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SideJobTrader - Find those people that are great to know

There’s a bunch of people that - if you know them - can save you bales of time, money, and hassle. These are electricians, mechanics, roofers, painters, etc. - basically all of the trades that cost an arm and a leg through a contractor, but that can be paid with cash and a case of beer if you know the right people.

SideJobTrader aims to create a marketplace for making these connection - giving trades people an after-hours way to utilize their skills and make extra money, and consumers a way to get jobs done on an informal, less-expensive basis.

A noted in the SideJobTrader press release, this can be an ethical grey area - i.e.: if you take your car into the shop for work, and the mechanic offers to the work for half price at home on the weekend, its pretty tempting to take the offer - even though nominally you and the mechanic are ripping off the garage that’s brokered your relationship.

Releationship Brokering

Which perhaps provides the paradigm shift that underlies SideJobTrader: In many cases (small jobs), the value added by garages, contractors, dealers, etc. is a brokerage function - connecting consumers to tradespeople, and providing the work venue. SideJobTrader provides a means to disrupt and make that connection directly - a tried and tested “remove the middle-man” strategy. Where it can get sketchy is in bigger, more complicated jobs - in which case you’re paying that contractor not just for the connection to tradespeople, but for the management thereof, supply procurement, warranty, etc. - a different type of transaction entirely.

So - the moral of the story - perhaps - is that services exist on a spectrum of complexity and cost, and the decision on where in that spectrum to land is now in the hands of consumers.

Fresh Launch

At the moment, SideJobTrader seems to have the expected new launch sparseness - there aren’t many tradespeople in there yet. Given that tradespeople generally aren’t internet-centric and deskbound in their work, recruiting them into the service may be more of a challenge.

As you’ll see in the screencaps below, SideJobTrader is also working with a very utilitarian design. Perhaps because the initial focus of the site is on building a stable of tradespeople, there’s litte consumer-focus yet - search, for example, is not prominently featured on the homepage.

Craigslist, Credibility, Business Model

SideJobTrader faces an uphill battle in adoption: they’re not the first to offer a way to find informal workers. Craigslist and online classifieds spring immediately to mind.

More importantly, however is the notion of trust. How does the average person make one of these informal connections? Through a word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend. That recommendation conveys credibility - a metric which is currently missing from SideJobTrader.

Also working against SideJobTrader is the site’s business model: charging tradespeople to be listed. SideJobTrader charges $7/month, with slight discounts for longer periods, up to a maximum of 90 days. While charging may keep out spam, it will also keep out tradespeople who have many other free options (craigslist, for example) to choose from. Charging tradespeople seems directly contrary to the sites goals as it will actively work against SideJobTrader achieving any critical mass.

To me, SideJobTrader seems like a natural fit for an ad-supported business model anyway.

Summary

As a fresh start, SideJobTrader offers a compelling proposition - saving money and bypassing the traditional way of getting certain things done is appealing. The site’s current state shows that it has maturing to do from functionality (feedback loop, please), design, and business model (IMHO) standpoint. Maturation is an expected part of a new venture, however, and I’ll be following SideJobTrader as it evolves.

craigslist, sidejobtrader trades

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Gumiyo & Edgeio: Is there a market for mobile classifieds?

Gumiyo lets you post classifieds from your mobile/cell. Edgeio - Michael Arrington’s hyped “edge aggregating” classifieds site started as a blog-listing aggregator, but now appears to be an awkward mix everything-aggregator in the style of Oodle and traditional classified site in the style of Craiglist.

Anyway, a recent press release announced that these two companies are going to be working together. It doesn’t really say how, other than to suggest that Edgeio listings will be browseable on cellphones, and that browsers will be able to contact sellers with text messages or “web-activated telephony” - which I assume is a fancy way of saying “clicking a link to dial a call.”

The question I’d like to ask is: how many people want to search classifieds from their cell phone? What use case does this support? I suppose I could go to a car dealership, find a car that I like, and comparison shop vs. classified listings… that scenario seems to be a reach though. Gumiyo’s tagline is the vague-to-the-point-of-meaningless “connecting buyers and sellers” - the question is, what’s the marginal benefit to connecting them in realtime? eBay and Craigslist have done a good business connecting them asynchronously because that supports observed behaviour - i.e.: people generally like to shop & research from home where all of their resources are at their fingertips, and then go and transact. I don’t imagine Gumiyo/Edgeio’s mobile browsing will enjoy the same level of success.

