Craigslist

From Wikinfo

Jump to: navigation, search


Search for "Craigslist" on Wikipedia  • Wikimedia Commons • Wiktionary • Wikiquote • Wikibooks • Mediawiki Wikia • Wikitravel • Google Advanced Search • Yahoo Advanced Search • WorldCat Advanced Search • Amazon • Recent NY Times • Older NY Times.

For criticism see Criticism of Craigslist
Craigslist Inc.
TypePrivate
Founded1995 (Incorporated 1999)
FounderCraig Newmark
HeadquartersSan Francisco Bay Area, USA[1]
Area served450 cities in 50 countries
Key peopleJim Buckmaster (CEO)
Revenuenot published
OwnerCraig Newmark
Employees25
File:Craigslist.png
Screenshot of the main page on January 26, 2008
Websitecraigslist.org
Type of siteclassifieds, forums
Registrationoptional
Available language(s)English, French, German, Spanish
Launched1995
Current statusactive

Craigslist is a central network of online communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing, personals, erotic services, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets categories) and forums on various topics.

Contents

Description

The service was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of September 2007, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities in 50 countries.

As of 2007, Craigslist operates with a staff of 24 people.[2] Its sole source of revenue is paid job ads in select cities ($75 per ad for the San Francisco Bay Area; $25 per ad for New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago and recently Portland, Oregon) and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).

The site serves over nine billion page views per month, putting it in 47th place overall among web sites world wide, ninth place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on August 21, 2008), to over thirty million unique visitors. With over thirty million new classified advertisements each month, Craigslist is the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over two million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.[3] The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements, to personal ads and even erotic services.

In December 2006, at the UBS Global Media Conference in New York, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster told Wall Street analysts that Craigslist has little interest in maximizing profit, instead preferring to help users find cars, apartments, jobs, and dates.[4][5]

The company does not formally disclose financial or ownership information. Analysts and commentators have reported varying figures for its annual revenue, ranging from $10 million in 2004, $20 million in 2005, and $25 million in 2006 to possibly $150 million in 2007.[6][7][8] It is believed to be owned principally by Newmark, Buckmaster, and eBay (the three board members). eBay owns approximately 25%, and Newmark is believed to own the largest stake.[9][8][10]

Background

File:Craigslist01.jpg
Craigslist world headquarters in San Francisco's Sunset District

Having observed people helping one another in a friendly, social and trusting community way on the Internet, the WELL, and Usenet, and feeling isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local events.[11]

The first postings debuted in early 1995. The initial technology encountered some limits, so by June 1995 majordomo had been installed and the mailing list "craigslist" resumed operations. Most of the early postings were submitted by Newmark and were notices of social events of interest to software and Internet developers living and working in San Francisco.

Soon, word of mouth led to rapid growth. Both subscribers and the number of postings grew rapidly. There was no moderation, so Newmark was surprised when people started using the mailing list for non-event postings. People trying to fill technical positions found that the list was a good way to reach people with the skills they were looking for. This led to the addition of a category for "jobs". User demand for more categories caused the list of categories to grow. About this time, community members started asking for a web interface. Newmark enlisted the help of volunteers and contractors to create a website user interface for the different mailing list categories. Needing a domain name for this, Craig registered "craigslist.org" (and later, "craigslist.com", to prevent the name "craigslist" from being used for other purposes). About this time, Newmark realized that the site was growing so fast that he could stop working as a software engineer and work full time running craigslist. By April 2000, there were nine employees working out of Newmark's apartment on Cole Street in San Francisco.[12]

Newmark says that Craigslist works because it gives people a voice, a sense of community trust and even intimacy. Other factors he cites are consistency of down-to-earth values, customer service and simplicity. After first being approached about running banner ads, Newmark decided to keep Craigslist non-commercial. In 2002, Craigslist staff posted mock-banner ads throughout the site as an April Fools joke.[13]

Significant events for Craigslist

  • In January 2000, current CEO Jim Buckmaster joined the company as lead programmer and CTO. Buckmaster contributed the site's multi-city architecture, search engine, discussion forums, flagging system, self-posting process, homepage design, personals categories, and best-of-Craigslist feature. He was promoted to CEO in November 2000.[14]
  • In 2002, a disclaimer was put on the "men seeking men", "casual encounters", "erotic services", and "rants and raves" boards to ensure that those who clicked on these sections were over the age of 18. No disclaimer was on the "men seeking women," "women seeking men" or "women seeking women" boards. Responding to charges of discrimination and negative stereotyping, Buckmaster explained that the company's policy is a response to user feedback requesting the warning on the more sexually explicit sections, including "men seeking men".[15] Today, all of the above listed boards (as well as some others) lead to a disclaimer.
  • On August 1, 2004, Craigslist began charging $25 to post job openings on the New York and Los Angeles pages. On the same day, a new section was added called "Gigs", where low-cost and unpaid jobs and internships can be posted for free.
  • On August 13, 2004, Newmark announced on his blog that auction giant eBay had purchased a 25% stake in the company from a former principal. Some fans of Craigslist have expressed concern that this development will affect the site's longtime non-commercial nature, but it remains to be seen what ramifications the change will actually have. As of July 2008, there have been no substantive changes to the usefulness or non-advertising nature of the site (still no banner ads, still only charging for a few services to businesses).
  • In July 2005, Craigslist won the right to beam over 2 million classified ads into deep space (one light year away) in the near future after Buckmaster won an eBay auction for broadcasting time from the company Deep Space Communications Network. Newmark said, "We believe there could be an infinite market opportunity" in space.[16]
  • In April 2008, eBay announced it was suing Craigslist to "safeguard its four-year financial investment". eBay claimed that in January 2008, Craigslist executives took actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%". [17] In response, Craigslist filed a countersuit against eBay in May 2008 "to remedy the substantial and ongoing harm to fair competition" that Craigslist claims is constituted by eBay's actions as Craigslist shareholders. [18]

