Location-sharing and geo-tagging are social media trends for 2010. Twitter, Facebook, you name it – with more people having GPS in their phones, everybody’s service is going location-specific.
That’s fine and all (although, a cautionary tale – are we all asking to be robbed?) Personally, though, I thought it was a little Big Brother to let everybody know where I am all the time (although I seem to have no problem telling them what I’m doing round the clock). But if I was gonna do it, I’d probably choose a service like Yelp, which is all about sharing local reviews of places, restaurants, etc. That makes sense to me.
I would certainly most NOT be participating in the “game” called Foursquare. You’ve seen people playing this, even if you’re unaware of what it is. Did you ever see in your Facebook newsfeed, updates from people that just say that they “checked-in” somewhere?
That’s it. That’s people “playing” Foursqure. Wee! not Ooh, or maybe they became the “Mayor” somewhere?
The Mayor. Gimme a break! I don’t care if early adopter Marko is doing it. I don’t give a crap about checking-in anywhere, and I will not be doing this! Except that Mashable wouldn’t shut up about location-sharing, and well, as you can see by the two updates I cut/paste into this post, yeah, I’m doing it now. And, ahem….
(loving it – shh!)
OMG, I can’t wait to check-in wherever I go. And becoming the Mayor feels da bomb – who knew ?! In fact, my life’s mission now has become to usurp “Enrico M.” He’s currently the Mayor of Dog-Park Park Hayarkon…..but not for long (heh, heh).
Remember, the big job I had three interviews for…the one I was real excited to get? Yeah, well I didn’t get it. Some bitch other person did. But actually, there is great news to report: My contact at this firm offered me another position: Social Media Consultant. I’m very excited about this – what fantastic experience I will gain! Such a growth field, and I will get a lot of mileage out of this on my resume. I’m working ten hours/week for ROASTe.com, an online retailer of high-end gourmet coffees. My job is to write a weekly blog post about coffee, and to update the company’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. And – I get to expense all the coffee I buy now, and I am supposed to only buy the really good stuff. OMG, you guys – O. M. G !!!
I’m viewing this turn of events very positively. Don’t you think it’s such a compliment that they basically created this position for me? My contact and I really got along well, and I think he wanted to hire me for the position (which was to do marketing writing for them and search engine optimization for the site)…but the other candidate just had better qualifications for it, and he had to go with her. But it’s like he said, Yeah, but we can’t let this guy go….We gotta find something for this guy to do – we must have him! I see it as a huge compliment.
I am still keeping my other job (the one I don’t talk about on here); I’m going to do both. And boy, do I need them both; this is great timing! I’m no longer getting about 1200 shekels ($300) a month from the government; that benefit for new immigrants has stopped. And, since both my employers are based in America, I’m forced to pay my own Bituach Leumi each month, which is like a combo of Social Security and a national health premium for our socialized insurance in Israel. If I had Israeli employers, they would pay it for me, but I don’t so it’s on me. Actually, in Israel the bigger employers also file your taxes for you. Since I’m freelance with two American firms, I’ve had to hire an accountant on a monthly retainer, which is how it works here if you’re an independent worker. The combination of the Bituach Leumi and my monthly accountant retainer is 865 shekels ($230). So, basically instead of getting $300 a month, I’m now paying $230 instead. As Velma would say – Jinkies!
I’ve done this job for three days now, and so far it is a lot of fun. There’s a lot more I want to say about it – the details of the work, and things I’d like to try, etc. But you know, I’m not really sure I should even be talking about it at all. In fact, I may end up deleting this post if too many people reading my work on ROASTe find me here or if my new employers disapprove of it. It is an American outfit after all, and I’m writing a very important voice for them….from here.
But, you can feel great for me, because I’m pretty darn happy about this – although it’s making me busier than ever, as you’ll see in the next post…
Gefilte Fish Out of Water 