Earlier this week, I posted my response to an article on Econsultancy.com enititled “How Small Newspapers Can Make Money on Twitter.” The core of my response was that newspapers needed to connect with their readers on Twitter first before attempting to make money from it - and I intended to offer my own advice regarding this.

Really good timing for all of this, because I attended a panel discussion this week put on by the Social Media Club of Charlottesville, which centered on social media vs. traditional media and how 3 local media organizations - Charlottesville’s Daily Progress newspaper, the Charlottesville Newsplex (comprising of local TV affiliates) and Black Enterprise Magazine - use social media. I brought up the monetization topic to our three esteemed panelists, and the general response was that social media already held value and didn’t need to be monetized. These are three people who are already well-versed in the use of Twitter and know how it fits into their traditional media structure. They all understand the value of connecting with their community through social media and that it shouldn’t have to be directly monetized in order deliver any value.

So how can newspapers (small and large) connect with readers on Twitter? I’ve come up with a few suggestions of my own:

1. Set up an account for the editor to which people can tweet questions and opinions. Answer them on Twitter and make it all part of the “Letters to the Editor” section of your paper and website. Also use this to ask people what they think about certain local hot topics.

2. Set up accounts for your primary columnists for those interested in particular sections of your paper (such as food, theater, politics, etc). Put their names and faces on the account and let them loose to actually converse with people.

3. Post videos of “vox pop” interviews with people in your community. There are two small local newspapers right on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, and all a reporter has to do is walk outside their office door to get any number of opinions.

4. Put together a Twitter list of locals on Twitter. Retweet some of the interesting and newsworthy content from your fellow local tweeters.

5. Do a little “crowdsourcing” for an article. According to a recent survey, 52% of journalists polled use Twitter as a source for story research.

6. Use Ustream to post streaming video of breaking news or events happening in your community.

Value from Twitter doesn’t necessarily have to come from the direct monetization of your tweets. Remember also that Twitter can be a good source of traffic for your website, which will ultimately drive ad revenue. Brad Ramsey of the Charlottesville Newsplex made an excellent point yesterday when he said social media is less about monetizing and more about engaging people - and engaging those who have the money to spend.