Related media

  • In November 2007, Ryan J. Davis directed Jeffery Self's solo show 'My Life On The Craigslist' at Off-Broadway's New World Stages.[19] The show focuses on a young man's sexual experiences on Craigslist and was so successful that it returned to New York by popular demand in February 2008.[20]

Nonprofit foundation

In 2001, the company started the Craigslist Foundation, a § 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps emerging nonprofit organizations get established, gain visibility, attract the attention of potential donors, and develop the skills and knowledge required for long-term success.

It accepts charitable donations, and rather than directly funding organizations, it produces "face-to-face events and offers online resources to help grassroots organizations get off the ground and contribute real value to the community".

Awards

  • NYPRESS: 2003, Best Local Website, by Manhattan Reader's Poll[21]
  • Webby: 2001, Best Community Site, by the Academy[22]

Cities

The first 14 city sites were: [10] (entire list)

Vancouver, British Columbia, was the first non U.S. city included. London was the first city outside North America.

In November 2004, Amsterdam, Bangalore, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo became the first cities outside primarily English-speaking countries.

As of May 2008, 500 "cities" in 50 countries are represented.[10] Note that some Craigslist sites cover large regions instead of individual metropolitan areas—for example, the U.S. states of Delaware and Wyoming, the Colorado Western Slope, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are among the locations with their own Craigslist sites.

References

  1. ^ "craigslist - Company Overview". Hoover's. Archived from the original.. http://www.hoovers.com/craigslist/--ID__129617--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  2. ^ "Can small businesses help win the war?". USA Today. 2007-01-02. Archived from the original.. http://www.usatoday.com/money/2007-01-02-terror-war-business-usat_x.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  3. ^ Lenhart, Amanda; Shermak, Jeremy (November 2005). "Selling items online" (PDF). Pew Research Center. Archived from the original.. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_SellingOnline_Nov05.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  4. ^ Davis, Wendy (2006-12-07). "Just An Online Minute… Stunning Wall Street, Shunning Profits". MediaPost. Archived from the original.. http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/?p=1394. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  5. ^ Hau, Louis (2006-12-11). "Newspaper Killer". Forbes. Archived from the original.. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/12/08/newspaper-classifield-online-tech_cx-lh_1211craigslist.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  6. ^ Lashinsky, Adam (2005-12-12). "Burning Sensation". Fortune. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/12/8363113/index.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  7. ^ Carney, Brian M. (2006-06-17). "Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising: Craigslist could make $500 million a year. Why not?". Wall Street Journal. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008531. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  8. ^ a b Thomas, Owen (2007-07-26). "http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008531". Valleywag. http://valleywag.com/tech/mythbusting/craig-newmark-filthy-rich-on-ebays-millions-283002.php. Retrieved on 2008-08-22. 
  9. ^ Sandoval, Greg (2007-07-03). "Craigslist grapples with competitor on board". CNET. http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-6194872.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  10. ^ a b c craigslist.org (November 2006). "craiglist fact sheet". Archived from the original.. http://www.craigslist.org/about/factsheet.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  11. ^ "craigslist factsheet". Craigslist. Archived from the original.. http://www.craigslist.org/about/factsheet.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  12. ^ "Archived page from Craigslist's About Us". 2000-04-19. Archived from the original.. http://web.archive.org/web/20000620192058/craigslist.org/aboutus.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-08. 
  13. ^ "april fool's rules". Craigslist. Archived from the original.. http://www.craigslist.org/about/aprilfools.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-08. 
  14. ^ "Jim Buckmaster—CEO & programmer". Archived from the original.. http://www.craigslist.org/about/management.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  15. ^ "Warning: men seeking men—Craigslist posts disclaimer for gay male personals". Southern Voice. 2005-08-31. Archived from the original.. http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=2296. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  16. ^ "Beam your craigslist ad into space". 2005-07-15. Archived from the original.. http://www.craigslist.org/about/space.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  17. ^ "EBay sues Craigslist ad website". BBC. 2008-04-23. Archived from the original.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7362221.stm. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  18. ^ "Craigslist strikes back at eBay". BBC. 2008-05-13. Archived from the original.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7399720.stm. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  19. ^ Hetrick, Adam (2007-10-17). "Jeffery Self to Offer My Life on the Craigslist at New World Stages Nov. 1". Playbill. Archived from the original.. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/111961.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  20. ^ "'My Life on the Craigslist' Returns Feb. 15, 22 & 29". Broadway World. 2008-01-23. Archived from the original.. http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=24539. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  21. ^ "Readers Poll Results—Best of Manhattan 2003 Readers Poll". New York Press. Archived from the original.. http://www.nypress.com/16/39/bestof/readerspoll.cfm. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 
  22. ^ "Best Web Sites of the Year Honored at the 5th Annual Webby Awards". The Webby Awards. July 18, 2001. Archived from the original.. http://www.webbyawards.com/press/press-release.php?id=23. Retrieved on 2007-09-06. 

External links

Official sites

News and media


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Craigslist.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of this Wikinfo article is available under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.

English | Română | edit

Retrieved from "http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Craigslist"
Personal tools