Gumiyo’s cellular posting, however, is a different story. Posting stuff on ebay or wherever is a PITA - out comes the digicam, take some pictures, dump them to my PC, crop and resize, upload to whatever classifieds site I’m using, etc. Gumiyo - see below - makes this a one step, all mobile process that looks to save a tonne of work (for posting simple items, anyway).

IMHO, Gumiyo would be doing the world a favour if they built hooks into eBay to allow Gumiyo posting to an auction - fast, streamlined, and easy.

classifieds, craigslist, ebay, edgeio, gumiyo sales

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ThemBid.com - “Make them bid” on your requests

ThemBid is a fresh new entrant to the the same space as DoMyStuff.com - allowing you to post requests and have relevant service providers bid on your business.

Requests receive bids, and questions, negotiations, etc. can take place in comments. Here’s a good in action example. Businesses and individuals bidding for business on ThemBid.com have profile pages that include maps, reviews, an Apple-esque star-rating, and links to BBB (Better Business Bureau) search-result pages.

ThemBid also crosses into classifieds, offering a simple way to post things that may not fit into the service marketplace.

First Impressions & Suggestions

ThemBid does a good job of covering off high level functionality, but falls short on detail and usability. Given the new-ness of the site, it doesn’t come as a surprise, and I’d expect it to improve over time. For the moment though, compared to DoMyStuff, ThemBid comes across as more of an after hours effort…

More Structured Data Please: Requests have relatively little structured data associated with them, making the process more complicated than it needs to be (i.e.: for “babysitter needed,” days and hours required should be a structured field). Structured data should ideally be category specific.

Category and Location Browsing: Requests are posted to categories & locations - but browsing by either as a criteria is an awkward process - you can’t tell how many requests or classifieds are in each category or location, making browsing a time consuming, hit-or-miss proposition.

Search: Hmm. There doesn’t appear to be a text/keyword means of searching the site at all. That would be a good thing to include.

Design: A know that design and appearance is fundamentally subjective, and lord only knows, Craigslist is a 100% design-free blockbuster - but I find the appearance of ThemBid to be a little tough on the eyes. Greys & reds just don’t seem to contrast well online, and overall the design - to my eye at least looks dated. Given some of the slick functionality that the sight offers, a more eye-grabbing contemporary design would go a long way to converting visitors into members and speaking to ThemBid’s credibility.

Functional Clarity: Classifieds, Requests, and Companies need to be conceptually separated more clearly. There’s stuff in classifieds that could be a Request, and vice versa. My suggestion would be to drop classifieds entirely and focus on the more unique aspect of the site (requests/bids) better.

Summary

ThemBid is a new entrant to a sparsely populated space that I call “reverse classifieds.” Given the headaches of launching anything new in the Classifieds space (craigslist & ebay are their own barriers to entry), “reversing” the equation provides a unique and attention grabbing angle. ThemBid is new and shows it around the edges, but has early mover advantage. If they can keep iterating the site on a rapid basis, ThemBid could get some traction.

Of course, there’s little in the way of barriers to entry protecting ThemBid, so speed of execution is key. Also, providing a viral angle - for example a “Bid on My Request” widget to embed on blogs or MySpace pages, or Facebook platform integration - would capitalize on their early mover position.

If you want to follow their progress, keep an eye on the ThemBid.com blog.

classifieds, craigslist, domystuff thembid

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Craig to Newspaper Association of America: “You’re Screwed”

Found this on FARK and wanted to share in light of my earlier, ongoing quantitative analysis of Craigslist’s explosive growth: I agree with Craigs assessment that the “printing press industry” is screwed, presented to the newspaper industry high-ups at this year’s Newspaper Association of America’s annual convention. Craig notes, however, that there’s plenty of money to be made in quality journalism & investigative reporting.

When you’ve got growth like this over a month…

…you’re allowed to prognosticate.

“We have no advertisers to keep happy and no investors to keep happy. That’s a great relief,” Newmark said to about 250 newspaper executives from around the country, who probably wish they could say the same.

EDIT: From TechMeme - the newspaper association of america has positive news about online readership growth, citing figures showing that online newspaper traffic is growing at twice the rate of the wider internet.

classifieds, craigslist, news newspapers

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THE CRAIGSLIST REPORT: April, 2007 - Massive Growth

Craigslist is a juggernaut. I used to doubt its power, but that is no longer the case. For the last month, I’ve been been tracking listing volumes on Craigslist, city by city, so see if activity is growing, and to what degree - I can tell you now, its growing, and massively. Here’s the main Craigslist Tracker Index Page that gives you access to all of the charts and data.

