Technology & The Xpat Xchange

Technology.

It's what allowed me to start The Xpat Xchange. It's what allows me to be anywhere in the world and still maintain The Xpat Xchange.

Technology is amazing an certainly defined and transformed my work.

BUT...with all social media that technology has made possible, it has created more work on a day to day basis - and work that is not directly compensated for financially.

I maintain the website. I have a blog (several in fact), a facebook page and I tweet.

How does one use all of them effectively and efficiently?

1. The blog: I have found the blog to be a general archive - for thoughts, ideas of things happening on and around The Xpat Xchange.

2. Facebook: a place to post interesting articles about Switzerland that people might not find on their own, Employment ads, anything new that I think is worth sharing and any events that I think people might want to learn about. So far so good - but would like more feedback on what people would like to see more of.

3. Twitter: this is great for me - everytime I make a change or an addition to the site - I tweet about it with a link. It's THE best place to go and see what's new on http://www.xpatxchange.ch/. It also serves as a timeline for me to remember when and where I posted some information. I find it very effective and efficient use of the seconds it takes me to tweet.


4. The actual website: I am updating everyday. As there are well over several hundred pages on the site with thousands of companies, schools and services listed in the database, and information is constantly changing - I could work 24/7 on updates and additions and never be caught up! And the website is the most important of them all - as it's where I generate my income.

5. Email: Almost forgot about email. I get sometimes hundreds a day - and I try my best to reply in a timely basis. I write like I speak (or at least I think I do and that's what people tell me) which allows me to be a little less formal and almost feel personal with my emails. I love that I communicate with so many people all over Switzerland each day!!

6. The English Classifieds: This free service almost kills me. The spammers on there are ridiculous. Day in and day out....more and more. I delete, I ban and there are always more.