Hanging with Craig of Craigslist

InternetNews.com’s David Needle on assignment for WebNewser at the UGCX.

In the press room with Craig Newmark who’s prepping for his talk here at the User Generated Content Conference & Expo . He’s chatting with a few reporters and Evan Forster of TuffBreak who will be introducing him. No CEO title for him, Newmark is careful to note, his title is Customer Service Rep and founder. He said he doesn’t use notes or Powerpoint. But he does “tweet”, you can follow him on Twitter. There is a CEO at Craigslist, it’s Jim Buckmaster.

It was a busy morning for Newmark who drove down from San Francisco to speak at the event after checking his many bird feeders. Newmark’s a big Kindle fan and said he already ordered the new model announced today. “I’ve already read 44 books on the Kindle so it’s paid for itself,” he said. Last book read, The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.

Someone asks if she can connect with him on LinkedIn. “You can,” says Newmark in his distinctive, well-modulated voice. “But I don’t use LinkedIn much and I probably forgot my password. I’m not a good networker.”

Meanwhile, Craigslist marches on. He said the site now gets about 50 million unique visitors a month, 13 billion page views a month for its 567 branches. “Those numbers are best guess based on what we see and the different measurement sites. None of them are consistent.

He said his talk will include a mention of his being a nerd.

A very successful one at that!

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