On Friday, the Baltimore Business Journal published a story about a Chicago Company thats doing big things in Baltimore that I’ve been a fan of for several months now – Groupon.com.

Here’s where you can join www.groupon.com/baltimore

The basic idea behind Groupon is that every morning, members (it’s free) will get an e-mail with an offer from a local business for discounted goods or services. Examples include

$30 for $65 Worth of Fine Wines and Gourmet Dishes at The Milton Inn;

$25 for $50 Worth of Sips and Savories at Ryleigh’s Oyster;

$20 for One Month of Unlimited Yoga Classes at Charm City Yoga ($40 Value)

So unless you’ve been without tv, radio, or other connection to the outside world, you know that the first round of The Masters (still unsure? it’s a golf tournament in Georgia) starts today. To golfers, these next four days are an extended national holiday – watching the world’s best golfers tee it up on a course that’s one of the hardest in the country.

After I finished digging out the snow this morning, I started thinking about how this snow storm has affected Baltimore businesses. Unless you were selling shovels, road salt, or beer, this has probably been a bad week for your business.

According to the National weather service, the 80 inches of snow we’ve received so far are the most in any winter ever recorded. While almost every business was affected, most negatively, by the snow, there are a few that handled this storm with grace under pressure, and I wanted to point them out.

The tragedy in Haiti and the continued relief efforts there have touched families all over the globe. The USNS Comfort left Baltimore yesterday, headed for Haiti, and is set to arrive there next week. The 894-foot ship that left Canton on Saturday hosts 12 operating rooms, and more than 1,000 treatment and recovery beds.

Perhaps one of the most amazing parts of the aftermath of this tragedy, and the outpouring of support from around the globe, is the way that people have responded – text messaging.  As of Friday morning, January 15th, the text “Haiti” to 90999 program had raised more than $8 Million. Social Networking sites like facebook and twitter spread the message to users’ friends and followers of how they can also give, getting the message out faster than any traditional, and costly, media could have done. How many of those people do you bet had never given money to a cause like this before?

The average age of a texter is now 38 years old – up from 19 years old in 2003. According to mobile marketing firm HipCricket, the fastest growing demographic for text messaging – surprise surprise – is Adults 45-64.

With new technology, we have the ability to communicate and share messages that we think are important or valuable to our friends and colleagues very quickly. Let’s hope that more people continue to give to the Red Cross to families in need in Haiti. Text “haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

Technology has changed the way people respond.