Give a shoutout to your cause

A few days ago I landed at 999 friends on Facebook, and folks started asking what I would do to mark 1,000. Through a discussion on my page, we decided to let each new friend give a shoutout to their favorite local cause on my wall. This could work in concert with The Observer's Mission Possible project. I'll repeat the names of the new friends, and their causes here on my blog. Facebook caps friends lists at 5,000, so if we make it that far, we'll be tied for No. 1 in the world. If that happens, The Observer -- and, I suspect, other media outlets -- will give the new, social media cause train some serious pub. To friend me and give your cause some pub, click here. Not on Facebook? Add your cause in the comments below. It's a lot better than making the world a more unfriendly place, right?

A couple of big stories the past two days. The New York Times put the Southeastern Conference's threat to ban social media from ballgames on its front page Thursday, two days after we had the story in The Observer. And today we have a front-page story on how the health-care reform issue has played out on Facebook. Sarah Palin made her infamous "death panels" comments there, you know.

The Observer's Twitter directory got some national pub yesterday. Media commentator Jim Romenesko noted it in his blog on the latest newspaper tech developments. If you'd like to be followed by local people and get your business some attention on Twitter, you can find the form by clicking here.

Working on a story about LinkedIn, and how people are using it to help their careers during the recession. If you have ideas, contact me here, or better yet, on my LinkedIn page, here.

Finally, here's a hilarious video of the day -- an oldie but a goody featuring a former Charlotte anchorman. I saw it for the first time today, thanks to Facebook friend David Beckwith of Charlotte, who posted it on his page. But this blooper featuring Michael Scott, formerly of WBTV, made the rounds years ago, and ended up on "The Tonight Show." Watch Scott gyrate when the lizard jumps on him!