Top 10 Urban Centers by Growth in Listing Volume:

1. blacksburg (Virginia: charts data) 64.37
2. boulder (Colorado: charts data) 57.01
3. elmira-corning (New York: charts data) 46.25
4. bologna (Italy: charts data) 40
5. iowa city (Iowa: charts data) 39.79
6. sheffield (United Kingdom: charts data) 38.2
7. tippecanoe (Indiana: charts data) 37.87
8. st cloud (Minnesota: charts data) 36.66
9. wenatchee (Washington: charts data) 36.25
10. fargo / moorhead (Minnesota: charts data) 36.1

Top 10 Losers in terms of Decline in Listing Volume

1. hong kong (China: charts data) -5.43
2. kolkata (calcutta) (India: charts data) -7.94
3. birmingham (United Kingdom: charts data) -8
4. christchurch (New Zealand: charts data) -8.04
5. mumbai (India: charts data) -8.85
6. glasgow (United Kingdom: charts data) -9.25
7. durban (South Africa: charts data) -11.02
8. bristol (United Kingdom: charts data) -15.06
9. cardiff / wales (United Kingdom: charts data) -16.12
10. guangzhou (China: charts data) -16.67

I’m tight on time today (this week), so I’m not doing an exhaustive analysis. I will draw a few high level conclusions though: growth seems to be concentrated in the US, in non-core markets: i.e.: CL is expanding in the US outside of its traditional holdouts (Bay Area, NYC, etc.). International growth is a little choppier. Note that the 10 Losers are all international. This pattern is consistent - international growth is slower.

Why might this be the case? I’d hazard a guess that localized, homegrown solutions dominate in places like China or India, while Craigslist utilizaion in these areas would be dominated by expats. That’s a very quick conjecture.

General implications: CL has most of the US locked down. Newspapers should continue to fear it. Classifieds startups should look hard at their prospects and sources of differentiation. Craigslist has only MySpace and Facebook classifieds to fear; As MySpace and Facebook ready to move into CL’s territory, I wonder if CL will add a social networking component to move into theirs?

Notes on Data and Analysis Methodology:

1. Percentage growth rates are not weighted by listing volume. So, going from 100 listings to 200 in a small town would be a 100% growth rate, even though its small in absolute numbers. So - read the numbers carefully and consider them in context until I have time to do a better analysis.
2. The period of data collection is April 3, 2007, to May 3rd, 2007. Measurement takes place in the wee hours of the AM, by a very respectful automated scraper.
3. The full dataset is available here. I’ll make it downloadable someday when I have time.
4. Some cities are duplicated if they are listed in more than one state. The numbers should match for each instance.
5. All of the charts are created with PHP/SWF Charts - which is awesome. I’m using the free version.
6. If you see a chart with “Region A / Region B” - that’s the chart tool’s default state when it encountered an error in data. I need to do some cleanup and these should go away.
7. The odd city dropped off: Denver, for instance, I only have a week or two of data for. I haven’t had a chance to see what’s happened.
8. The growth rates are a lousy metric: its the listing count on April 3rd, divided into the listing count on May 2nd. That gives you a monthly growth rate, with n=1 (i.e.: april) for each city). It doesn’t do any smoothing or anything within the month’s data, so the numbers are pretty grain-of-salt and intended to give a rough impression of what’s going on in each city, supported by the applicable chart.
9. This analysis in no way takes into account listing quality - only volume. All of the gains could be spam for all I know.

That’s it for the moment - enjoy. Comments on analysis, methodology, etc. are welcome.

classifieds, craigslist, craigslistreport, ebay, growth web

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SwitchPlanet.com: Free Media Trading with a Conscience

SwitchPlanet.com is a new entrant into the busy “trade your stuff that your done with” market dominated by Peerflix, Zunafish, and Craigslist. SwitchPlanet taps the Amazon Ecommerce webservice for product information, and allows for the trading of DVD’s, games, CD’s, and books.

SwitchPlanet.com, a Fresno based internet trading platform aims not only to succeed in business, but also help society and the environment. The company’s mission is simple, “establish a premier online community that is committed to helping reduce the impact waste is having on the planet by trading the things we no longer use to get the things we want.” [from PRNewsNow]

SwitchPlanet, according to the founder/developer/owner Chris Samarin went live at the end of Feb. ‘07, and since then has signed up ~6,500 users. For the first 22 days of April, SwitchPlanet had successfully completed 2,000 trades, with 1,000 more in progress.

