Death, taxes and YouTube

The corporate office of national tax preparation giant Jackson Hewitt is moving into the social networking age through its Sarasota-based technology division.

The Parsippany, N.J.-based publicly traded company debuted its new Web site and related technology improvements Nov. 10 in Sarasota. The Sarasota unit of Jackson Hewitt, which provides technical support to the company's network of 7,000 tax preparers, houses about half of the company's 300 employees. The unit also recently underwent a leadership overhaul and made plans to increase its local seasonal hiring efforts. (See 9/3/09 Review).

The new Jackson Hewitt Web site includes a Facebook fan page, a Twitter portal and even a customized YouTube page. “Technology really helps run the company,” says Jackson Hewitt chief executive Harry Buckley, who was in Sarasota for the company's Web site launch party. “This redesign was long overdue.”