The Facebook Fan Page vs. Twitter: What’s Better for Bloggers?

So you’re a blogger and you want to expand upon your readership.  You’ve seen your stats…you know how many people read your blog.  There’s only one more thing to do, right?

CREATE A FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK!!!

Ummm…yeah.

I gotta be honest, I don’t really get that.  Maybe it’s because I’m a dude or I’m out of touch or something, because I just don’t understand the reason/rationale for creating a fan page on Facebook.

And don’t get me wrong…I’ve got some really good blogger friends who have accounts under their blogger aliases: QTMama, Yummy Mammy, SingleMomInTheCity, & MsSingleMama just to name a few.

My question then becomes: WHY?

I can understand wanting to connect with people who read your blog and NOT wanting to divulge a “real identity” with them.  Sure…that makes perfect sense. 

I can also understand the ego-stroke.  I mean, there are a LOT of reasons to blog…one of them being that you can develop a readership of people who actually want to read what you have to say.  That’s definitely good for the ego, especially if you’re having some down times (i.e. a primary reason to blog to begin with).

But do you really expand upon that readership by turning to Facebook?  I suppose there is a very real chance that people who read you currently will “friend you” or “become a fan”, then that may create interest in some of their friends who may eventually read what you’re writing.

It’s possible, I suppose.

Again, I can understand if bloggers want to get a little more personal with fellow bloggers while still remaining fairly anonymous.  I mean, I was friends with QTMama on Facebook before I was friends with the woman behind QTMama(because, quite frankly, I’m a little creepy and she wasn’t sure if she should let me know who she was).

I think, though, there is a LOT more to gain by using your blogger-name on a different social medium: Twitter. 

I’m an unapologetic Twitter fan.  I don’t think I spend too much time on it…in fact, I think I could stand to spend MORE time on it.  My hope is that people will see a tweet of mine and be slightly entertained or amused and then want to check out my blog.  Period…the end.

Of course, I hope that my tweets are witty enough that they sometimes get re-tweeted and that expands on my fanbase, in a similar veign of what people are doing on Facebook.

I just feel that Twitter is the better option of the two.  Facebook seems to be changing in terms of what people use it for. I know my own usage has decreased dramatically over the past year and I’m primarily using it for uploading pics of me and those I love.  Every once in awhile I’ll throw up a new phrase (I think I’ve still got a “pants on the ground” reference on mine), but that’s about it these days.

On Twitter, though…the opportunity to gain new readers is a lot higher.  People will follow you to increase their social media numbers.  But I’ve found that if the tweet is interesting, some of these new people…people you don’t really know and many of them fellow bloggers…will re-tweet and/or comment, thus increasing the viewing to other people in their own social media group.

I’m my own example, too.  There are probably three or four blogs that I follow now specifically because of tweets I’ve read on Twitter or responses to my own tweets that I’ve replied to.

But I go back to Facebook…

I guess I just don’t get it.  What, exactly, is the point of generating your own fan page for your blog?  What if you don’t get many followers on Facebook?  Does that mean anything? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Over Too Soon

Y’know, Sunshine and I normally only get 2 ½ days together every two weeks.  That doesn’t really add up to a ton of quality alone time together.

This weekend was cut a little short…and that kinda sucks.

Y’see, we woke up on Sunday morning to snow outside. It wasn’t a storm…it wasn’t a blizzard…but it was a steady snowfall.  Immediately there was a bit of concern with the both of us.  The last time Sunshine left when it was snowing her bus almost didn’t leave because it turned into a storm.

The weather people were only expecting a few centimetres…so nothing too crazy.  Our concern, though, was that it would snow steadily enough that buses would either be cancelled or delayed. 

Her initial plan was to leave on the 8:15pm bus and get home just after midnight.  It would be really difficult because she has to work in the morning but she was totally willing to do it so we could spend more time together.

As noon approached, the decision was made that she would take the earlier bus at 2pm…just in case.  And you know what?  That decision sucked.

It turns out that it continued to snow here but it didn’t snow in her city.  That ended up making the decision even more difficult to deal with.

The bottom line is that we had another amazing weekend together.  We had some quality “alone time” on Friday night, we went out to a Chinese buffet restaurant and then took a walk through the local mall on Saturday, and we watched all three Back to the Future movies.  It was a nice weekend…it just lasted a bit shorter than we would have liked.

The good news?  I’m off on the Friday of our next visit, meaning that I’ll be travelling on Thursday after work instead of Friday after work…and I’ll not only get to spend some extra time with Sunshine but also a couple of hours with her awesome girls, too.

So until then, I’ll just have to sit back and revel in the happiness that we shared…even if it was six hours less than we would have wanted.

02-06-10

My SuperBowl Predictions

I am a massive NFL fan.  It’s strange…being Canadian and all, you’d think I’d be more into hockey.  Well…I’m not really that big of a fan, to be honest.

WTF???

Yeah…it’s practically sacrilege to not be a hockey fan in Canada.  Hey…I can sit in the stands and watch a game,  I can sit back and watch the Stanley Cup if coerced, and I certainly plan on watching the Canadian Olympic hockey team take gold in a couple of weeks.

But the one sport I can watch from beginning to end isn’t baseball, basketball, Nascar, or basket weaving…it’s NFL football (sorry, CFL…you’re just too sucky for me).

So here we are on SuperBowl Sunday.  Two amazing teams are going to battle it out tonight for the right to call themselves the best.

It’s the first time in awhile that the two best teams of the regular season ended up in the SuperBowl to battle each other.  The match-up is one that NFL fans probably wanted to see (well…other than their own home-town teams, obviously).

