

To find sources. Now that my contact list is in LinkedIn, I send group emails to subsets of the list when I’m looking for company examples in a certain industry or on a specific trend or issue. LinkedIn lets you slice and dice connections list by geography or industry, which makes it easy to put group emails together. You can also hand pick a group of names to send a message to.

To find potential sources. In LinkedIn’s Answers section, use the Keyword search function to find potential sources for stories by name, company name, etc. When I find someone that looks like they could be a subject matter expert and they have an email address listed on their LinkedIn profile, I send them a message directly. If I find someone I’m connected to indirectly, I’ll ask my 1st degree connection for an introduction. I always show my 1st degree connection the contents of the email I’m sending to their friends so they know the reason for my inquiry. I’ve found a few story sources this way, and in most instances, I’ve also added these people to my connections list. If I have no connection to that person, I might visit the company’s Web site and look up the PR contact in the “Media” or “About Us” section for a phone number.

To improve my work processes. I’m refining how I operate my freelance business, and information I’ve gleaned from fellow LinkedIn users has helped. In the long run I think this will effect my bottom line by increasing my productivity. For example, I’ve just finished reading a book on organization and time management, Take Back Your Life! Using Outlook to Get Organized and Stay Organized, by Sally McGhee (Microsoft Press), that I heard about on a LinkedIn Answer board. Another example: when I started working again, I wanted to go green by eliminating printing out interview and research notes before writing a story. I posted a question in the Question and Answer section asking how to do this and got a bunch of great suggestions, including one that I use all the time now – a Word feature that tiles two files horizontally on the screen at the same time, one for notes and one for writing.