FreshYields Blog

I would have loved to been in the board meeting of the idiotic National Pork Board when someone decided that Jennifer’s Lactivist T-shirts were stealing their thunder.  This is all over one of her t-shirts saying “the other white milk”, derived from the pork slogan “the other white meat”.  Last I checked, milk is white.  I mean, ham is pink, and the pork in my pork fried rice is a browny color with a reddish skin.  They even imply that Jennifer’s humorist T-shirts are promoting the adult consumption of breast milk.  Get serious!

Congrats are in order for two FreshYields clients, Su Casa and The Corduroy Button. Both were selected Best of Baltimore by the City Paper. Both stores also won the reader’s poll for their respective categories. Su Casa won for “Best Place to Buy New Furniture“, while The Corduroy Button was tops for “Best Children’s Clothing Store”.

…image found on Seth Godin’s blog

Had some fun over the weekend reminiscing about the past.  I decided to do some research and see what some people I went to high school and college were up to through searches on Classmates.com and Myspace.  My finding were pretty interesting…

First, let me start by saying that I am 30 years old, have been out of high school for 12 years, and out of college for 8.  At 30, I am getting close to that creepy age on myspace, where some of the younger members are young enough to be my kids.  But I digress…

I have had a “listing” on classmates.com for a while, even though it was empty.  I think everyone who has ever attending high school in the United States has at least a blank listing.  I’m just happy they don’t scan everyone’s yearbook photos in.  Classmates.com is great for remembering names, but offers little information about the person you are searching for, either because their profiles are empty, or you have to pay to become a member to find out more info.  This is the old-school model of community websites.  While they are heavily ad-supported, they just give you a taste before making you cough of some dough. Hmm, this could be why there are so many blank profiles.

Myspace is a different story.  After filtering by school, only those who have myspace accounts are shown.  Those that are members are certainly not shy about posting picture and writing about themselves.  Myspace has similar profile questions as classmates.com, but most people do fill them out.  You also essentially get your own webpage and blog with myspace, with it’s own URL.  Myspace also music and  comedy sections, forums, classifieds, and much more.

Now, my results.  I was able to find a few people from high school on classmates.com.  It’s been really nice emailing them back and forth.  The big surprise was finding an old friend that was a foreign exchange student from Sweden, and an outstanding soccer player for our high school team.  Now he is a poker star in Sweden!  On myspace, I ended up creating my own page.  I’ve been able to find a few people from high school, and a few from college, and have been emailing them as well.  Myspace is great for the shock value of seeing what people you knew 15 years ago look like today.  Honestly, I am amazed some of them even know how to turn on a computer.

But what these two sites really demonstrate is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, or whatever you want to call them.  Classmates.com, as much as it is trying to change, is still fairly one dimensional.  You go there to see if old classmates have filled out their profile, then you leave.  You may check back in a few months later, but chances are nothing has changed.  Myspace is all about social networking.  I can rekindle old friendships, even if only online, or even become “friends” with a popular local radio show.  You keep checking back in and getting your fix, sometimes hourly.  And that is why is the most visited site on the internet, and why is advertising delivery model is so effective.

Don’t know if it is legit, but Joe Lieberman accused his opponent of deliberately bringing his website down through a Denial of Service attack, or something similar.  While this is certainly feasible in the uber-ethical world of US politics.  While I don’t think his opponents was directly responsible, it’s obvious that his supporters, or Lieberman’s detractors, were behind this.

Nevertheless, the day before and of the election are the highest traffic days for candidate’s websites.  While DOS attacks are not as likely on the local level, be sure to plan for the spike in traffic leading up to the election.

courtesy of Chris Prillo and blaugh.com…

I find that, if answered truly, they can really tell you a lot about yourself, and help you improve your deficits.

Benevolent Inventor

My Personal Dna Report

What does it say about a person that their dog is gathering online contacts faster than him?

Check out Dexter’s profile at myspace, er, I mean Dogster.com!

…wow, what is there to say. You would think that FIFA would want the North American market, but with all these awful calls, the fickle american sports fan will be laughing at instead of watching international soccer. Sorry Socceroos, they must not care about you either.

As the husband of a wife that uses the bathroom more than imaginable, this post hits the spot-a-pot…

http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2006/06/the-little-detail-that-matters-for-small-retailers.html