Jack Dorsey Was Here

By Janet Dodrill

Jack Dorsey at Cleveland Clinic’s Ideas for Tomorrow Speaker Series.

Last week I was honored to hear Jack Dorsey speak in an interview with Toby Cosgrove, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Cleveland Clinic, at the Clinic’s Ideas for Tomorrow Speaker Series. Jack is creator, co-founder, and executive chairman of Twitter, Inc. social networking feed and the co-founder and CEO of Square, Inc., a device which enables mobile credit card payments via iPhone or iPad.

The one-hour informal talk gave us insight on Jack’s ideas that lead to Twitter, like an interest in mass transit and developing a means for emergency workers, taxis and couriers to communicate in real time. Jack’s early creativity included some formal training in art and design. He initially sketched ideas for Twitter’s process and Square’s user interface, and currently works at both companies, Twitter headquartered in San Francisco, and Square in New York City.

The Twitter name went through some early word-smithing, starting as Jitter and then Twitch. Did you know that Twitter is still banned in Syria, Iran and China? I believe in the usefulness of Twitter and have been tweeting nearly five years now!

According to Jack, only 8 million small businesses today can accept credit cards, and 26 million small businesses can’t. Square charges a flat 2.75% fee, which is less than most online merchant banks charge, and has created a huge opportunities for small businesses to use this product for their customers to make payments. I was at a holiday art bazaar a couple months ago and one vendor was using the Square on an iPad for customers purchasing their lama socks and hats.

Square currently holds a lot of potential for money-less and hands-free purchasing, and he gave an example, using Square Wallet app linked to a credit card and GPS, of walking into a Starbucks and our face and favorite coffee comes up on the register and is ordered before we have even reached the counter! A push feature could ask us about a tip. We could just give the cashier our name, and leave our mobile phone in our pocket or our purse.

He is active in community organizations, has about 1000 followers including his mom and her dog, as well as some authors, and tweets his breakfast most days to show his mom that he’s eating (she checks this)! I was inspired by Jack Dorsey and his brilliance. He was asked if he was more artist or entrepreneur, and he hesitantly answered, “Artist, but you can never really call yourself one, people have to look at your work!”

Jack Dorsey: Ideas for Tomorrow Speaker Series (Full Program) video

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Recent tweets by Jack Dorsey about a Cleveland Clinic video he was touched by:

@jack RT @ClevelandClinic: “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Thoreau | http://t.co/b8Sudtcqsv
Mar 4

@jack A brilliant video from @ClevelandClinic about empathy and putting the patient (or customer) first. https://t.co/T0C9jIYvs0
Mar 1

Facebook is Ever-Evolving

By Janet Dodrill

It seems like Facebook is always adding features and changing privacy settings. There are personal pages and professional pages. Do you have a, or more than one, professional page? Here are some recent articles and links to teach you more and help stay up-to-speed:

HOW TO: Set Up a Facebook Page
www.mashable.com/2011/05/22/how-to-facebook-page/

HOW TO: Use Social Media During Your Family Vacation
www.mashable.com/2011/05/22/social-media-vacation/

5 Easy Ways to Liven Up Your Facebook Stream
www.mashable.com/2011/05/22/social-media-vacation/

HOW TO: Implement a Social Good Campaign on Facebook
www.mashable.com/2011/02/28/how-to-social-good-facebook/

Facebook Launches Non-Profit Resource Center
www.mashable.com/2011/05/16/facebook-non-profit-page/
and www.facebook.com/nonprofits

Facebook Dislike Button Scam Gets More Sophisticated [WARNING]
www.mashable.com/2011/05/17/facebook-dislike-button-scam/

Avoid Facebook Spams and Scams
www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/index.ssf/2011/02/avoid_facebook_spams_and_scams.html

Facebook Changes Mean That You Are Not Seeing Everything That You Should be Seeing
https://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/mark-hull/please-read-facebook-changes-mean-that-you-are-not-seeing-everything-that-you-sh/10150089908123789

Resources: www.mashable.com, www.facebook.com, www.cleveland.com, Facebook Page/Mark Hull

Have You Been Googled or Googled It?

By Janet Dodrill

When I first heard of the search engine Google in 2000 I thought it had a funny name, and was reluctant to use anything other than reliable Yahoo!. Now it is a daily tool I use as a real-time help desk for any inquiry I have.

I have met people at professional events and then the next time we connected they have said, “I Googled you!”, which really meant they searched for information about me. What may have sounded a bit like stalking years ago, is now a practical and almost necessary means of research about any individual, business, event, activity, article, or topic of today. Most of the time I find valuable information that increases or enhances my knowledge.

When confronted with a question which I may not have the best answer, or any answer to, the first thing I do or say is to “Google it”.

What Are You Doing on Craigslist?

By Janet Dodrill

Having used Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) for a couple years now, just what I do there varies to include searching for Job opportunities, posting household items in the For Sale area, and browsing the items being sold. I also enjoy checking-out the Wanted section under For Sale. In the Services section I found a cat that needed a home in the Pet category and successfully placed it. Since the web site is community-driven, there seems to be something for everyone, and it reaches audiences all over the world.

The brainchild of Craigslist is Craig Newmark from Morristown, NJ, who received his bachelors and masters degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and initially developed it while in San Francisco working as a freelance software developer.

According to a blog article on Case.edu, “He created an e-mail list to tell his friends about art-and-technology parties he thought were cool. Those friends forwarded the e-mail to others, and soon the list became the de facto grapevine for the Bay Area’s ‘Geek Establishment’. New readers sent Newmark their own bits, and the list’s utility grew with its membership.

Newmark has said in several media interviews that he only had the one idea to create the list, but that the content comes from the community. Newmark is a fierce proponent of keeping the Internet as free as possible. All listings on the site are free, except for help wanted ads in select cities and paid broker apartment listings in New York City.”

Because of his success, Newmark was asked to deliver the commencement address as keynote at Case’s graduation ceremonies last year.

Some entertainers have featured Craigslist in their acts. Weird Al Yankovic has a popular YouTube music video named “Craigslist”, which pays homage to The Doors and runs nearly 5 minutes in length.

One of my favorite spots is The Tonight Show’s Conan O’Brien and Slash shopping for a guitar on Craigslist.

Even though the interface on Craigslist is simple and basic, it is easy to navigate and interesting to browse if you have the time. Best of all it is (for the most part) free.