Free Trades and a Social Agenda

SwitchPlanet differentiates itself by offering free trades coupled with a charity component: instead of paying for trades, users can opt to donate any amount whenever they trade (or zero) to SwitchFunds - a donation fund that is regularly gifted to a number of charities. This social agenda, combined with the “green” element of trading instead of purchasing, has garnered SwitchPlanet some very positive press at sites like Sustainablog, TreeHugger, and GroovyGreen. Chris seems legitimately committed to doing some good with his venture:

Members have already stated they love the option and will have no problem making small donations when they can; especially if they keep receiving cool stuff for free. Every little bit counts so if we could get 1 million members donating $1 a month that would be pretty amazing. If we got $1,000 a month that would be great too but obviously the goal is to grow this thing as big as possible so the impact is HUGE. [from GroovyGreen]

…and so do SwitchPlanet members, who since launch have donated $1,500.

Insulating Users from Risk

As with many other sites, SwitchPlanet uses a proxy currency - “SwitchBucs” for actual trading. When you add a movie/book/whatever that you have, you set its price in SwitchBucs, which are credited to your account when you successfully send it away. Similarly, when you “buy” something, you use SwitchBucs in your account, or top off your account by purchasing SwitchBucs (1:1 USD). SwitchPlanet guarantees switches - refunds can be issued to buyers for items not sent, and to senders for items lost in the mail, and so on: SwitchPlanet has anticipated one of the primary barriers to utilization (the uncertainty of trading with a stranger) and eliminated it.

The use of SwitchBucs, a damaged/counterfeit disc banning policy, and the guarantee are all designed to make SwitchPlanet a comfortable and risk-free place to trade.

We offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee so if a member receives a broken, unplayable, scratched, wrong, counterfeit or no disc at all they can submit a claim to SwitchDiscs and receive a full refund. If a member is repeatedly involved in sending bad discs or is repeatedly involved in making false disc claims then their account will be terminated. There are many factors involved so each account would be reviewed thoroughly before termination. [from GameShark]

SwitchPlanet adds a layer of reputation security as well, adding an eBay-style member rating and commenting system to the site which allows for the evaluation of potential trading partners:

Business Model

In an interview with GameShark, Chris detailed three components in the SwitchPlanet business plan:

1. Amazon Affiliate Sales: Each disc listed on the site includes the option to buy new. I quickly found that given the 1:1 USD:SwitchBucs exchange and people’s bizarre listing expectations, Amazon was often more cost effective that trading or buying. See more on this in the suggestions below.
2. Advertising: SwitchPlanet has a tasteful AdSense deployment in place already. IMHO, particularly with the environmental and social agenda angle, there’s a better opportunity for woot-style sponsorships (see below).
3. SwitchBuc purchases: As mentioned members can purchase SwitchBucs to start getting discs without having sent any, or to top up their account. Chris indicates, however, that revenue from this stream will be used to fund the purchase of more media to seed the network.

Suggestions

1. A “Suggested Price” feature: When adding discs, it would be great if SwitchPlanet made use of the extensive pricing information that Amazon’s API can surface to suggest a price for a given disc. Amazon will surface, best, new, and used prices; SwitchPlanet could suggest a range between best-used price and new for members to price their discs in depending on condition and whether they are shipping with packaging, etc. Checkout that first screencap above with FlyBoys at 29 SwitchBucs - that’s twice Amazon’s regular price.
2. Site Sponsorship Ad Model: Instead of AdSense, in the long term, SwitchPlanet may wish to sell weekly or monthly site sponsorships. i.e.: charge a flat rate for exclusive placement on the site, in a subtle-yet-always-visible placement format. Woot does this well. Creating a subtle AdSense placement that doesn’t clutter up the site means that ads will get few clickthroughs; the sponsorship model would offer more for SwitchPlanet, advertisers, and members. SwitchPlanet’s unique environmental and socially aware value proposition also makes the site well suited for this type of ad model - the strong brand associations and specific psychographic member profile create a powerful branding environment for companies trying to target the “green” demographic - auto-manufacturers, Whole Foods, etc etc. SwitchPlanet could also be marketed to movie studios, book publishers, and so on. Note - this is a longer term suggestion, once traffic is high enough to back up sales of this type. In the meantime, I’m sure AdSense is good bridge.
3. Social Networking: In a few interviews, Chris has stated his intention of developing the social networking aspect of SwitchPlanet further. I’m not convinced this is a good idea - to my thinking, it dilutes the key brand elements of SwitchPlanet, adding confusion to the switching concept, and positions SwitchPlanet as a competitor against sites which dwarf it. I agree that there’s a place for social networking in the trading-sites space (finding new trading partners, creating interest groups, etc.), but those elements need to be added in support of the site’s core value proposition, not as competitor to it.
4. Localization: Back when I was working on BlockRocker.com, my original intent was to create a hyper-local trading site, such that you could trade with people within walking distance - cutting the greenhouse gas emissions from shipping media back & forth across the country, when copies were likely gathering dust in shelves down the street. Localization, provided that there was a means to protect privacy while still enabling trades would be another great source of differentiation, and really get the green blogosphere going.

