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The Pros and Cons of Twitter Newspapers
Are Twitter newspapers effective for freelancers?
For the past few months, I’ve been seeing links to online “newspapers” pop up in the Twitter stream. In fact, we first discussed Twitter Newspapers on Freelance Folder in an Open Thread a few months ago. Since online social media newspapers seem to be becoming more popular, I decided to take a closer look at this trend.
In this post, I’ll explain what a social media newspaper is and examine the pros and cons of having a Twitter newspaper. I’ll also share the results of an informal Twitter poll that I conducted.
What Is a Twitter Newspaper?
If you’re not familiar with social media newspapers, it’s important to understand what they are. Simply put, a social media newspaper automatically summarizes the content of user-selected tweets (and Facebook content) based on user-defined criteria (such as a Twitter list or hash tag). Typically, the newspaper is then tweeted out into the user’s Twitter stream. In some cases, it may also be shared on the user’s website.
Technically, tools that create such newspapers are aggregators–meaning that they gather a specified type of information from designated sources. In this case, however, the aggregator has been specifically designed to work with social media. Those who aggregate content are often referred to as “curators.”
Creating a Social Media Newspaper
Here are several online tools that you can use to create a Twitter or Facebook newspaper:
- Paper.li–This newspaper tool seems allows you to create custom newspapers from both Twitter and Facebook.
- Twitter Tim.es–This newspaper tool allows you to extract information from either media sources and from Twitter lists.
- PostPost–This newspaper tool is currently limited to Facebook only.
However, expect new tools to crop up in the coming months. I would also expect to see existing tools expand to include other social media platforms.
Social Media Newspaper Pros and Cons
There are some advantages and disadvantages to having a Twitter newspaper.
I’ll tackle the advantages first:
- An organizational tool–Most Twitter users have more than one interest, so their Twitter streams can be chaotic, to say the least. A Twitter newspaper can help a freelancer gather related material.
- A way to find new information/contacts–Different social media users have access to different tweets and contacts. Reading someone else’s Twitter newspaper on a topic that you are interested in can help you find new information or contacts.
- Another “touch”–If you do a good job of creating your social media newspaper and it adds value for those you share it with, it could be a positive addition to your online freelancing brand.
- Possible SEO benefits–Because some social media newspapers are archived there may be some SEO benefits for either the creator of the newspaper or for those whose information is included.
- No cost (and easy to set up)–Most social media newspapers are free for the user and they are relatively simple to set up. Once one is set up, the newspaper creation process is automatic.
Now, for the disadvantages:
- Can’t be monetized–As far as I can tell, there is no way for a social media user to place advertisements on his or her social media newspaper.
- Only as good as your criteria–The contents of your social media newspaper will only be as good as your criteria (and your followers). If your criteria is poorly chosen or you do not follow interesting Tweeters, your newsletter may not add value.
- Some find it annoying–The annoyance factor should not be totally discounted. In my informal poll (see below) a significant number of freelancers indicated that they were annoyed with those who promote their Twitter newspapers.
- May be ignored by others–If your social media newspaper doesn’t deliver value, you may find that others ignore it entirely–making the value of having it as part of your brand questionable.
What Freelancers Think About Twitter Newspapers
I reached out on Twitter to discover how some freelancers felt about Twitter newspapers. I also asked a few of my contacts who already have social media newspapers already to comment on the experience.
Although my little Twitter poll was very informal and not necessarily scientific, I was surprised to discover that many freelancers don’t know what a Twitter newspaper is. There was also a significant number of comments that described Twitter newspapers as being “annoying.” Surprisingly, I didn’t get any positive comments.
I then decided to go ahead and ask a few freelancers who are using Twitter newspapers what they thought about the experience. These comments were positive. Here are two different opinions:
- Shakirah Dawud (@shakirah_dawud), who blogs at Deliberate Ink, shared her experience: ” I think the best thing about it is how it helps bind me by association to some of my most respected and informative tweeps on my topic.”
