Study: Social networks may subvert ‘digital divide’
An interesting study from the University of Minnesota shows that social networks aren’t the time-suckers some think they were. According to a researcher from the university, “What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today.”

authorSTREAM: Send PowerPoint Presentations Directly to YouTube
Kristen Nicole talks about a new way to share PowerPoint presentations: “I think the option to sync authorSTREAM accounts with YouTube is a good implementation of API offerings. As it becomes increasingly important to simplify content-sharing within the social media realm, I find it particularly necessary for such options to be presented to users in a two-way communication channel.”

Sleeping at work – more of us are doing it
This news item from CNN shows that around one third of people who participated in the National Sleep Foundation’s annual survey had fallen asleep at work. This comes as no surprise, since the same survey showed that people slept less and worked more. “The average amount of sleep was six hours and 40 minutes a night. The average workday? Nine hours and 28 minutes.”

Always looking for ‘best practices’ stifles innovation
When you’re too busy trying to achieve results via other companies’ ‘best practices’, you’re left simply trying to keep up rather than creating original innovations of your own. According to the author “Usually the intentions are good, but in a roundabout way. The problem with the type of person I’m describing is that he or she is often motivated almost entirely by fear. It’s not so much research they crave, but safety. If we just do what someone else has done (and succeeded with) we thus have no risk of failure.”

Do you feel like being regulated?
Web Worker Daily discusses a new survey that showed 49% of the respondents in favor of the Internet being under FCC regulation. According to blogger Mike Gunderloy, “That adds up to a phenomenal number of my neighbors and yours coming down in favor of the government getting deeply involved with our means of work.”

There’s Web 2.0, then there’s reality
“One thing is more than apparent when you look in on Web 2.0 and the constant chatter about all the cool hardware, software and ideas. The majority involved in this space have no idea of what being on the other side of the technological divide is like or how it is limiting the adoption of the things they believe in.” This article discusses how most Web 2.0 proponents discuss spending on their expensive tech gear without realizing that this alienates lower income audiences and makes the digital divide wider.

5 Great crowdsourcing solutions to let Web 2.0 work for your business
“The Web 2.0 technology brings together people from around the world to do more than just socialize. Crowdsourcing is a way to put them to work and innovative companies are creating great ways digital professionals can harness the power of diverse talent and resources.” This article lists some tools you can use to implement crowdsourcing in your business.

Enterprise 2.0 & Blogs – First Mover Advantage
According to this article, internal blogging early in your career can help you make a stronger impression in the workplace. “I’m not saying any old Joe can achieve great things just by blogging. However if you really are great, and have great ideas and interesting things to say, then step up and get noticed.”

Info Overload: What can we do?
In this 2-part feature, the author discusses information overload: “When facing a full inbox, new tweets, new posts on FriendFeed, and an RSS reader with 1000+ unread items, the stress often comes from not knowing where to begin.”  The article proposes some steps one can take to manage so much information in our digitized world.