Most folks use Facebook for one or the other, not both. However, many freelance writers and I use Facebook for both personal and business. After all, when you hire us, you get our personalities and styles. I take care to watch what I post by remembering a future client, a former boss and family member could read it. Although I use Facebook’s settings to limit what some contacts can see, you never know what leaks from one realm to another.

If you’re not sold on Facebook for business, here are 50 writer uses for Facebook.

Ready to create an effective Facebook profile? Don’t worry about doing it in one sitting. Quality is more important than speed. Besides, I still tweak mine. It helps to do a review of all your bios at least once a year as you gain experience and new clients.

Facebook Profile Bio

1. Use your full name. This is especially the case for women writers. They might write under their maiden names or both maiden and married. Mine says “Meryl Kaplan Evans” because some knew me before I married and I used that name when I first started freelancing as a writer. If you have other names — past or present — include them in a logical spot such as your Info page under “Personal Information: About Me.” (See screen shot.)

2. Complete your profile as much as possible. The four sections in Facebook’s profile include Basic, Personal, Contact and Education and Work. Add publications, writing types (white papers, case studies, etc.) and other relevant information. Also ask yourself, “Do I want the client to know this?” so you don’t share too much.

3. Select an ideal profile photo. Remember you can share lots of photos on your Facebook photo page. For the profile photo, it’d be wise to use a professional one or a photo that shows you wearing clothes that fit your personality and style. BitRebels has great tips for looking good in photos.

4. Add your blog. You can import your blog entries into Facebook with several Applications like Networked Blogs, which I use. Not everyone is into reading blogs and Twitter, and you can find a new audience this way. What’s cool is getting comments from my local friends who didn’t read my blog until I fed it into Facebook.

5. Skip your Twitter feeds. At first, I sent all of my Twitter tweets to Facebook. However, after seeing others doing the same, I realized it would probably bother more people than not because even I was bothered by the frequent updates. If you don’t use Twitter much, then it might work for you. But status updates aren’t meant for frequent updates like Twitter. Besides, we all know that Facebook attracts people from all walks of life including those whose only social network is Facebook. Now I just send relevant tweets to Facebook through Selective Tweets by adding ”#fb” to a tweet for posting in Facebook.

6. Capture writing career information on profile home page. A paragraph appears beneath your photo on your profile home page. This is your chance to tell people the most important thing about what you do as a writer. Keep it simple and to one or two key things otherwise people won’t remember you for anything. Questions to ask: What do you want potential clients to know about you? What do they get from working with you? Other things to consider: industry, client type, writing type. (see “Facebook Profile Bio” screen shot.)

Privacy Settings for Profile Information

7. Review your profile information privacy settings. Click some of your friends’ friends links. After looking at a few, you’ll notice some have almost empty pages while others reveal more. This is the information people see when they search for someone not yet connected. Understandably, some set profile settings to very private that we only see a name when we search for them. However, they might not be the only one with that name and you can’t discern if you have the right person. I open my profile photos and “Education and Work” to everyone. This way they know if they have the right person and learning about what I do. (See “Privacy Settings” screen shot.)

8. Manage privacy settings. I assign “limited profile” to people I only know on a professional level or through another contact. This assignment allows them to see specific parts of my profile based on the assignments I set. You can do the same for every photo album: open one to all, open another to everyone except those on “limited profile” and another that exempts certain people.

If you need help with your Twitter bio, here are tips for creating a Twitter profile for writers. It’s unbelievable how many people use a shortcut service URL for their URL instead of the real thing.

How do you manage your Facebook profile for business?

Image credit: Shlomit Wolf

Yee haw! (I’m a Texan, I can do that.) Happy to do another Middle Zone Musings “What I learned from…” project. This time, we share our favorite posts of 2009. I put this together based on what I thought were most valuable to you based on your feedback.

7 Traits of Bad Twitter Followers: The things to do if you hate Twitter.

50+ Writer Uses for Twitter: Who knew there were so many things you can do within 140 characters?

50+ Writers Uses for Facebook: Facebook can do more than connect you with friends and family.

Short, Powerful and Favorite Books: If you crave reading a book without a lot of time, these are the ones sure to fulfill your reading desires.

How to Join Twitter Chats: And videos to help. One of my favorite things to do… connect with intelligent individuals and participate in conversations without barriers.

How to Manage Your Time with Social Networks: Writing is a lonely business and it’s very easy to fall under the hypnotic trap of social media.

