The world wide web has created a boatload of ways for make money on the side by linking buyers and sellers, advertisers and consumers and writers and readers, just as a few examples.

If you need to earn a little extra on the side to pay down your debt you can get into eBay sales, online surveys, blogging (ahem) and now you can even ride the tidal wave that is Twitter to add to your bottom line. A couple of companies have sprung up with the idea that companies will pay big bucks to have ordinary people spread the word about their greatness through their tweets.

If you don’t know what Twitter is, I’ll explain (and make snide remarks about you offline.) Twitter is a free social networking site that allows anyone to publish their thoughts via short messages known as “tweets.” Each message is limited to 140 characters. You search for and subscribe to the tweets of friends, celebrities and companies. You can even subscribe to the Debtbeat tweets.

With Sponsored Tweets, Twitters set a price for their messages and can choose specific categories and keyword that advertisers can search. Offers can be then accepted or rejected. If an offer is accepted and tweeted then the account will be credited within 24 hours and you can cash out after hitting a $50 threshold.

Other companies in the pay-for-tweets game include up for MyLikes.com and Ad,ly.

Some companies offer a simple payment for each Twitter message, others require that your tweet contain an embedded link and you only get paid when someone clicks on the link, similar to a pay-per-click web banner.

Of course the more Twitter followers that you have, the more appealing you wold potentially be to prospective advertisers and the greater the chance that you can get a high volume of clicks. So if you’re not already on Twitter, you may not want to jump on board Twitter advertising programs just yet.

I’ve not used any of these services, but I am intrigued. If you are a social media magnet and can link companies to your network, get paid for it. A lot of folks tweet their recommendations and favorites for free; this makes more sense.

Anyone getting paid to tweet? Holla at me in the comments.