The ProVirtual Blog

Late to the party: learning to use Facebook

Late to the party, indeed. I just now am beginning to scratch the surface of Facebook. I spend quite a bit of time on LinkedIn (which I love); but have so far spent no time exploring the capabilities of FB... always assuming it was more of a personal thing. In my ignorance, I never bothered to really see what it can do. And it can do a lot. I am surprised by the number of people that use it excusively (and very effectively) for business and that it's actually very useful - not merely a social distraction.

Along with my "discovery" of Twitter last week (which is surprisingly addictive), I feel I'm making some social networking progress these days. Next week: Squidoo.

Many thanks to Erin Blaskie - who patiently helped me see the Facebook light.

So - since I'm new, I'm still light on friends... please visit me. ;-)  Anyone else feel behind the curve with Facebook?

CNN.com Sells T-Shirts with Web Headlines

Frequent visitors to CNN.com have likely noticed that their headlines are sometimes unintelligible, tawdry and/or creepy and have no relationship whatsoever to important news.

Now we know the method to the madness: CNN Shirt

Not familiar? View Gawker's Extensive History Of Terrible CNN.com Headlines

What if everyone who could telecommute actually did?

I'm always ranting about how the price of gas would drop like a stone tomorrow if all those who could do their work at home actually did. Here in the Philly 'burbs, the main arteries leading to the city and to the office parks of King of Prussia are CLOGGED daily with information workers of one stripe or another, who, truth be told, really don't need to be in the office all the time. Now, there is a study that tries to quantify the possible result:

They asked the simple question: what would be the impact if everyone who could work from home actually did? The answer they came up with for the USA: a savings of 625 million barrels of oil a year, as well as $43 billion less spent on gasoline and elimination of a couple of weeks of wasted commuting time per person.

The study (done by telework advocacy website Undress4Success) focuses on the immense environmental benefits of such a scenario, but there are compelling economic woes that can be alleviated as well. With skyrocketing oil prices linked to everything from worldwide food inflation to bankrupt airlines to shuttered pizza shops, anything that can drive down the cost of energy would help reverse the damage. For every infoworker who can skip the daily commute, life is made a bit easier (less traffic) and more affordable (cheaper gas) for those who can't telecommute: nurses, farmers, police officers, chefs, hairstylists and truckers (and our truckers really need a break)!

The less obvious benefits: happier and more productive workers, fewer car accidents, cheaper auto insurance, independence from foreign oil - and perhaps most gratifying of all - handing Big Oil a well-deserved cash "haircut".

Thanks to the wonderful Web Worker Daily for the validation I was looking for!

Be sure to read the original article about the study, at Undress4Success.

Twitter can be useful? Part 2...

Twitter saves an American arrested in Egypt?

http://gawker.com/380288/twitter-saves-american-arrested-in-egypt

The Future of Medicine (I hope...)

I know I haven't posted in awhile... swamped lately. However, the wonderful folks at Formspring posted about how one of their customers, a New York physician, uses the web to better serve patients and keep costs down... and I just had to share.

Dr. Jay Parkinson does medicine the old-fashioned way... but uses the web to get it done! Instead of getting (literally) hog-tied with big insurers, he offers house calls (house calls!!!) and simple pay-per service fees. Since his fees are reasonable (and disclosed in advance), he's accessible to the uninsured. He keeps costs down with the help of email, chat and video to assist patients. Check out Dr. Parkinson's informative blog post as to why your doctor can't communicate with you electronically... it's fascinating.