I saw an article yesterday that relayed a story about how a certain person gets news.  She reported something like, I do not read the news, I scan my twitter feed.  Articles that are often cited or, linked to on twitter, are the ones I read.  The buzz word for this was something like ‘human sourcing’ of news. ReCoach - “kiss your rss goodbye”

Today, I read two different articles.  The first talked about the value of a 500 word freelance article - which turns out to be about $15 dollars on the low end and maybe $100 on the high end if you freelance for major newspapers or magazines (today’s LA Times).

In the second article from Advertising Age, I learned that Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 per tweet by marketers to reach her 2.7 million twitter followers.

When social networking started to be used as a marketing tool, it was all about trying to create a viral audience for sharing ideas and building an online reputation.  Very quickly, ideas like “I am ordering my coffee at Starbucks” were shunned by the community, but ideas like “Apple is releasing a tablet” are cheered.

Like it or not, Twitter is very powerful.  For some, it is the place where all information is ‘human sourced’ by fellow tweeters.  For authors or bloggers, it may be the difference between $15 and $100 for an article.  For celebrities, it can mean quick cash.

Perhaps this is creating an identity problem for twitter.  Is twitter about staying connected to the people you know and trust the most in your personal and professional life?  Is it a way for authors and bloggers to reach large audiences without selling their soul to media empires?  Or is it a way for popular celebrities to generate more income by partnering with marketing entities seeking their loyal and valued audience?  I am pretty sure I use twitter for all three purposes.  How do you use it?