Topic 39 of 52: craigslist
Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (16:44) |
Paul Terry Walhus (terry)
Craiglist.com
http://craigslist.com
They do
classifieds ads
discussion boards
culture of trust
pesonality
someehow, p;eole feel connected with each other
11 responses total.
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 1 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (16:47) * 12 lines
Craig Newmark gave a talk at SXSW Saturday March 13
"The site ain't about me."
Half a billion page views per month
arond 4 million unique visitors per month
Alexa: around 128th biggest in the world
23 cities
job postings in SF sole source of revenue
Forrester Research "most efficient job site"
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 2 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (16:49) * 10 lines
Charge job posters in SF Bay area for job postings.
Recruiters, considering NY and LA.
State of the web
People increasingly media saavy
"Human voice" vs. "Corporate voice"
AOL, MSN, Yahoo dominating net
A few small alternatives to big media
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 3 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (16:54) * 25 lines
New trends
Blogs
Social Software
Electoral Process changing
Legislative Process changing
Moveon, consumers union, Dean campaign
You can go to consumers union site and vote on things.
They do mass email campaigns to state or federal officials.
They do pay attention if the officials thing you're a constituent.
http://escapecellhell.org
The mundane is what really seems to matter in our lives.
Trust Culture
culture of trust, earned again every day
high quality postings
I take it personally
Privacy, due process, law enforcement issues
Community feedback results in changes
Excellent customer service
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 4 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:00) * 16 lines
Customer Service
customers great at helping each other out
first line wants to do it right, need management support
almost all disgruntled customers help you out
engaged with customers, not "black hole"
Community Self Moderation
"falg for review" in ads
automatic removal with enough flags
democratic
responsive
hundreds of emails, phone calls per day
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 5 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:04) * 17 lines
Getting 1.8 million ads per month
Starting to use Social Networking Technology.
Forum self moderation
Problems: Scammers
fake cashiers' checks
fake air tickets
deposits for nonexistent apartments
real estate address harvester
money wiring scams
offshore operators
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 6 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:10) * 25 lines
Problems Spam
screen scraping / address harvesting
spam sent to posters
anonymous email relay
email address obfuscation
call spammers, get many small ones to stop
flame bating in forums
people try to start fights
personality fights
Problem: brokers in NYC
brokers posting general apartments section
people in NYC want them in their own section
working on it ... work in progress
I call them to discuss it
Also unethical brokers, apartment list vendors
Big deal in Manhattan.
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 7 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:26) * 40 lines
Trust
Treat people like you want to be treated
Earn trust again every day
Moral compass?
The Accidental Populist
Craig Newmark
mailto://craig@craigslist.org
http://cnewmark.com/echo.chamber.ppt
Justin Hall: what happens if you get hit by a bus?
orchid, friendster, etc doig social networking and are you headed there?
"Casual encounters is great stuff" - Justin Hall
"If I get hit by the N Judah, other people are doing all the specialized stuff.
Onlpy the customer service people would be overloaded . . . not a big deal."
Social Networking - trying to locate most esteemed people.
Looking at orcut and http://friendster.com
Orson Scott Card and Bruce Sterling talk about societies run like that,
by people with the most esteem.
Site has been up 9 years.
Molly Steenson, whose Maxi changed Craigs life, asked about the next 8 years.
Getting requests from Madrid and Paris.
London "toothing" look that up, bluetoothing
Adding image hosting.
Want to have Craigslist where it fits in with cities culture.
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 8 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:28) * 20 lines
Re-emergent democracy in the US
And "idea whose time has come"?
Dean campaign
Ferment in blogosphere
Lots of smart and eloquent writers
People of good will connecting via net
?
Echo Chamber
people preaching to the choir?
votes?
results?
In trenches
interact w/ tens of thousands of indvididuals some need medication
line workers more in touch than management
massed of people disillusioned with corporate culture and with govt, given up
Trust works
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 9 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:32) * 24 lines
You kids, get off my lawn
Time to do something
not as smart or eloquent as bloggers
... no time yet
four experiments underway
311
customer service for local govt
increased transparency and improvement
increased job satisfaction and respect for city line workers
eventual "reinvention of government"
accountability / threat to middle management
Mideast Peace
OneVoice for moderates on both sides
http://silentnolonger.org
Westbank microfinance http://jazoor.org
Personal efforts to get kids eye exams and glasses
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 10 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Mar 13, 2004 (17:44) * 15 lines
effective email campaigns
you fill in advocacy form for/against bill including address
conventional poltics?
everyone gets a place at the table
Dean? Kerry?
SF Democratic Clubs?
(no personal interest in office)
Party at frog design, Congress at 8th on West side.