- George Passwater (@GRPasswater) provided similar feedback: “The feedback I’ve received on my Twitter daily papers is always positive. Many tell me how the news in each paper has helped them in one way or another. For me, it’s a win-win situation. I get to connect with all kinds of great people who read the papers and they get great content they can use for their own use.”
Other Resources
Here are a few other resources discussing social media newspapers.
- From Kommein, How Paper.li Can Become an Attractive Option for Bloggers
- From Mashable, PostPost: A Facebook Newspaper With a Flipboard Feel
- From Social Media Today, Online News Curation, The rise of the Echo-Chamber and the end of Debate?
Your Turn
What do you think about Twitter newspapers? Do you use a Twitter (or other social media) newspaper? Can you think of any pros or cons that I forgot?
Share your experience or opinion in the comments.
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6 Reasons Why Freelancers Need to Exercise Self-Discipline
There’s no doubt that freelancers need many skills that non-freelancers don’t think about. It’s not enough to simply be a good writer, a good designer, a good web developer (or whatever your specialty is). The need to have these other skills is one of the things that makes freelancing so difficult.
Many blog posts have been written about a freelancer’s need to market one’s self, the need to manage one’s financial affairs, and the need to manage your time well. But, a crucial freelancing skill, self-discipline is rarely mentioned.
In this post, I’ll explain why self-discipline is important to freelancers and provide some examples of instances when self-discipline should be used.
The Hidden Part of the Success Puzzle
In many ways, I think that self-discipline is the hidden part of the success puzzle. We freelancers don’t talk about it much and sometimes I think that we forget about it.
But, the truth is that learning self-discipline is every bit as important to being a successful freelancer as learning to code, design, or write well.
Another reason that we freelancers might not discuss self-discipline is because we’re not quite sure how it fits into the freelancing picture. We don’t know when to exercise self-discipline.
6 Ways to Exercise Freelancing Self-Discipline
If you’re in freelancing for the long haul, then you’ll need some self-discipline. Here are some crucial areas where self-discipline is needed:
- Save Money During the Good Times. As I write this post, I’ve just finished reading blog posts from several other freelancers describing their financial woes. The best way to mitigate the times when your income is lower than normal is to set aside part of your income during your better months.
- Work When No One Is Looking. One thing that freelancers do not have is a boss looking over their shoulder all of the time to check on them and make sure that they are doing their job. A freelancer has to learn to get the work done even if no one is holding him or her accountable.
- Market Yourself. Many freelancers have trouble promoting themselves. (I count myself as part of this group.) However unpleasant marketing may seem to you, if you want to keep your freelancing business afloat, you’ve got to keep on marketing yourself–whether you like it or not.
- Work on Nonpaying Tasks. Not every task that a freelancer does can be directly billed to a client. However, it’s still important to keep up with those parts of your business that don’t generate income, such as bookkeeping, collections, and marketing. Not doing so can cost you a lot of money.
- Keep Your Skills Up to Date. Many corporations require periodic re-training for their employees. As a freelancer, however, it’s up to you to make sure that your marketable skills are up to date. When you’re busy it’s easy to put training off (especially since it doesn’t pay the bills), but don’t do it.
- Control Your Temper. As a freelancer, you may have to deal directly with more people than you ever would have had to face as an employee. What this means is that sometimes you are going to run across clients and others who are less than pleasant. Keep your temper in check no matter what.
What to Do If Your Self-Discipline Fails
This is probably the most important tip of the day. I’ll be first person to say that I don’t follow all of the above advice all of the time perfectly. No one can. Everyone fails from time-to-time.
So what should you do when you’ve had a lapse in self-discipline? What about when you’ve spent your savings? Or, maybe you’ve slacked off on your marketing efforts? What’s a freelancer to do then?
Simple. First of all, don’t panic. Instead, reboot. If you’ve spent your savings, start again to save. If you’ve slacked off on marketing your business, start marketing it again.
Remember, a lapse in self-discipline doesn’t have to be a permanent setback.
What About You?
Do you ever struggle with self-discipline? What additional self-discipline tips would you add?
Share your answers in the comments.
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Freelancing from the Client’s Perspective
I will not claim to be an expert on freelancing itself because I have never done it, but what I do know about is hiring freelancers to do work for me.