Twitter Success Means More Than Numbers: Stop asking, “How can I get more followers.” It defeats the purpose. I know plenty of folks with about 200 followers who are great tweeters.

40+ Writer Uses for LinkedIn: You can do more than just connect with people.

Watch What Your Blog, Post and Tweet Online: Many times I’ve thought about tweeting something and then I’d back off.

27 Most Used Applications in a Writing Business: I was surprised how well-received this one was. I guess we all like to peek into people’s work.

10 Commandments for Writers on Using Social Media: I had fun with this one. Wish I were inspired more often.

How Muscle Memory Affects Writing: I found some old English papers from college. Eww! It does show me I write faster and better thanks to years and years of practice. And I am still practicing!

Applying the Pomodoro Technique in Writing: This technique can range from simple to full-blown. What I like about it is that you can just focus on the 25-minute, break, 25-minute aspect. It works.

How to Create a Twitter Profile for Writers: A couple of tips that some of us experienced users may not think about.

The previous post has a quick and dirty list of the applications I use most often in my writing business. Some apps may perplex you or you’d like to know more about how I use them. This provides the magnifying glass edition so you can decide if you’d like to look into them.

Browsers

I used to rely on just Firefox with the occasional use of Internet Explorer because some applications didn’t work right in Firefox. Now I use Google Chrome almost as much as Firefox. Sometimes I open Opera — I love its look, feel and speed. Firefox hangs and slows down often, but it has the best and most useful plug-ins. Jump to Firefox add-ons to see my faves.

Bookkeeping and Invoicing

QuickBooks: Had I started my business within the last couple of years, I might not be using QuickBooks. It’s the only software that almost beat me in the battle of gal vs. app; eventually I got the hang of it. It may be a good thing because I’ve used a popular web-based invoicing application from the client point of view. It would not let me pay the 50 percent payment due at the start of a project. Sure, the vendor could’ve sent me two invoices: one for the first payment and one for the final payment, but it didn’t make sense to do that as it’s all one project.

I appreciate keeping my finances and invoices on my computer rather than in the cloud (web-based). I can’t access the app if I’m away from my home. However, when I’m away — I don’t do invoicing. If I traveled frequently or for longer periods, then a web-based app makes sense.

Writing

Microsoft Office: No matter how you feel about Microsoft, Word has everything writers need. I’ve tried web-based apps, which made me feel constrained. Favorite features: Counts (word, character, etc.), Review (tracking), Comments and Thesaurus. Excel keeps track of data or create a spreadsheet of information for a project or client.

Notetab: Cleans content and frees it from the invisible and bloated code that apps like Word add to it. If you copy and paste Word content into a blog post, it often brings a lot of useless and wasteful code with it. Notetab sheds it all.

Communications

Gmail: Thanks to Gmail, I stopped micromanaging my inbox.

Thunderbird: Friendly, easy, smooth and simple. My Fave Thunderbird add-ons.

Google Talk: Instant messenger apps used to be a regular part of my toolbox, but then some people abused it to talk to me about nothing and it disrupted my work. However, I needed a way to stay in touch with family and Google Talk allows me to be invisible yet able to connect with my spouse. We also use it on our BlackBerrys instead of SMS. No offense if you’re one of the people I’ve chatted with IM. No one can see what I am doing, so no one is at fault.

Marketing and Connecting

Blogging: I have both Wordpress and MovableType installed. All of meryl.net uses Wordpress except for Bionic Ear, which uses MovableType. Writers don’t all need to have a blog. If you interact regularly on social networks and visit other people’s blogs while leaving meaningful comments, you’ll be fine without your own blog. It’s still important to have your own web site rather than relying on social network profile to be your web page. Visiting other people’s blogs takes precedence over writing in my own as I want to hear what they have to say and respond to that.

Social networks: This includes blogs, Twitter, Twitter Search, Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed. I’ve set up my accounts to feed into each other so they stay fresh without requiring my visiting each site daily. You don’t have to do cold calling to make it as a full-time writer. I do zero cold calling and instead take the Quiet Marketing approach. Few Twitter notification apps have proven to remain consistent about sending you an email letting you know when someone mentions your name or brand. Twitter Search is the best option for accurate results.

Tweetchat: This one is my app of choice for joining Twitter chats. Video on how to use Tweetchat.

Tweetdeck: Organize and manage my Twitter accounts and groups. Has some non-intuitive features that I handle on Twitter.com instead.