Summary

I believe SwitchPlanet offers a quality implementation of a business plan that has merit, and that while the market may have several players in it already, there is room for more. SwitchPlanet goes a step beyond being a credible competitor by adding a differentiating agenda, free listings, and a social element - all good ways to drive adoption and differentiate from the competition.

I’m looking forward to seeing SwitchPlanet continue to grow and evolve, and will be following Chris’s progress.

For other good coverage of SwitchPlanet, take a look at Bob Caswell on Computers.net and PlayWii (which actually has completed switches).

craigslist, p2p, peer2peer, peerflix, swapping, switchplanet, trading zunafish

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DoMyStuff.com - Outsource Your Day-to-Day Annoyances

Note: I have been unable to register at DoMyStuff. That registration confirmation email is up to 10 hours now - perhaps they aren’t accepting Canadian registrations or some such thing - if that is the case, it would be better to post that fact. As it is, its annoying as DoMyStuff claims to add 600 new users a day. So - bottom line - this review isn’t as in-depth as I’d hoped. EDIT: I’m registered at DoMyStuff and the initial sign up issues have been resolved.

The DoMyStuff.com pitch is an interesting one - post things that you want to get done, and let a community of “assistants” bid on the right to do it [found via Ars]. Competing with Craigslist, local forums, and word of mouth, DoMyStuff is essentially the Amazon Mechanical Turk for the offline world: Need your grass cut, dry cleaning picked up, computer fixed, fence painted, or groceries bought? Post it, and DoMyStuff hopes to find someone to do it for you. Similarly, if you’re looking to fill your free time doing any of the above, you can browse and bid on posts. Ultimately, DoMyStuff is a service marketplace for everyday tasks.

Posting Tasks

Employers (those wanting to get things done), can post in a number of categories and sub-categories (list is high-level category with a sub-category example for each):

1. Automotive > Change Oil
2. Creative > Photograph Event
3. Household > Aquarium Cleaning
4. Miscellaneous > Deliver
5. Personal and Family > Play Tooth Fairy on Phone
6. Planning and Preparation > Plan Bar Mitzvah
7. Purchasing > Concert Tickets
8. Research and Recommend > Cellphone Plans
9. Technical > Computer Repair

There’s a reasonable number of granular sub-categories to choose from, any of which prospective Assistants (those looking to do things) can subscribe to via RSS. The sub-categories cover a wide range - from general labour types of work, to specialized professional applications - such as directing films or composing music. There’s some sweet, funny examples too - like hiring someone to be the Tooth Fairy over the phone.

Bidding on Tasks

Assistants bid on posted tasks, specifying time, cost, and relevant details (hashed out via built-in messaging). Assistants can be chosen on the basis of their bid, their reputation (they are rated after completion of tasks), proximity, or “type” - individual or business. Once terms are finalized, payment is arranged: the agreed-upon funds can go into an escrow account until the work is completed to your satisfaction, or other arrangements can be brokered via the site (50% up front, 50% when finished, etc).

Here’s an example of an actual task that’s being actively bid on (click the screengrab to go there, as long as its active):

DoMyStuff seems to be modeled most closely after eBay - the public back and forth discussion and bid history, for instance. Note - this is a good thing. eBay’s layout is purposeful if not elegant, and DoMyStuff has a solid, similar implementation to enable a similar type of transaction.

Business Model

According to Ars Technica, DoMyStuff makes its cut off of the Assistants, charging a “service fee” for each task undertaken via the site. Whether this is a percentage cut, flat fee, or some type of sliding scale is unknown. This appears to be their only revenue stream, as there is no advertising on the site.

From what I can tell from the outside of the site, DoMyStuff is well-conceived, well laid out and well executed - they seem to have anticipated most of the objections people would have with such a service and provided answers (escrow service, for instance).

