The first link included in his tweet takes you to a post he wrote over on his blog at craigconnects:

People have asked me about the whole SOPA thing, how bad a law it could be.

Sure, SOPA and PIPA are really destructive, potentially damaging US competitiveness and genuinely killing jobs. However, there’s some good news associated with the reaction to the bad law, news that we’re missing.

As an industry, we’ve been able to rationalize that bad laws and politics don’t matter, but now we’re waking up. More importantly, this has also gotten the attention of “the Internet,” meaning a lot of the people who use the Net. That includes some really smart Hill staffers who believe in the democratic potential of the Net.

It’s taken some really bad potential laws, but it’s roused the sleeping giant, both the people who build the Internet, and people in general who comprise the Internet community.

Maybe a mixed metaphor, but this might be a genie that can’t be put back into the bottle. I’m hoping that we’re seeing an Internet Spring leading to an Internet Awakening.

So that may be it: The Internet Spring. The Internet Awakening (although that’s a little too similar to The Great Awakening, so I vote we stay away from that one). Anybody else got any suggestions for what to call this movement?

I contacted Newmark about some of the details of this donation drive and why he feels its an important cause (other than the obvious reasons). As for his primary motivator for the #perfectgift campaign, Newmark explained, “People everywhere need a hand and I want to help. One great way to do that is to support very effective, boots-on-the-ground groups like the Red Cross.” The cause couldn’t have a more noble mission as the money will go towards purchasing comfort kits for members of the military.

The fundraiser runs throughout the month of December, but as of the middle of this month Newmark says they’ve tracked 1,741 tweets and 200 Facebook comments so far about the #perfectgift. Roughly equating $2K raised so far, that’s not a bad sum at all.

To help get out the word about the campaign and to explain a little more about the donations, Newmark headed over to the American Red Cross to chat with Gail McGovern, president and CEO of American Red Cross, about #perfectgift:

As I said, the campaign is active throughout the rest of the month so there is still time to contribute to #perfectgift on Twitter and Facebook. Seriously, it couldn’t be easier: just tweet or comment what you think the perfect gift is, tag it with #perfectgift, and another dollar goes to the American Red Cross.

Now’s your chance to show your appreciation.

Craig Newmark, the eponymous founder of craigslist, has chosen a unique way to observe his birthday this year. Instead of the self-congratulatory ritual of celebrating one more year he didn’t die (like the rest of us do), Newmark has decided to ask for something considerably different this year:

Folks, yesterday was my 59th birthday, and I decided to celebrate by asking for a unique kind of gift – a tweet on Twitter about what someone considers the perfect gift this holiday season. Each time someone responds and tweets using the hashtag #perfectgift, I am giving a $1 contribution to the American Red Cross, up to $10,000 to purchase military comfort kits for our troops. It’s amazing because 91% of every gift goes to people in need.

Newmark, who has a little over 45,000 followers on Twitter, says that following the aforementioned hashtag will help him keep track of how many support his humanitarian cause and, subsequently, how much money he will donate to the American Red Cross. He also hopes that the 585K followers of American Red Cross, who retweeted his original post, will help spread the word and get more people involved in his campaign. The promotion is also active on Facebook but actual donations will only be calculated through Twitter.

I implore anyone reading this to head over to Twitter and tweet a quick post about what you think the perfect gift is in order to contribute to Newmark’s campaign (I posted that my perfect gift is a world with no pepper spray). It only takes a minute and, like the clickable awesomeness that is craigslist, doesn’t cost you anything. You’ve got through the end of December to do your part. Just think of this as an easy way to say thanks to Newmark for all of those Missed Connections that have kept you entertained over the years.

According to the site, here’s how you can use it:

Discovery

In LikeMinded Beta, you can discover two kinds of information about local issues you care about:

Resources: Resources are articles, videos, tools, and audio from around the web related to local community change. It’s information in its original form, available free from the source.

Projects: Projects are the story behind community change. What issue was addressed, how did the team do it, and did it work? Projects include visibility for the people and organizations who did the hard work and info about where and when it all happened. They are a great way to get a snapshot into how people addressed issues in their neighborhood.

You can discover information through the topics on our homepage, and you can explore more deeply at our full search page.

Sharing
Individuals and organizations are sharing local community stories through LikeMinded. The real magic comes when you share your story. What have you or your organization taken on? What cool projects have you read about? Help inspire others by sharing what you know as resources or projects.