I have hired people to do many tasks for me that I can’t do, won’t do or simply don’t have time for. It is really helpful to get your business up and running faster than you ever could on your own by using freelancers.
I have found some things freelancers tend to cut corners on or simply do badly. From a client’s perspective, these things will not put you in good stead when you are looking to get follow up work.
Bad Freelancing Practices
Here are some things that freelancers do that really create a bad impression:
- Ignoring the job description–The first and by far the most irritating is when a freelancer doesn’t read the description of the job before accepting it. Now I am aware that there are a lot of time constraints on people’s time and that you shouldn’t be expected to do everything, but this is one thing that is a must. When I ask someone to do work for me I always have very specific requests and I do this because the basic and broad things I know how to do myself and I hire freelancers to handle the specifics. That’s what I pay for. What I don’t expect is people sending me a report half way through the project and seeing that they haven’t done precisely what I’ve asked for because it was all in the description. If you don’t understand what the client wants, then ask the client before the start of the project.
- Bad communication–Which brings me on to my next point, communication is key. It is vital for clients to know what is going on with the task that has been set. If regular reports aren’t received I get nervous that they aren’t doing what I have asked or are simply not doing anything. When a job is handed over to help a business it is natural for the client to want to know what is going on because it is their business. Always keep that in mind. Don’t be afraid as the freelancer to ask questions or just send a friendly message saying a target will be met by tomorrow. This gives the impression that you are on top of the situation and it will make the relationship run far more smoothly.
- Asking for rating changes–This one is simply a personal pet peeve, but if it puts me off hiring freelancers again then I am sure it will put others off also. Do not ask the employer to change their rating of you. This is in relation to online freelance websites where you have to leave feedback on how the freelancer performed during the project. I have had a few people mail me after I have given my honest rating of how they performed and ask me to up their rating. That gets my blood boiling. The whole point of a rating system is so that people can get an honest opinion of how the project went not to see what the freelancer believes they should have got. I’m afraid that a good rating must be earned not asked for.
- Not being courteous–The final thing I would like to mention is that you must always, always be polite. In my experience, 99.9% of freelancers understand this seemingly basic principle (which is good), but there is always the odd one who can’t resist sliding in a scornful remark or a snide comment. For example, I had one person call my project a joke in their bid. How do they expect to get hired with that kind of attitude towards a client? Anyway, my point is that good manners cost nothing and in fact could pay you a lot of money, so keep that in mind throughout all of your communiques and you will get on fine.
One Good Freelancing Practice
One thing that is worth mentioning is that I have been more inclined to accept bids for projects from people who send more than one message. The common thing that I receive is ‘I can do this. Please check PM’. I realize that you are busy trying to get as many jobs as possible, but this is not attractive to the employer in any way. While looking down the list of offers I am looking for someone who stands out and that I can tell something about straight away–not for a worker drone who does the same thing as everyone else.
If someone is willing to put more effort in to get work from me, then they are probably more willing to do a little bit of extra work to make sure that the project meets my exacting standards (which is what I am after). Employers are just as busy as you are if not more so and don’t always have time to check PMs, so take the time to write an interesting bid or two.
Your Turn
What do you think of these bad freelancing practices? Can you think of any that you would add?
Share your suggestions in the comments.
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Thank-You to Our January Advertisers
It’s a new year and for many freelancers, this signifies a fresh new start for their freelancing business. It’s a time to get things in order and get geared up.
A great way to start the new year is to explore some of the products and services offered by the high-quality companies supporting the Freelance Folder blog. It’s the support of these companies that allows us to provide you with great information year-round. Our advertisers provide excellent services and products that are vital to freelancing success. Trust us, these companies know and understand freelancing. We would definitely recommend checking them out.
Thank-You to Our Advertisers
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One Hour Business Cards is a franchise opportunity designed especially for graphic designers. One Hour Business Cards helps all types of customers find the right business cards and other printed items. Own a design studio/digital print shop.
