Make Money on twitter With Sponsored Tweets

I saw a tweet the other day....

A tweet?

If you don't know what a "tweet" is, now is a good time to learn. A tweet is the digital answer to the question "What's happening? You let people know what's happening by sending a message in 140 characters or less via twitter.com. And like so many online services that started out as a totally free idea, twitter now offers a way for its users to make money with sponsored tweets.

twitter - For the Young at Heart

Like I was saying, I saw a tweet the other day that said "You know you're old when you signed up for a twitter account and forgot you had it." I suppose the theory behind the humor is that twitter is so new, so hip, so exciting, a young person would never forget about it, but an old person might.

I signed up for a twitter account because my son recommended I sign up for a twitter account. I went to twitter, created an identity, added a few of my article links then watched my feed for a minute or two. Of course there was nothing to see, only my tweets. ( I didn't know a whole lot about followers back then.) Another person I'd met online, Zennie62, had a twitter account as well, so, eventually I added him and he added me. That gave me 2 followers total, enough to make me happy.

I'm pausing at this point in my twitter story because I know you've only read this far because you want to know how to make money on twitter. Here's how it works.

Click the referral link above and if you like what you see, sign up to send out sponsored tweets.

You can create a new account or sign in with your twitter user information.

You get paid for tweeting for companies who either don't have time to tweet, don't know how to tweet or don't care to tweet for themselves.

You choose the sponsors you wish to tweet from a list on the Sponsored Tweets site.

You supply a list of key words that will help you find the right sponsor fit for you

You can refer other people. (Which is why I ask you to please click my link above)

Those referrals can add to your income as well.

It's not easy, even if it sounds that way. You still have to write certain tweets, get them approved and agree to send them out or have them do it. There's lots more information on the site.

You have to have a minimum number of followers

To make money with sponsored tweets, It's better if you understand twitter, but you don't necessarily have to.

So back to my twitter story.

A site I write for recommended we set up an automatic twitter feed for our articles, which we could do without signing on to twitter. A few months later I decided to check out the site again just to see what was happening. I signed in and stared at my computer screen for a minute or two and waited for something to happen. Zennie62 was tweeting away, so I knew it was working; and my articles had gained me another 6 followers, which put me at 8, including my son.

I still didn't get all the twitter hype; and since I had my articles on automatic tweet, I admit, like older people are supposed to do, I forgot all about twitter for the most part. Occasionally I would hear about throngs of tweeters, young people, tweeting from sites all over the country; and I decided what I was missing was the portable app part of it. I didn't have a proper portable device; and didn't intend to buy a new one to implement something I didn't really understand, so that was that.

My articles were on automatic feed; what else did I need to do anyway? And besides I didn't have time to play with one more web site and a portable app. I had jewelry to make and photos to take and listings to do. But I kept hearing great things about that twitter. (someone tweeted that the other day too. "#youknowyou'reoldwhen you call it 'that twitter'."

Things change; and one day not long ago I had a bit of time on my hands, so I decided I would check out that twitter and figure out what I could do with it. I had 11 followers then; and I spent a day just looking at it.

After watching twitter for several hours straight on a few separate days, and going back to it every day since then, this is what I've learned:

Topics- There are topics people search for, usually a word or two with a # sign to its left. (#handcrafted jewelry, #music, #fathersday) Who decided on these and how they did it, I have no idea; but if one of those phrases applies and you add it to your tweet, your tweet will be more accessible to people looking for what you have.

Search - To see if something you're interested in is an established topic, search your word and see what comes up.

There is a People search as well.

#Trending Topics- These are topics people all over are tweeting about for whatever reason. These topics have the #word format like #youknowyou'reoldwhen, and are listed in the right margin of your twitter home page. People who want to be seen create messages including a trending topic.

It's amusing to watch; or if you can, relate what you're doing to a trending topic, add the trending #word to your message.

@word - A word or group of words with the @ sign to the left is a link that will take you to a twitter user's page or a website

I've decided twitter is something indeed, what exactly it is I'm still trying to figure out; but I also decided I don't need a portable device to use it. The tweeters... twitterers.... tweets? you follow back up in a queue until you click the bar and look at them. If someone tweeted you something important, you won't miss it; and there are a few other ways to access the tweeters you are following.

I now have 34 followers= (Zennie62, who clearly figured out twitter long before I did, has over 8,000) I'm following 65people including William Shatner, Barack Obama and Gladys Knight, who has a new jewelry line.

So I'm learning how to tweet. And now with twitter monetizing, I owe it to myself to learn as much as I can. You do too.