The beta site allows users to search or share stories and resources in a variety of topics including health, education, safety, literacy and technology.  Once within a category, you can learn about specific initiatives either completed or still in progress – for example, “Book Drive to promote literacy in San Francisco.”  Each initiative’s page hold information about affiliated networks of sponsors, methodology and resources.

“We should all live in great communities: strong, healthy, democratic, sustainable, collaborative places. We built LikeMinded to make that happen.  People are doing incredible things to strengthen their local communities. Too often, they don’t get credit for their amazing work. As importantly, people in other communities don’t learn from one another’s successes often enough.”

Last month, Craig Newmark launched craigconnects, a web platform that attempts to connect people through information and resources in certain “social good” areas like volunteering and community building.

Craigconnects isn’t intended to be any sort of side project or hobby for Newmark.  In a video introduction, Newmark mentioned his ties to Craigslist, then stated, “Now I’m starting something even bigger, which I’m calling Craigconnects.  Its long-term purpose is to help connect everyone of goodwill across the entire world for whatever they feel is the common good.”

Also, as the screenshot below shows, Newmark said in a tweet that Craigconnects has become “the biggest thing in my life . . .”

Unfortunately, not a whole lot more information is available right now, as all the official material is a little vague.  One other problem: the Craigconnects site is experiencing server issues.

An official announcement (linked to in Newmark’s tweet) was clear that the program isn’t a fundraising or grant-giving organization, however, and Newmark indicated that – while he will support it in every way – he’s open to the idea of letting more qualified individuals join or perhaps take the reins.

Given what Newmark achieved with Craigslist, it should be very interesting to see what happens here.

Newmark’s list covers 32 cities these days, but when it began in 1994 – following a move to San Francisco for work – Craig’s list of San Francisco events was sent via email to his friends. His list became so popular, he had to move it to a mail server, and then to the open Web.

The move to the Web was a solid move to bring people in, rather than keep his local scenes list the exclusive province of email insiders.  After a childhood marked by pocket protectors and being last-picked in sports, Newmark legacy becomes one that doesn’t exclude anyone.

"When you think about the net, everyone is included," he said.

And it’s still free to everyone to this day – a winning model that hit one million page views per month way back in 1997. After all the site’s success, Newmark says his company continues to espouse the original open philosophy.

"We’re just doing what feels right. Everyone seems to believe in the notion that you treat people like you want to be treated."

Keeping with a simple, straightforward style even in his speech, Newmark forwards that open philosophy to the Internet as a whole. Perhaps reflective of his pro-Network Neutrality viewpoints (where an open Net promotes opportunity), Newmark says, simply, "The Internet is everyone’s printing press."

WebProNews Managing Editor Mike McDonalds contributed to this article.

That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? Haven’t all of us said or done something at least a little untoward? Is the googler calling the googlee a sinner? What of the googler’s past? Spotless?

Yes, the job market is competitive. Yes, I’m heavy on the throw the first stone philosophy. Yes, a candidate should shine their shoes and practice their handshaking and eye contact. But is it too presumptive, too hasty to toss out a candidate based on their googlability?

(Google’s going to love me for using their brand name with such license, but lets get real – it is a word now.)

I wonder this because I’m starting to see a trend, at least as I am perceiving it from the piecemeal coverage I see. We already know quite well that Bill Gates didn’t finish his degree – and that would have hurt him in the job market if he hadn’t made brilliant strides of his own.

Alarm:clock reports that Craig Newmark, the founder of the wildly successful Craigslist, was "too odd" to land an engineering job. "Too odd" meant the head engineer didn’t like his "anti-capitalist ideas."

The raging success of Craigslist has to have Newmark sitting back in his chair and chuckling at a statement like that.

Just before that little nugget, Valleywag asks "Is 30 too old to start a company?" The question arises because, according to Valleywag, venture capitalists assume tech entrepreneurs "peak" at about 26.

As a 30-year-old, I think that just plain sucks. Admittedly, rounding that corner hasn’t been exactly fun – spicy foods are quickly becoming the enemy and my knees and back just aren’t what they used to be – but my mind is sharper than ever.

What was I saying?

Oh yeah, it seems employers (and investors) would be wise to take a second look at the talent they’re throwing off the table for some rather arbitrary reasons. And to borrow from an overused corporate buzz phrase, that’s not exactly "thinking outside the box."

Genius rarely comes in conventional packages. Just ask Einstein, who I hear had trouble just tying his shoes (but that could be an urban legend).