So you’ve got the near-perfect Indianapolis Colts (who only lost games at the end of the year when they were guaranteed the #1 seed and their coach was pulling the starters from playing full games) taking on the Cinderella story New Orleans Saints (who lost a few games near the end of the season but it wasn’t for a lack of trying).

The Colts are heavily favoured in the game, relying on QB Peyton Manning to throw his way into the record books.  On the other hand, the Saints have an equally amazing (and more balanced) offense led by the incredible Drew Brees.

The deciding factor for me…the “X-Factor”, if you will…in this game is going to be the defences of each team.

The Colts have the better defence, stat-wise.  The Saints, though, have had a TON more turnovers go their way during the regular season and the playoffs because of their defence.  So while the Colts may put up a bunch of points, the Saints defence may create enough opportunities to get turnovers and allow Brees to get some points of his own on the board.

So in the end…my prediction…

WHO DAT??  Who dat think they gonna beat dem Saints?!?!?!?

New Orleans Saints: 37 
Indianapolis Colts: 31

Regardless of who wins, it really should be an awesome shoot-out game. 

BRING IT ON!!

My “Top 5 List”…heh

Okay, here’s the deal: Sunshine and I like to have fun and we’re far from being prudes.  One day (near the beginning of the relationship, if I recall correctly), we were listening to a Lenny Kravitz song and she said that he was totally on her “Top 5 List”.

Now, I was familiar with the concept but really thought it was something that guys did on their own…y’know, just for shits-n-giggles.  But apparently this is something couples do from time to time for fun.

Unaware of what a “Top 5 List” actually is?  Well, I’m sure you’re not alone.  It’s a concept I only heard about for the first time when Ross and Rachel made up their own lists on Friends.  Basically, it’s a list of celebrities that you would sleep with if we ever had the time and opportunity.  Oh…and it’s a list of five people your significant other would let you sleep with if you ever had the time and opportunity.

Got it?  Good.

So awhile back, Sunshine suggested that we both write a “Top 5” blog post and pop them online at the same time.  Since I love my woman and I’m down with having an easy excuse to stare at other women, I ended up making my top five list.  The problem, though, was keeping it down to just five…and so while I’ve got five “honourable mentions” (heh), there were a few that I left off this list that totally could have been on there (c’mon…I’m a guy…we think about these things all the time!):

1. Kate Beckinsale – There is just something about this woman that makes me melt every time I see her.  Maybe it’s her long hair…maybe it’s her sultry eyes…maybe it’s the way she looks in an skintight leather pantsuit.  Maybe it’s the fact that I have yet to see her in any situation not look absolutely stunning…I dunno.  Bottom line?  She’s number one on my list by a mile.

2. P!nk – Now for the record let it be known that P!nk was on my list long before her amazingly sexy Grammy performance.  In fact, this is the only choice that is on BOTH my list and Sunshine’s list.  There is something about a girl who can be a bad-ass when she wants to be but can still be a good girl the rest of the time.  She just oozes sexual energy…and you just can’t help but love that about her.

3. Janine Lindemulder  – Okay…this one may get some head-scratches and some cries of “gross” from a lot of you.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve watched a few adult movies in my day.  During the 90’s, one woman was always the one I wanted to watch more than any other, known simply as Janine.  She never has sex with men on screen, only women.  This only added to her mystique.  As she’s gotten older she’s lost her tan, gained a ton of tattoos, and has gone to jail for tax evasion.  I don’t care…I still find her incredibly hot.  Incredibly.

4. Britney Spears – I know…a lot of eye rolling for this choice.  But keep in mind that this isn’t a “dating” list, this is basically a “sex” list.  I don’t care how bat-shit insane this woman is…just look at her.  Sorry…she’s been on my list since 1998 and a shaved head and a mental breakdown isn’t going to change that any time soon.

5. Emmanuelle Chriqui – From the first moment I saw her on ‘Entourage’ I wanted her.  This woman is just flat-out unbelievably beautiful.  Hell…she could wear a burlap sack and I’d think she was gorgeous.

Honorable Mentions:

Halle Berry (circa 2000-2010) she’s one of the few women who has absolutely gotten better with age

Madonna (circa 1985-1991 – I mean…you’ve seen her today, right?)

Demi Moore (up until when she married Ashton Kutcher)

Pamela Anderson (circa 1992-2001 – another one who hit the wall hard)

Some fellow bloggers who shall remain nameless…heh.

So now that you’ve read my list and think I’m a cad, why not head on over to Sunshine’s blog and see what she has on HER list?

CBG’s Biggest Loser – Week Four Results

I entered yesterday’s weigh-in with a little trepidation. I thought that I had behaved myself over the weekend in terms of what I ate, but I didn’t know if I had done enough exercise to actually make a difference.

When I got to work I really felt antsy. I wanted to weigh-in immediately but knew I had to wait an hour until the designated time.

I went into the kitchen where everybody else was beginning to gather. Where this was my idea, I’m the only one in charge of actually keeping track of the weights. So whether a woman was 140lbs or 240lbs, I was the one trusted with the task to track all eight weeks without ever letting anybody find out the weights.

If I let anything slip, I knew my life would be in danger. Seriously.

So I weighed everybody else in first. One by one…all 33 people got on the scale and got off. I marked their weights and waited for the next person. All the while, I was getting more and more nervous about my own results.

Finally, it was my turn…

Yeah!!

Another two pounds!! That makes eight pounds in four weeks or 3.74% of my body mass.

I was pretty happy with those results. I know I’m not going to win the overall prize (the guy in the lead has lost 25lbs so far), but I’m totally happy with this continual steady progress. At this point, I should hit my ultimate target in just a few months…and that realization only motivates me more.

So yeah…I’m a happy camper today.