Personal Information Manager aka Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Memos

In the past, I needed to have my personal information manager (PIM) data with me and carried my Palm device everywhere along with my cell phone. When I upgraded to a BlackBerry, a superior phone to my previous, I decided it was time to let go of the Palm. Besides, I interact more with the PIM on my computer than I do on a handheld.

So the ability to update the PIM on a computer outweighed the need to update it on a device. That said, I needed to sync my data with the BlackBerry. I don’t like the BlackBerry’s PIM apps because they take too many steps and have too many features. It took me seconds to add a new item on the Palm yet minutes on the BlackBerry.

I still use Palm Desktop. It loads fast. It has just the right features without overkill — although it could stand a few more features. Originally, I synced the Palm with Outlook and let Outlook update the BlackBerry.

Now I’ve taken Outlook out of the equation thanks to CompanionLink’s Google Sync. It syncs all four Palm Desktop apps with Google. While its process for transferring memos isn’t elegant — it offers the best option. Google Sync then updates the BlackBerry. I update Calendar and Contacts in both apps and the rest in Palm Desktop. You can find more sync options.

Miscellaneous

Team work: Some clients and assignments involve working with a team. Each has its own web-based app for communicating. No one stands out or dominates. All apps have strong and weak areas.

Filezilla: Managing files on my web site’s server.

Bit.ly: Shorten URLs.

Dropbox: If I work on an article on both computers, I save it on Dropbox so I can access the file from anywhere. Once finished, I archive it on my PC as MyDropbox should be like an inbox — hold as little content as possible.

Online backup: I have an external hard drive for saving my work, but — G-d forbid, if something happens to my house, I’ve got my data online.

SnagIt: It’s amazing how often I use this screen capture software. It helps explain things or problems with few words. It loads faster than my photo editing software, so I use SnagIt to crop and tweak.

Adobe Acrobat Professional for saving work, invoices and other documents in its original format.

Firefox Add-ons

Links to all of these are in my Firefox Collection.

AI Roboform: Because Google Chrome doesn’t have add-ons, I turn to Firefox more often. For one, I prefer Roboform to Last Pass for managing my passwords. I tried Last Pass because of its compatibility with Google Chrome, but it requires extra steps. Roboform sometimes annoys me with its pop up box when I don’t need it.

Better Gmail 2: Gmail stays open in my browser all the time and receives equal — maybe more — attention as Thunderbird. Yes, the app can be worrisome as it goes down form time to time. But I can access email from anywhere, any computer. Better Gmail 2 enhances Gmail’s features by adding “sub-labels” (Gmail doesn’t have folders).

Download Status Bar: Instead of a pop up box, downloads appear in the status bar at the bottom of Firefox out of your way. Right click downloads to open, rename, delete or clear them. What could be easier?

Print/Print Preview: Don’t you hate it when you think you’re printing a short page only to see the first print out is blank and the contents show up a page or two later? Print/Print Preview puts the printer icon in your toolbar and lets you select Print Preview so you can control what you print without overdoing the tree killing.

Read it Later: Another reason I choose Firefox over Google Chrome. Click the checkmark in the URL box to save an article for later. I have yet to let my reading pile up. I tried a bookmarklet app in Google Chrome, but Read it Later works better.

Word Count Plus: As a writer, word count is important data. It can count anything you select.

Xmarks: Sync bookmarks across computers. I use a laptop often so I can work outside of my home office. I don’t have to do a thing to keep both computer’s browsers set up the same way.

What are your favorite apps? Why?

Everyone has their own preference for what apps make a difference in their work. Mine might work for you, or they might not. We all try, download and install many apps and add-ons. Bet  the Pareto Principle applies here: We use 20 percent of the applications we have 80 percent of the time.

Not all of these apps relate to the act of writing, but contribute to my career as a writer.

Browsers: Yes, more than one!

1. Firefox and Firefox add-ons (my favorite)

2. Google Chrome

3. Opera

4. Internet Explorer

Bookkeeping and Invoicing

5. QuickBooks

Writing

6. Microsoft Office

7. Notetab

Communications

8. Gmail

9. Thunderbird and Thunderbird add-ons.

10. Google Talk

Marketing and Connecting

11. Blogs: Wordpress, MovableType and other people’s blogs

12. Twitter and Twitter Search

13. Facebook

14. LinkedIn

15. FriendFeed

16. Tweetchat

17. Tweetdeck

Personal Information Management

18. Palm Desktop

19. CompanionLink

20. Google: Calendar, Contacts and Mobile Sync

Miscellaneous

21. Team apps: SocialCast, Basecamp and GroupSite

22. Filezilla

23. Bit.ly

24. Dropbox

25. Online backup

26. SnagIt

27. Adobe Acrobat

Not software, but must share. Love working with two monitors.

