Customer Service: Craig who?

Craig Newmark. Name doesn’t ring a bell? It didn’t for me either. I first heard of Craig Newmark at a meeting for the Business Showcase, which I am co-chairing this year with Rob Quinn of Boone County National Bank. Someone proposed that we choose Craig Newmark as the keynote speaker for the luncheon. There were a few nods of agreement. Rob got excited, but I said: “Wait a minute. Craig who?”
It turns out Craig is a pretty cool guy. He developed a Web site to bring buyers and sellers together in San Francisco. He called it Craigslist. Maybe you’ve heard of it? If you have, you might be thinking it’s kind of cool that a guy named Craig actually created Craigslist. But if you haven’t heard of Craigslist, you’re probably a little confused — or living under a rock! And you might be wondering why we would want to bring Craig as a keynote speaker to the Business Showcase. So I am going to start at the beginning.

Before this meeting, I had heard of Craigslist. I had even been to craigslist.org, but I wasn’t very knowledgeable about what Craigslist is capable of doing. So I set out to do a little research. By exploring Craigslist and spending a little time on its “about” page, I learned a lot.
Craigslist is an online community, and it is free to use. It’s a great place to sell old furniture, event tickets and used items. It was created in 1995 when Craig Newmark started an e-mail list with friends and co-workers to share information. The e-mail list turned into a Web site for San Francisco that Craig ran out of his living room. The site took off, and more Craigslist communities were started. Now there are more than 570 communities and more than 50 million classifieds listed each month.
But Craigslist is so much more than classified ads. It is a combination of social networking and e-commerce. In addition to postings for jobs, housing, items for sale and personal ads, Craigslist has open discussion forums that allow community members to voice their opinions. Craig Newmark was truly brilliant when he started this site, which is based on trust and community.
That’s Craigslist, but let me tell you about Craig Newmark. He graduated Case Western Reserve University and started his career as a computer programmer. He worked for companies such as IBM, Charles Schwab and Bank of America. Then came Craigslist. Craig passed the Craigslist CEO position off in 2000, but he stays involved with the company as a customer service representative and keeps track of spammers and scammers who take advantage of the Craigslist community.
Craig’s idea transformed the Internet and revolutionized the classified ad as we knew it. His innovative combination of social networking and e-commerce led to the development of one of the most popular sites on the Web. Craig’s opinion and expertise in many fields are in high demand; he has been on Charlie Rose, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has also been named to Business Week’s list of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web. That’s a pretty impressive resume, even for the founder of Craigslist.
If you are interested in hearing Craig’s thoughts on social marketing and using the Internet to help your business succeed, you’re in luck. Craig will make his premiere appearance in the Midwest on April 6 at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Business Showcase presented by William Woods University.
Craig is truly a renaissance man, so the conversation at his fireside chat and luncheon (so generously sponsored by the Tiger Institute for Health Innovation) is sure to be fascinating. General admission tickets are available for $34.99, or get up close and personal with Craig in exclusive club seating. For more information and to purchase your tickets the moment they go on sale, call the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, 874-1132. Find the Columbia Business Showcase page on Facebook for the latest information on the Business Showcase and Craig Newmark’s visit to Columbia. See you at the luncheon!
Lili Vianello is President of Visionworks Marketing & Communications, a Columbia-based public relations and advertising firm offering creative services and media planning and placement. Contributions to this article were made by Visionworks staff members. Visit them online at www.visionworks.com.