Challenges

While DoMyStuff.com seems to have put together a solid website, their ability to meet business model and marketing communications challenges will determine their success:

1. To Much Solution for the Problem: Craigslist enables thousands of similar transactions every day, and more all of the time. What Craigslist lacks in structure, it makes up for in simplicity, and free-ness (for both Employers and Assistants). The structure added by DoMyStuff no doubt makes the process of collecting and evaluating bids more straightforward, but is this a need that the market has actually signalled, or a “build it and see if they come” gambit?
2. Informally, This Need is Already Being Met: Fundamentally, DoMyStuff is not enabling any new transactions. Every day-to-day task that can be arranged through the site is currently being arranged elsewhere already - be it Craigslist, local forums, word of mouth, or neighborhood bulletin boards. DoMyStuff offers selection, availability, and reputation - but its competing against the informal networks that have gotten things done as long as people have existed.
3. Formally, This Need is Already Being Met: Bigger tasks (DoMyStuff seems to have a lot of Design/Creative activity, for instance) are already being brokered elsewhere as well - places like eLance.
4. Critical Mass: as with any service of this nature, DoMyStuff needs to get penetration in markets such that there are enough posters and bidders to make using it worthwhile. Without a viral angle, DoMyStuff will be relying on advertising and word of mouth.

Summary

I do believe that DoMyStuff offers value to both sides of a transaction. I could see using it on a personal basis to get day-to-day things done, but more importantly, I could see it evolving into a “core” service for people and businesses as:

1. A recommendation engine (as ratings are accumulated)
2. A “b2c” (how’s that for a blast from the past) marketplace - I’d love to have multiple yard care companies bidding on my business, and be able to choose on the basis of reputation -that’s a powerful value proposition
3. A prospecting tool - for example, for local yard care companies to drum up more business

DoMyStuff needs to communicate their value proposition. From what I can tell, they are on the right track - they have a clear, explanatory business and domain name, a jargon free process that uses real, easy to understand words (Employer, Assistant, Task) instead of a made-up vocabulary, and a very streamlined site layout (from what I can see on the outside). Translate those points into a media campaign or a viral angle, and I think DoMyStuff could grow.

Suggestion: FreshBooks

Final note: One immediate opportunity that jumped out for me would be to integrate DoMyStuff with online accounting package FreshBooks such that Assistants could manage their businesses finances, taxes, etc. To do so would offer utility to Assistants, but more importantly would position DoMyStuff/FreshBooks as a complete accounting/marketing/transaction service - an end-to-end small business solution package.

craigslist, domystuff, ebay freshbooks

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Craigslist’s Billion Dollar Question

Craigslist is lauded by users, and feared by newspapers, job boards, and the classified industry. I’d like to join in the adulation too, and would if Craigslist/Winnipeg wasn’t a ghost town.

So, from way outside the Bay Area, the big question that I’m asking is:

Can Craigslist grow outside of its core markets without changing its business model?

Craigslist may be well-entrenched in its strongholds, but to live up to the fears of the print industry, the hopes of the Craigslist fanbase, and Craig’s own philanthropical goals, it will need to find success outside of a few urban oases.

Fortunately, I have a way to answer this question: the Craigslist Tracker. Every night, I’m going to add the number of listings from cities for which Craigslist had a dedicated subsite on April 3rd. Over time, I’m going to aggregate and chart that data to see where Craigslist is growing, where its stagnating, and where its shrinking - and then mash it up with other data (population), and start drawing conclusions. In the meantime, you can follow the excitement in Times New Roman glory.

Now - please take note: this is not a Craigslist attack or slam. This is (I hope) a valid perspective from someone for whom the 1000-pound Craigslist gorrilla hasn’t materialized and revolutionized my life; I’m wondering if its going to, or if its going to be someone else, or if I’ll be squinting through newspaper classifieds for the rest of my life. Given the abyssmal quality of online classifieds around here (arrrrghhhhh) (gaaack) I’m sincerely hoping Craigslist takes root. I think the results of this study may be of interest to the print industy and other classifieds sites as well.

The other note I’ll make is the arbitrary “billion” dollar question. Billions are, of course, unimportant to a company that eschews the profit motive. A less catchy title might be “Craigslist: Will it become the dominant venue for commerce outside of its present, core markets?”

That’s it. Follow along, and stay tuned for updates.

EDIT: I also wanted to add that while I find Alexa stats inherently sketchy, I found this 3 year graph of Craigslist interesting. I assume that the downward slant is the same overseas weighting issue that’s similarly aggravated other North American focused sites, but it was interesting nonetheless.

business, classifieds, craigslist techfold

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