Next entry: The details behind these apps for those who wanna know.

What apps do you depend on for your writing business?

Image from Riesma Pawestri

I wish I could say this is stating the obvious — it’s not. People continue to miss out on opportunities because of something they said anywhere online. This applies not only to those looking for jobs, but also freelancers and those in current jobs. Future clients, customers, employers, agents and publishers WILL check up on you before they consider signing you.

This applies to interests including political. Now, we all have a right to support whomever we want running for office, but how we handle ourselves in supporting or not supporting a candidate can affect whether you get a job or gig. A financial service placement firm reported that a candidate lost out on a job because he posted a negative note on a candidate’s Facebook page.

Whole Foods Flap

I wish I had more details. Would the employer overlook a positive post? Was the negative post one of those shooting off at the mouth without any supporting facts? If the job was an executive or C-level one, it probably would not matter as Whole Foods CEO John Mackey wrote a Wall Street Journal Op/Ed that left many loyal customers seething. Mackey posts the full details on his blog. In short, his opnion went against what many of Whole Foods’ customers believe in.

Topics That Might Bug Folks

Would you want to hire someone who complains about family, marriage and illnesses, or posts about a drunken night ora frustrating editor? Most of us have done regretable or silly things in our lives, especially as youngsters, but they don’t belong online if you want to have a chance of landing a job, contract or gig.

Oh, you only send it to close friends and family? Even if you can trust them, are you sure they won’t accidentally forward it or accidentally spill it to the public? Remember landing the job at Cisco tweet? Or the Fedex insult?

Rule of Thumb

When you write anything electronically, do the Mom / child / employer check

Would you want your mama or child to read about your drunk night? Would you want your employer to read that you can’t stand X candidate? Would you want your client to see you whine and complain about life in general? Do you want an editor to see how difficult you are as a writer?

If necessary, reword them to ask “How would you feel if you read that a prospective peer or employee did X?” Maybe the reality will have a greater impact.

Recruiters, hiring managers and other folks know that many folks share too much about themselves online. While someone might keep that out of her professional life, that has no bearing on the message she sends. If you need to talk to someone, do it offline. Also, watch what you text on your phone because people can forward those too.

What stories have you heard about people who lost opportunities as a result of improper online posts?

I had been thinking about when is prime time on Twitter and a post from Lisa Angelettie pushed me to think harder. We all want others to hear our questions or what we have to say. So we wonder when’s a good time to tweet for the best response.

My experience — and I am just one person who uses Twitter my way — shows that I receive great or many responses at all times of the day. But I do pay attention to time when it comes to weekends and weekday mornings.

Weekend Tweeting

On weekends, I post lightweight stuff because fewer people respond. So I used one weekend as an opportunity to ask people how to help a 10-year-old who dreads reading. Patty Bennett brilliantly suggested audio books. I asked son what he thought of that idea. His response? A hard head shaking. (Phooey.)

Joel Brodie told me about a kid, the same age as my son, who loves Bone. My guy does, too. But I still have to push him to read it and sometimes he needs to read specific books. I ordered the whole set (cheaper to do that than to buy the ones he doesn’t have yet). But what happens after he finishes that?

Weekday Morning Tweeting

Anyway, back on track. On weekday mornings, I also keep it light yet business-focused than personal. US time zones vary and people all begin work at different times.

Other Situations

In reviewing my @replies, I find I’ve gotten great responses throughout the day, but mainly 11:00am CST through 8:00pm CST.

The response rate also depends on who follows you. If you only have 100 followers, you might find a pattern. Someone with 2000+ followers has many high quality people who can catch a tweet any time of the day.

Do you participate in Twitter chats? The chats give you another great opportunity to join a conversation where your chances of getting noticed go up lots — unless you’re a lousy tweeter. If you need responses, tweet the request a couple of times throughout the day.

Also, remember to post the request on your blog and other networks like LinkedIn Answers. When you @reply someone, it won’t matter as much when you post those.

Most of us tend to check our @replies and time doesn’t matter unless it’s an urgent request. I went out of town last weekend and didn’t use Twitter at all. I read all of the @merylkevans tweets.

I try to check in Twitter a few times a day spending no more than a few minutes in each sitting (unless it’s a Twitter chat). I browse latest tweets, look at my following list and search for keywords. So not all of my Twitter action relies on the latest timeline.

