After a late night watching the conversations online, I talked with KATV this morning to recap some key moments throughout the day. Check it out here:
KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports
Here is a little preview of what I’ll be talking about tomorrow night at KATV. Be sure to tune in on channel 7 in Little Rock (and you can watch the live stream here for those not in state).
KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports
I am excitedly preparing to follow the election day commentary and action through social media channels. To do this, I’ve been working on my “cheat sheet” and thought it might be valuable to some of my fellow Arkansans. Be sure to let me know if I missed anything or should add anything. I am looking forward to election day!
General hashtag to follow for nationwide conversations on election day: #election2012
A Twitter list that includes the presidential candidates and their spouses, and the VP candidates.
Barack Obama (D) – incumbent
Mitt Romney (R)
General hashtag to follow for Arkansas conversations on election day: #arpx (Arkansas politics)
A Twitter list for the official Arkansas political parties.
Arkansas Democrats
Arkansas Republicans
US Senate Elections: None this year.
US House of Representatives
A Twitter list of all House candidates for Arkansas.
District 1 (NE AR)
Hashtag for District 1 election conversations: #ar1
Scott Ellington (D)
District 2 (Central AR)
Hashtag for District 2 election conversations: #ar2
Herb Rule (D)
District 3 (NW AR)
Hashtag for District 3 election conversations: #ar3
District 4 (S/SW AR)
Hashtag for District 4 election conversations: #ar4
Thomas Cotton (R)
Gene Jeffress (D)
Arkansas Legislature: Hashtag for state legislature election conversations: #arleg
This morning I visited with KATV about the explosion of Twitter during Wednesday night’s debate. Check out the video here:
KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports
This morning, I talked to KATV about the presidential campaigns’ use of social media. You can read more about the campaigns’ use of digital communications channels over on the Waiting for the Elevator blog. And check out the interview video here:
KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports
I visited with KATV this morning about the new Starbucks/Square mobile payments partnership. You can check out the interview here:
KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports
Earlier this week, Starbucks and Square announced a partnership. This was big news for the future of mobile payments. While Square has been around for about two years now, it is mostly used by small independent business owners. Partnering with Starbucks means that the Square mobile payment technology will now be exposed to more people and larger retailers may start using Square based on the learnings from Starbucks. And Starbucks has had mobile payments for a while, but it is linked to a Starbucks account that you have to reload with money to spend, making it a bit limited (though super easy and fun to use; I love it). The partnership signifies a big move towards major businesses adopting mobile payments:
“Though smartphone payments have a long way to go before they replace wallets altogether, Starbucks’s adoption of Square will catapult the start-up’s technology onto street corners nationwide, and is the clearest sign yet that mobile payments could become mainstream.” – New York Times
What is Square and how does it work?
Square is a mobile payment technology with two branches: one for business owners and one for consumers. The business owner can download the Square software to their iPhone or iPad, request a Square device from Square to plug into the top of their iPhone or iPad, then accept payments by swiping cards through the device. Or, if a customer is also using Square for payments, the business owner can see the customer through the Square software and allow the customer to pay just by saying their name. For the consumer, it is just a matter of downloading the Square app and linking a bank account or credit card to the app. It is much like PayPal, except mobile.
Why is a cashless society a big deal?
According to The Atlantic:
“(1) Innovations that save time, even just a little bit of time, are real innovations, because in any advanced economy time and attention are currency and creating more of them can make us all richer; (2) What’s important about Square isn’t just the transactions it makes more efficient but also the cashless world it pulls closer to the present. As Slate investigated in a fabulous series, a cashless society can make us richer, healthier (dollar bills are dirty!), and smarter.”
I am looking forward to more efficiency in payments and not having to carry around anything but my phone.
I did an interview with KATV this morning talking about the Square and Starbucks partnership. I’ll post the video as soon as it becomes available.
This morning, I gave a quick presentation to our interns about how to keep up with all the news and information in our industry on a daily basis. You can check it out here:
