Social networking can be one of the most important strategies for Freelancers to generate clients and new business leads. But I know that I can’t be alone with my reaction when I first heard about twitter back in 2007. I thought to myself “why in the world would anyone care what I am doing right now?” and vice versa. It may have been a shortsighted or close minded view but I thought it was a complete waste of time and I think a lot of people still carry that sentiment to this day. So can Twitter really help you as a designer? And How?

To get some answers to some of these tough questions we decided to ask Andrew Houle, the creator of myinkblog.com. Featuring all sorts of free goodies to download, amazing tutorials, inspiring articles, and a whole lot more! MyInkBlog is one of the premiere graphic and web design blogs on the web, with over 3,000 Twitter followers (Click Here to Follow MyInkBlog) and almost 7,500 RSS followers. So here is what Andrew had to say:

Does a Designer really need to be on Twitter and if so why?

Yes and no. How’s that for a wishy-washy answer, here’s why. Yes, because it can definitely help designers promote themselves and gain clients. No, because many designers can survive without it, and often economizes far too much of your time.

Do a lot of designers receive any work as a result of Twitter?

I’ve heard some designers do ok from it. I’ve never had too much success with that sort of thing, but then again, I rarely actively pursue work through that avenue. It’s more an outlet for me to share things, and connect with other designers.

What % of tweets that you come across are actually relevant or interesting?

That’s really hard to say. I’ll estimate around half are relevant to the design community.

You have over 3,000 followers (including us) yet follow less than 300. How do you determine who you are going to follow?

Thanks for the follow I try to follow people who I think are going to be interesting and tweet about topics that I’m interested in. I’m not one of those social media gurus who can keep up with a million tweets at once, so I try to keep it to just a number that I can (somewhat) keep track of.

How is the best technique in your opinion for getting followers in Twitter?

I think the best way to gain a good following is by being consistent and tweeting about relevant things (depending on your niche). It’s a fine balance between being informative and personal. No one wants to hear 100 straight tweets about your cat, but by the same token, they’d like to see your personality show, so it’s important not to be too dry.

In your opinion what are the pitfalls you see with Twitter If any?

Definitely time loss. You have to be careful not to spend too much of your day being distracted by Twitter, or any social media for that matter.

What impact has Twitter played in assisting your blog?

Twitter has been awesome in helping me promote my articles. My twitter followers always get the first glimpse at my newest posts. It’s also a place I can learn about other happenings in the design community which sometimes can spark an idea for a future post on MIB.

What tools do you recommend for using twitter?

I use Tweetie all the time. In the past I used TweetDeck, and still like it, but the design and simplicity of Tweetie make it my first choice (at least for this week).