Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist, the web-based platform that has fundamentally changed classified advertising. Since its founding in 1995, craigslist has become one of the Internet’s 10 most-visited English language sites.
Born December 6, 1952 in Morristown, NJ, Craig attended Case Western Reserve University, where he earned a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science in 1975 and 1977 respectively. During his business career, Craig worked with IBM, Charles Schwab, Bank of America, and other firms. Today, he resides in San Francisco's Cole Valley.
In March 2011, Craig launched craigconnects (www.craigconnects.org), his initiative to link up everyone on the planet using the Internet to bear witness to good efforts and encourage the same behavior in others.
Craig regularly communicates through Twitter (twitter.com/craignewmark) and Facebook (facebook.com/craignewmark). He also blogs regularly (cnewmark.com) and is a contributor to the Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark).
We are honored that Craig took the time to reply to our two questions:
What Brings You Happiness?
Well, the best part involves both a lot of feedback and observation that my efforts have helped tens of millions of people make each others lives a little better. That ain t bad.
Beyond that, I keep hearing that my efforts have inspired others to do the same. That is, I started something which amplifies the good will of others to make a difference, which has a generative effort; more people making a difference.
Other things make me happy; making a baby smile, despite my complete disregard for my own dignity.
Bird watching is good also, I have many species of bird visiting my home office. Important to feed the birds and keep them happy; you don't want to see what happens when they get angry.
Finally, brevity, it's the soul of wit.
What Would You Change (If You Could) To Make
Our World A Better Place?
People can make the world a much better place already, there are plenty of people of good will and we have the resources. However, there are a relatively few people getting in the way and exploiting the good will of most for personal profit.
The problem is that the bad guys are really good at telling a really good story. That's all they do, so they can get really good at it.
So, I'd recommend to everyone to "trust, but verify", and to help build large networks of fact-checking.
By using this site, you agree to be bound and abide by our Terms of Use (revised May 16, 2011 ) and Privacy Policy (revised Jan 19, 2011). © 2013, VeryBest Ltd. All rights reserved. 