Twitter knows no boundaries and time zones. Someone knowledgeable is always around at the time you send a tweet.

Is there such a thing as prime time on Twitter? Why or why not?

• What Happens to Your HARO Response: “HARO?” you ask. See helpareporter.com. I read every submission I get. I can’t respond to them all, but I do let those quoted know when the article is live.
• ScreenJelly and Jing: Capture up to three (five for Jing) minutes of screen action and share. Both are free apps.
• What Language Is This? 5 Online Tools to Identify Almost Every Unknown Language and 18 Great Sites to Learn a New Language: I recommend LiveMocha. Disclaimer: I helped them with some of their web content.
• Plagiarism Checkers: 5 Free Websites to Catch Copycats: When I received my first editing assignment with a publication, the writer was lousy. In fact, calling him a writer is an insult to writers. And it turned out he plagiarized all of his articles. How was I to know considering the poor quality of his articles? I hope I never run into that again.
• 10 Ways to Jump Start Your Social Media Thinking: Love that Jason suggested imaging audience is blind or deaf. I’ve gotten pitches with links to caption-less videos and audio. Not hard to find out why these don’t work for me.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Which Crazy Writer Are You? Me wolf. No, really. Me Tom Wolfe. Ah, the life of a wall flower. You get to hang out with the most interesting people – radio DJs, hot rodders, hippies, Hell’s Angels, Wall Street tycoons, frat boys – and are completely happy putting them into the spotlight. You’re completely happy hanging back with your martini and your little notebook, jotting down all your little observations, in sight but out of mind. [Link: Jane Friedman]
• Cute as Hell Pet Community: cute as heck pets. Here’s my doghter.
• Oddee has lots of fascinatingly odd posts especially misspelled tattoos (what a place to misspell words) and the 15 ugliest products ever, which looks accurate. Odd… lots of chairs made the list.
• 43 Weird Things Said in Job Interviews: Ouch. Wonder if any one of these actually got the job aside from the meth lab one?

• Easy on the Hooptedoodle: How to be invisible when writing a book. You know… show instead of tell. [Link: The Blood-Red Pencil]
• Exposing Some Myths About Blogging Pay Rates
• 7 Ways to Rediscover Your Dreams
• Book Marketing 2.0: 5 ways you can use Web 2.0 tools to promote your book
• Namechk: See if a user name is available across many social networks.
• Twitter Logo Generator [Link: Crenk]

• Best Sites for Used Cars: Daughter has driver’s permit. Not gonna get her a new car. If anything, she’ll inherit hubby’s car once he gets a replacement.
• Star Trek does opera: Khannnnn! in Italian.
• Emo Babies: Not emo as in wearing black, but showing their feelings and emotions. Very cute.
• Wanna See a Kindle 2?

Yesterday was my 20th wedding anniversary. Wow. Two decades of marriage. I’m very lucky to have Paul as a partner in life, parenting and silliness. Yes, I’m up for many more! I just hope he can handle me!

• What books do people proselytize about?
• 10 steps to get your e-mail inbox to zero every day [Link: Aliza Sherman]
• How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live: I watched #tonys on Twitter last Sunday and it was quite an experience different than what I am used to on Twitter.
• Social Networking Medial ROI Calculator

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 40 Fantastic Sand Sculptures
• How to Plan a Vacation Using Social Media: Note to self… remember this when I finally manage to plan one.
• Guess the Logo: Love these games.
• 8 Weird and Wacky Items Sold on Amazon.com

He turns six on Tuesday. Wow. I’ve done all I can to cherish every age yet it keeps zooming by.

• How to Nail an Interview
• Phrasefinder: Search for beginnings and endings of phrases.
• No Time for Social Networking: This is a bull excuse and this brilliant post explains why.
• Who Needs a Manual to Write Real Good? Fun ride through most baddest writing.
• Best Twitter Icons for Blogs and Sites: One of these days mine will get an update.
• Online-only newspapers ‘may lose more than they gain’ discusses City University study.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Deepleap: Letter Tetris = Wordtris? Letris?
• US Naval Academy Performance: You know military academies tend to produce very fit students. Well, this show blew away its audience of mostly academy students (and me, too). Who knew the things you could do with a jump rope? [Link: Heather, a gal I've known since preschool!]
• Grammar Goofies: Wordsplosion! The Grammar Vandal and GrammarBlog [Links: Steve Bass]
• Also from Steve. Geek meet Vaudeville. Your browser will shift and shrink… leave it. Let it play…