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The Importance of Maintaining Email Relationships for Freelancers
Maintaining good relationships is extremely important in business as well as in personal life. People who work from home, especially freelancers, need to maintain healthy relationships with people who can be beneficial for them in the future.
The Internet has provided a lot of new platforms to people to interact on–but still, emails are of great benefit. Some freelancers (especially the new ones) think that maintaining relationships by email is an old method of staying connected to the clients. They think that using live chats and social networking websites is a much better way to stay in touch, but that is not true.
Even today, people who are more professional and who outsource their work to freelancers prefer to contact freelancers through email. Freelancers who maintain effective relationships on email have a greater chance of finding freelance work. In this post, I’ll discuss the importance of continuing to use email in your online relationships.
Email Allows for Better Communication
Maintaining an email relationship with a client helps the freelancers to better understand what a client requires and what his demands are.
Freelancers are generally hired for jobs like web design, copywriting, content writing, computer programming, proofreading etc. We all would agree that when working with a new client it takes us some time to understand the exact outcome that client requires. But, when you are working with a client that you have built a healthy relationship with and have worked on different projects with before, you know what quality and type of work that client wants from you.
Using email saves a great deal of time and the freelancer can use that saved time somewhere else. Moreover, the outcome of freelance work in this situation is also better.
Use Email to Keep Your Client Updated
Maintaining an email relationship allows a freelancer to regularly send useful updates about their freelance work to clients who they have had good relationships with in the past. Remember that sending a client regular updates does not mean that one should start sending so many mails that the client gets exhausted and considers the emails to be spam.
Email relationships help the freelancers to stay connected with the clients even after completing a project. Some freelancers think that maintaining an email relationship with a client after a project has already been completed and after you have been paid is nothing more than a waste of time. But, that is not true.
Just like in a wholesale, drop shipping or any other business–freelancing is also something that requires you to nurture your clients. Maintaining an email relationship with the clients after your freelance contract has come to an end is a form of lead nurturing and lead generation for the freelancer. The relationship keeps the clients regularly updated and educated about the benefits they can get from the freelancer.
In the future, when the client needs help from a freelancer, he or she will contact that freelancer first because he or she knows them well. Apart from this, the client can also help bring in more contracts for the freelancer if he or she is satisfied with the freelancer’s work.
But, I Don’t Have Time
Email relationships are time consuming, but they are much more rewarding than other sources of communication. A freelancer might have a little trouble answering questions for a client on phone or on chat, but he or she can easily give an effective reply to the client through email.
Furthermore, email relationships can be considered a part of your networking efforts. A freelancer who has extraordinarily strong relationships with the clients who outsource their work online does not need to search for projects online very frequently. In fact, he or she gets projects, one after the other, from the clients with whom he or she has maintained excellent business and personal relationships with through emails.
What About the Social Networks?
Just because a freelancer maintains effective email relationships does not mean that the freelancer should only work on maintaining email relationships and should not interact with people through social networks.
The freelancer should continue to interact with people online through social networking and then shift that interaction towards emails and continue the relationship through emails. Communicating through emails better reflects the professionalism of a freelancer and uplifts the image of the freelancer in front of the client. This enhances the client’s confidence on the freelancer.
The Ethics of Dealing with Clients Through Email
There are certain ethical guidelines for effective email relationships. These guidelines should be followed by the freelancer in order to maintain good relationship with the clients. Some ethical guidelines include:
- Do not send irrelevant emails
- Do not send bulk emails to the clients
- Do not be offensive
- Do not use unclear statements
Email Relationships Are Not Just for Clients
A freelancer should not only maintain email relationships with the clients, but he or she should maintain business and personal relationships with other freelancers as well. These relationships help the freelancer to talk about different problems the freelancers are facing and what the possible solutions are for each problem.
Moreover, having email relationship with other freelancers could help them understand each other better, make their own teams and get projects assigned and completed working together as a team.
What About You?
Using email services and maintaining email relationships are two different things. So, freelancers, whether new or old, who are not into keeping email relationships with the clients and other freelancers should start practicing these relationships now because they could turn into something really beneficial for them.
What is your primary method for keeping in touch with your clients and prospects? Do you use email, or something else?
