I have finally done something I have contemplated for a long time: I have deactivated my personal Facebook account.
It has been great to use Facebook to connect with relatives and friends I wouldn’t keep in touch otherwise: my sister in Germany, cousins around the country, ex-in-laws who want to stay connected.
However, I’ve had a number of concerns about Facebook for a long time. After an incident last weekend, it was time to act on them.
Today is a day that seemed so far away when I first thought about it: It’s the 10-year anniversary of the beginning of Catena Creations LLC.
Ten years ago, I had just been laid off for the second time in 2008. I was doing freelance work for the first company that had laid me off. The first episode of Bravo’s Tabatha Takes Overwas on that night, and she asked the couple she was helping: What’s your passion?
While laid off, I’d been working at home and taking care of my then-13-year-old-son and getting him ready for school. And watching that show, I realized I wanted to do what I’d been doing since that second layoff: Work at home. Manage my own schedule. Set my own pace. Enjoy a variety of work with more creativity.
It’s amazing to think of all the changes that have taken place in the past decade.
It’s a question I receive quite frequently: Clients who say they just got a call from someone saying their Google listing will disappear if they don’t do something RIGHT NOW. Or they are not appearing on Google. Or they can always rank no. 1 on Google. And they want to know if they need to respond to those calls.
Now, thanks to Google, I have a new answer: Report these calls. They’re scams.
ZD Net reported in its May 24 newsletter that Google is taking legal action against several U.S. firms that make these calls. The Federal Trade Commission unsealed documents about the case earlier in May.
If you get one of these robocalls, you use this form to report the violation. You can bookmark the form so you can easily find it in the future.