804 Congress
http://isismultimedia.com
Topic 39 of 52 [vc]: craigslist
Response 11 of 11: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Nov 25, 2004 (09:37) * 55 lines
craigslist
Website: craigslist.org
Summary: With its simple, all-text user interface, craigslist demonstrates that a social website is really all about people and process, not tools and technology. Its focus is an extensive classifieds section, organized by location. It also offers event listings and discussion forums on some 50 different topics, including arts, the job market, politics, and more.
Membership: craigslist does not require membership in order to participate. As of November 2004, they receive 6 million unique visitors and 3 million posts (events, classifieds, and message forums) a month. They get over 1 billion page views per month.
Craigslist was founded in San Francisco, and the San Francisco Bay Area is still the largest local community (and the default view at craigslist.org), followed in size by New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington. Several non-U.S. cities are now listed, including London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Tokyo.
Launched: Founded in 1995 as an email list, craigslist moved to the web later that year. Craig Newmark, the founder, started working full-time on craigslist in 1998.
Founders: Craig Newmark is a software engineer with over 25 years experience, including 18 years at IBM. In 1994, he was working as a computer security analyst at Charles Schwab and started an email list of local events as a way to improve his social life. He is extremely active in progressive community activism.
Corporate Overview: Newmark sits today as Chairman of the Board and is a major shareholder. He also still oversees the day-to-day customer service operations. His official title is “Founder, Chairman, Customer Service Representative”, and that emphasis on customer service is one of the major reasons why craigslist is so successful.
Jim Buckmaster moved from CTO to President/CEO in November 2000. He previously served as Director of Web Development for Creditland (now defunct) and Quantum Corporation.
In August 2004, a former craigslist employee sold his 25% share in the company to eBay. While it was an unanticipated move, it has turned into a welcome one. According to Newmark, "The deal ...allows us to operate without changing our mission of community service, while making available to us expertise and resources we could really use."
For more on the eBay deal, see Craig's blog entry and special forum on the topic.
Fees: There are no membership fees on craigslist, and most classified listings are free, with the exception of job postings, which currently cost $75 in San Francisco and $25 in Los Angeles and New York. Job postings are currently free for other cities, but that will likely change as they increase in popularity.
They have considered charging for certain other types of listings, such as rentals by landlords or apartment complexes. However, craigslist is not under much pressure to do so. While craigslist does not publicly disclose revenues, they admit that they are profitable. Estimates on their revenue range from $7 million to $25 million, and the company employs only 15 people.
Description: Newmark resists attempts to elevate it to that level, but the fact of the matter is that craigslist really does embody many of the early ideals of the Internet, which Newmark refers to as "nerd values". They work off the assumption that people are basically trustworthy and work hard to foster a culture of trust within the community.
While they do allow anonymous postings, readers can register for a permanent user name, or "handle". Registered users are denoted by simply bold-facing their user name. Many of the forums can only be posted to by registered users, so there is an incentive to register. Registered members can also create a mini-profile for use in the forums.
craigslist does not have formal moderators, but they do have a system for users to report suspected scams and abusive or illegal behavior. Two or more flags puts it directly in front of Newmark personally for review. During work hours, such posts are usually gone within an hour.
The most common problem or frauds that Craig reports he sees:
People from third world countries trying to sell high-end electronics, which either do not exist or are stolen.
Nigerians offering to buy things with fake cashier’s checks.
During the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, an organized group of Bush supporters were very aggressive about promoting their views, promoting certain anti-Kerry rumors, and rebutting opposing views on all the discussion boards relevant to the elections.
In order to protect people's privacy, craigslist has a system for routing responses to classified ads through the system, so that the poster's contact information is never exposed publicly.
The topics of discussion on craigslist are extremely diverse and, for the most part, uncensored. For example, they do not allow posts promoting prostitution or free pit bulls. However, be prepared that pretty much anything else goes in the forums.
While the classifieds are certainly intended for people to sell their services and merchandise, Newmark recommends avoiding "marketese". "Write like you're talking to people you know," he says. "Use a human voice, not a corporate voice."
Recommendation: If you're looking for exclusivity, craigslist isn't the place -- it's a populist community. If you're bothered by frank talk, stay off the discussion forums. Even with that caveat, it's still a highly useful site for just about anybody. Forrester Research named it the most effective job recruiting site in 2000. Its all-text user interface and its full-text search capabilities make it extremely fast and simple to use.
The discussion forums can be a bit chatty, and often a bit obscure. But if you have anything to buy, sell, or trade, or an event to announce, craigslist should be one of your first stops.
Last updated: November 14, 2004
compliments of Scott Allen
http://www.onlinebusinessnetworks.com/online-social-networks-guide/craigslist.php
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