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What Happens When the Website You Are Working on Blows Up?
It’s every developer’s nightmare. You finally get approval from the client to go live and launch the client’s website and then BOOM! Something happens and the whole site blows up.
I recently had this scenario happen. Thankfully, the site wasn’t live yet, but the client still expected me to fix the site, with no offer of extra payment, even though I wasn’t the one who blew up the site.
There’s no doubt about it. A site blow-up can be difficult to handle.
I ended up spending an entire unpaid day and a half trying to figure the issue out. I reinstalled the site and database several times, played with the settings and finally gave up and put it on my own server to test it out. Turns out, it was a server issue brought on by messing with the htaccess file in WordPress.
Fixing blown up sites is obviously not the best way to spend our work time, so I made sure to turn it into a learning experience for next time. So, what do you do if a site blows up on you?
Who Dun It?
First, you need to figure out who blew up the site in the first place. This isn’t to assign blame, but instead helps you figure out where to start looking for the solution. It’s important to figure out what the last thing was that was added, changed or deleted in order to fix the site.
If It Was Your Doing
If you were the one who happened to have blown the site up, you owe the client a huge apology and an assurance that you won’t stop working until the site is back up.
Messing up big time like this can be difficult to deal with. After all, we work hard to try to appear perfect in the eyes of our clients and any mistake can feel like a huge embarrassment. Fortunately for us, clients realize that we’re human beings as well and most remain thankful that you’ve admitted to the mistake and are working to correct it. Who knows, you might end up gaining some extra points over the way you handle this situation!
Unfortunately though, this means you’ll be working for free. Don’t even think about trying to charge the client for this or you’ll find yourself quickly without any.
Also, don’t try to avoid fixing the site or pawning off the blame onto the client. They know if they broke something or not. Remember, good customer service is really one of the main things that set you apart from other developers.
If the Client Held the Dynamite
If it was the client who blew the site up, take a deep breath. Don’t get angry and don’t yell. Remember when I said developers are human beings? Well, so are clients.
If a client comes to you with a broken site, be calm and reassure them that you’ll get it back up ASAP. Be sure you get the exact details of what happened, what they did, what buttons they pushed etc, etc. This will go a long way to finding a speedy solution.
If the client doesn’t come to you or you were the one who discovered the blown up site, be careful not to place blame. People hate being pushed into a corner and will immediately become defensive and unhelpful.
Instead, inform the client that something critically wrong has happened to the site and ask them if they could tell you the last things that were done to the site so you can fix the problem.
This simple phrasing of words gently lets the client know they did something wrong, without embarrassing them. It reassures them that you’re there to fix the problem, not to make them feel bad.
To Charge or Not to Charge
Now here’s the really tricky part–do you or do you not charge the client to fix their website if they were the ones who blew it up?
This is totally up to you and your comfort level, but I suggest just biting the bullet and fixing the issue for free, especially if it’s something fairly small and quick.
Not only will you be a hero in the client’s eyes, but you’re more likely to get more referrals and repeat business from them as well.
A more difficult dilemma occurs when the problem is a large one. When the whole site needs to be redone, reinstalled, the database has a hidden bug or something that takes longer than an hour or two to fix, you might want to think about charging for it.
If the problem has occurred well after launch, it’s ok to charge for it. Just make sure to charge a fair rate and if possible, give them a discount and let them know you’re doing so.
If the site breaks before or right after launch, it’s best to suck it up and just fix it for free. Clients are finicky and you don’t want to risk angering them to where they don’t send you final payment for the original project. Plus, it doesn’t reflect well on you if the client has a broken site before it’s even launched.
Client Education
In order to ensure this never happens again, it’s worth your while to spend some time educating a client on how the site works. It may also benefit you in the long run to redo a part of the admin area to make it less confusing for the client.
A few ways you can help the client not repeat their mistake:
- Help videos
- Help documents
- ‘?’ blurbs next to the editable fields to let the client know what it does.
- Remove the extra fields you don’t want the client to edit
Your Turn
Have you ever had a site blow up on you? How did you handle it?
Image by BlatantNews.com
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