I have been involved in software and programming for 20 years and has seen some cool things come and go, but this is really, really cool if you take the time to ponder how empowering it can be for Internet users.

The model for the last 15 years or so has been to capture traffic, capture users and capture sales. It seems that every website stuck in this web 1.0 mindset wanted to capture, control and direct their own traffic for their own benefit. The the revolutionary views of Facebook and the movement of commercial websites toward the Web 2.0 mindset marches onward with a completely different philosophy that is best demonstrated with the implementation of joining other websites with your Facebook or other social networking credentials.

Rather than seek to capture and control consumers the Web 2.0 movement seeks to expand access, service and the overall experience for the consumer’s benefit. The company I founded, DeRoches LLC has the InsurancePen.com website now using the login with Facebook module.

I think this makes all the sense of the world. The whole purpose of the InsurancePen.com approach was to gather insurance buyers into large groups so they can better negotiate their rates and terms with insurance carriers. Now creating and growing these groups gets a whole lot easier because there are already hundreds of millions of people using Facebook.

I’m looking forward to creating a couple groups of my own this week and using my Facebook account to announce and share the groups information with my friends, family and business associates using Facebook. I hope that you will look into doing the same.

Whether it is health insurance, auto insurance or business insurance, consumers benefit by buying together. The larger the numbers the better the negotiation will go with insurance companies. This is done the rule in the insurance industry for hundreds of years. Now that InsurancePen can leverage the power of Facebook to build these numbers I have confidence that it will help a great number of consumers during an economic cycle when they need the help the most.

The week started with the launch of the InsurancePen.com website, the launch of our marketing initiative in several core website improvements. The insurancepen website got off to a great start and is already receiving calls from faraway places looking to host their insurance group discount programs using this technology. Since InsurancePen is such an innovative product I can’t help but to get excited with each new insurance professional or trade Association that looks to blaze a trail on their own with our assistance. I wish every single one of them well and am proud of the fact that our company is there to help them along the way.

If you visit the DeRoches website or the InsurancePen.com website you will also see updates on several other products and services that are now being offered and that are planned for the new year.

As if running a new business that is seeking to cut a path in several new directions wasn’t enough, my wife and I were also able to juggle Christmas shopping and the somewhat successful potty training of our youngest girl at the same time. Since Phoebe is the youngest of our three daughters I believe it to be her prerogative to drag this out just a little bit!

With this all said the high point of the week for entertainment goes to my alma mater, Central Michigan University for their big win in the Mac championship game this past Friday. Fire up chips! I know that everyone in the Central Michigan University alumni family wishes the team well especially Dan LeFevour in their bowl game and future.

InsurancePen was created for insurance consumers to dynamically form into cooperative purchasing groups.

The software really will work for anyone, for any type of insurance, but the company is focused on launching with public entity health insurance in Michigan since their is a funding shortage and a lot of focus on the cost of benefits.

I will update this page as the company launches more group buying programs.

Learn more about it here:

http://www.deroches.com/deroches-to-launch-insurancepen-for-business-insurance/

Or visit the website: www.insurancepen.com

Here is a picture of us working together last year.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/10/us/10campaign_CA0.ready.html