Receive the weekly sampler of posts and "Resource of the Week".
Subscribe »

Enter your
email address:

My Account »


Bookmark and Share

Testimonial?
If you find ResourceShelf useful, please supply a testimonial »








Home > ResourceBlog > Article

« All ResourceBlog Articles

 

Bookmark and Share   \"Feed\"

Wednesday, 2nd September 2009

The Craigslist Credo: More Minimal!

From the Article:

It looks so simple. A database, a web interface, a bit of code: you now have an online classified advertising site. And here’s the strange thing. It doesn’t just look simple. It is simple. A sincere, dedicated effort to provide free or very cheap classifieds listings in a local market is probably doomed to succeed.

Source: Wired

See Also: Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess (via Wired)

But if you really want to see a mess, go visit the nation's greatest apartment-hunting site, the first likely choice of anybody searching for a rental or a roommate. On this site, contrary to every principle of usability and common sense, you can't easily browse pictures of the apartments for rent. Customer support? Visit the help desk if you enjoy being insulted. How much market share does this housing site have? In many cities, a huge percentage. It isn't worth trying to compare its traffic to competitors', because at this scale there are no competitors.

Each of these sites, of course, is merely one of the many sections of craigslist, which dominates the market in facilitating face-to-face transactions, whether people are connecting to buy and sell, give something away, rent an apartment, or have some sex. With more than 47 million unique users every month in the US alone—nearly a fifth of the nation's adult population—it is the most important community site going and yet the most underdeveloped.

See Also: Craigslist Expands Coverage of Cities by 25 Percent (via NY Times)


Category:

Views: 193



blog comments powered by Disqus

« All ResourceBlog Articles

 

Read about the FreePint FamilyThe FreePint Family is a family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success.

'FreePint... provides most of my professional development because it won't come through work and [other resources] just don't cut it.'

Read about the FreePint Family »


Visit the FreePint ShopFreePint Shop: FreePint sells reports, resources and subscription products to support your information work and information-related decisions.

Latest: FreePint Volume: Critical Insight on Social Media 2012 (01 Feb 2012) | FUMSI Report: Folio on Conferences and Continuing Professional Development (26 Jan 2012) | FreePint Research Report: Information Governance Policies and Priorities (25 Jan 2012) | Docuticker Report: DocuTips on Health Literacy (19 Jan 2012) | VIP Magazine: 98 (18 Jan 2012)

Browse the FreePint Shop »


FUMSI ForumFUMSI Forum: Do you have a research question? Post it to the FUMSI Forum, where professionals share Q&A and useful tips on how to Find, Use, Manage and Share Information. It's free.

Latest FUMSI Forum postings: Most Shared Content on Finding Information (09 Feb 2012) | Times are changing - a FUMSI Editorial (09 Feb 2012) | [TIPPLE] eBook resources - Share (07 Feb 2012) | Most Shared Content on Sharing Information (01 Feb 2012) | Our own worst enemy? - a FUMSI Editorial (01 Feb 2012)

Visit the FUMSI Forum and post »


VIP LiveWireVIP LiveWire: Offers commentary on emerging news stories of interest to premium content users, vendors and industry insiders.

Latest VIP LiveWire postings: Social media and BRIC - new report (08 Feb 2012) | Reuters takes the social media pulse (08 Feb 2012) | How to deal with the tech-savvy customer? (08 Feb 2012) | More ways for employers to poke around (01 Feb 2012) | Trust your supplier? Check with the Armadillo (01 Feb 2012)

Visit the VIP LiveWire »






Subscribe

Subscribe to the ResourceShelf Newsletter and receive the weekly sampler of posts and Resource of the Week.

Find out more »

ResourceShelf sponsored by:

Article Categories

All Article Categories »

Archive

All Archives »