PseudoCoworkers
The number of single-person businesses in the United States is increasing dramatically! Between 2000 and 2005, nearly 4 million one-person businesses were added to the U.S. economy.
Almost predictedly, people in single-person businesses have sought the companionship of other human beings, “PesudoCoworkers,” in dozens of U.S. cities. These PseudoCoworkers develop bonds, make suggestions, proofread each other’s work, etc., but remain different businesses.
An informal Web-based network called “Jelly” has been established in more than a dozen U.S. cities and in Australia. In one of these groups, in Roswell (GA, this time), the only “alien” present was a sticker on a laptop. 
Coworking groups are meeting (or forming) in >40 U.S. cities. One 34-year old Web developer notes the irony. Some reasons that people work alone are that they are looking for freedom and crave isolation, but they still want to be socially interactive with others like themselves.
I understand the phenomenon. Some of the “best and brightest” coworkers (and managers!) in my “work life” (an oxymoron? ) were the folks I met at Netscape Communications. They still comprise the majority of folks on my “buddy list” on AIM (now through iChat), a tool that we used to collaborate, even when we all worked for the same company. Human beings are social animals, and most of us need interactions with other people.
Coworking offers the promise of creating friendships and establishing broader networks of contacts, both extremely useful in the world of business.
And both, so human….
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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