Posted by Grant on June 8, 2008 – 10:00 am
As a youth speaker, I regularly utilize the social networking tools, Facebook and MySpace as resources for staying connected with teenagers. When I originally started using these tools, I noticed that MySpace was the more popular of the two but it seems like lately that Facebook is taking a more commanding lead in popularity. Although I’m on both sites, here is why I prefer Facebook to MySpace:
- Less Clicks – Facebook seems much more user friendly to me than MySpace does. On Facebook, if you want to write on someone’s wall (equivalent of MySpace’s leaving a comment), it takes one click whereas it takes 3 clicks on MySpace. The same is true if you want to add a friend. You have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops on MySpace that leaves you asking, “Do I really want to be friends with this person that bad?”
- Easier to Find People – A huge challenge with finding people on MySpace is that so many people use some type of screen name instead of their real name. On Facebook, you almost have to use your real name so if I’m trying to find you, it’s a little easier to find “Bob Smith” than “Sweet Sassy Big Daddy.”
- Integration with Other Tools – I like the fact that I can incorporate my Blog and my Twitter feed right into my Facebook page. So every time I update something on Twitter, it changes my status update on Facebook. I like that.
- Standardized – I know a lot of students like the ability to customize their MySpace pages but with most students, the more you customize, the tougher it is to find what I’m looking for on your page. You can still customize some stuff on Facebook but it is not an insane amount of stuff.
What’s your preference between MySpace and Facebook?
Posted by Grant on May 28, 2008 – 11:03 am
I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been spending a lot more time over at my mom’s house during the day while I’m finishing up my book. And I end up watching kids from the elementary school play at recess.
But apparently today is yearbook day because as the students came pouring out of the school for recess a few minutes ago, they were all carrying their yearbooks, scanning for pictures of themselves and getting their friends’ autographs.
Yearbook Day was always one of the best days of the school year. I always enjoyed having other people write in my yearbook and then seeing what they put. Some people write the traditional Yearbook lines…
“Math was dumb. So are you. Have a great summer. BFF.”
But then there were those who put a little more thought into what they wrote. Those were the ones you really wanted to get because they actually meant something.
Maybe just for fun, go back through some of your old yearbooks and see what people wrote to you. And while you’re there, ask yourself: “what was I thinking wearing that outfit and doing my hair like that for picture day?”
Posted by Grant on May 23, 2008 – 6:30 am
On my website, www.grantbaldwin.com, I use Google Analytics, which is a tracking tool to help me keep an eye on the traffic to the website. I’m always amazed at the various locations that people visit the site from. I just checked the year-to-date traffic and we have had visitors from 44 different countries around the world and all 50 states! Crazy!
So if you live in some exotic, incredible country and you need a speaker for something…anything…please let me know! And I’m sure my wife would be happy to accompany me as long as there is a beach nearby…
Posted by Grant on May 14, 2008 – 6:27 am
Check out these pictures from the recent volcano in Chile. It looks like something out of a movie. Crazy…
Thanks to Josh and National Geographic
Posted by Grant on May 11, 2008 – 7:49 pm
I’ve got a new e-newsletter going out tonight…if you want in on it, just add your email address to the toolbar at the top of this page to join the millions and millions and millions of people who subscribe to it.
Ok, maybe there are just 3 subscribers and one is my wife and one is my mom. But don’t judge me.
Posted by Grant on May 3, 2008 – 10:21 am
I saw this article this morning on Yahoo about how gas in the U.S. is really cheap! The article ranks countries by how expensive it is to buy gas there and the United States was ranked 111th.
Here were some of the pricier countries:
1. Bosnia - $10.86/gallon
3. Norway - $8.73/gallon
4. United Kingdom - $8.38/gallon
9. France - $8.07/gallon
10. Germany - $7.86/gallon
A couple of countries to be jealous of: Saudi Arabia is $.45 per gallon and Venezuela is 12 cents per gallon!
Posted by Grant on April 29, 2008 – 6:29 am
Filed under Funny, Random
So yesterday I walk out of the garage to get in my car to run an errand and what do I find?
A cobra, a boa constrictor, an anaconda…a really big snake!
So being the beast of a man that I am, I ran screaming into the house for my wife. Of course she is as terrified of snakes as I am, so I’m not really sure what she was going to do?!
I knew I needed to slay this evil monster but I didn’t want to get close to it so I chose my weapon carefully:
My car.
I then proceed to drive back and forth over it at least 25 times before the stupid thing would die! The entire time, my wife was standing at the front window (inside the house!) directing me while my daughter kept saying “sad worm, sad worm!”
I figured most of you wouldn’t believe me so here is what’s left of this hideous creature and the blood bath that was left behind!
Posted by Grant on April 24, 2008 – 8:17 am
I’ve started using Twitter recently. It’s a sleek, simple little program that allows you to update people about what you are currently doing. It’s been kind of fun as I’ve been tinkering with it, so I’ll probably try it for a while and see if I see any value in it.
If you’re interested in following what I’m up to, you can go to www.twitter.com/grantbaldwin.
See you there!
Posted by Grant on April 22, 2008 – 9:45 am
I came across this new online service, www.Jott.com. It is freakin awesome!
Basically how it works is you call an 800 number and leave yourself a voicemail. It then transcribes the voicemail and sends you an email and/or a text message to remind you.
So you’re out and about and you need to remember to call “so and so” (somebody really should name their kid “so and so”…I know my wife is pregnant right now but she would never go for it!) or you need to remember to check that website or you need to remember to do that report that was due yesterday. Just call and leave yourself a message and when you get home, there will be a email waiting for you. How cool is that?
And best of all…the service is FREE! I like free…free is good.
Check it out… www.jott.com (I should get a commission from them!)
Posted by Grant on April 20, 2008 – 8:52 pm
Filed under Media, Random
I would be interested to know what magazines everyone subscribes to and if there is anything you get that you would recommend picking up. Here’s what currently fills my mailbox:
- Sports Illustrated - I just get it for the swimsuit issue
- Fast Company - great, forward thinking magazine
- Inc - good small business magazine
- Entrepreneur - not bad…has some good stuff sometimes
So what magazines do you keep up with?
(FYI…the swimsuit issue was a joke…it ends up in the trash!)
