With just a few months left before the election, politicians are heating up their campaigns intensely. And for this year, it’s not just the ordinary campaign arena that needs to be conquered, they are also aiming at dominating social media streams. Presidentiable Manny Villar seem to have focus much of his campaign on TV ads, but some have probably hired a blogger, an SEO specialist, social media marketer and a battalion of web gurus to reach out the generation Y of voters. But I found an odd one, not in Facebook or Twitter, I found it on oDesk while making my rounds to check for the latest job post for Virtual Assistants.

I felt excited to read it closely, elated to know that it’s from a well known family and the current number one in the surveys. But my excitement was doused with disappointment when I read the detail of the job post.

What are your biggest freelancing challenges?

Social Media Campaign For NoyNoy Aquino Goes to oDesk 1
This is the discussion that I started in LinkedIn 20 days ago and the current poll on this blog. And this job ad above is one of the concrete examples of challenges that freelancers are facing. As what I have posted as a response to the thread in LinkedIn:

I’m really overwhelmed by the responses coming in. And I totally agree that some jobs are paying ridiculously. If $5 is already an insult to some, how much more for a job posted that offers $0.50 per hour. There are good and there are bad sides to freelancing and competition is really stiff when it comes to pricing. There are just employers and there are also exploiters. But in the end, it all depends on you, whether to accept or not. But as long as there are still people who are willing to bite this pay rates it will certainly be long before this problem fades. Let’s just hope that oDesk takes further action in ensuring that freelancers in the community are given a certain protection from exploiters.

As I have pointed in my response, I’m sure there will still be freelancers who will take this job. Filipino freelancers who will sacrifice their time to earn P2.50 an hour from their rate of Php 22.50 (considering an exchange rate of $1=Php45) because they will need to pay 20 for their internet fee. They will take this job, first, because they will be voting for Noynoy and second, because the times are tough that they are left on taking it even if its against their will, just to survive.

I admire the resourcefulness of the people who put up this ad. I’m not sure if they are under low budget right now. But as I see it, it’s turning more to be an insult than an opportunity. And instead of gaining an advantage for Noynoy this might even cause him a few slashed votes. What they forgot about their strategy is that, there is more to social media mileage. It’s about getting your message across that will impact on other people. And there is also what they call, Reputation Management.

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