DISQUS

Tony Hung · 2 years ago

I guess that's where you and I differ. ;)

Where one might see nuance to explain non-action, I see them succeeding in spite of it. I mean, I'd love to see some further case studies on the matter, but do you really think that people would use it less if there was one or two ads on it?

I think you can also look of it as a case of the few dominating the perception of the whole: there might be a few hardcore vocal users that might stop.

But I don't think for a second that most would. In fact, I think there's almost an expectation that all web concerns need to have some method of sustaining itself -- and having one or two ads surely meets this reasonableness standard, doesn't it?

Björn · 2 years ago

You can delete this comment if you want to. Just wanted to be a true Simpsons fanboy and inform you that the quote should actually be "Stupider like a fox" :-)

Mathew · 2 years ago

Thanks for the comment, Tony. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one :-) I think you're right that a couple of ads here or there wouldn't look all that out of place -- but it's a slippery slope once you go down that road, and craigslist is already making lots of money. What's wrong with that?

And Bjorn, thanks for letting me know the real quote. That's what's so great about the blogosphere.

Alex Beamish · 2 years ago

Well, not everyone wants to 'monetize' their going concern. Google held out as long as they could before finally doing an IPO .. and now they have worry about all of the SEC rules and regulations, hire platoons of lawyers, accountants and Public Relations experts and spend a lot of time making sure they're not talking about something that might freak out the market.

Craigslist doesn't need the money -- in my market (Toronto) it's free, and as the column states, Craig Newmark only starting charging for ads to cut down on spam. The fact that the business stayed afloat was almost a nice-to-have.

And you should never discount how faithful a user community can be. If a craigslist competitor showed up, it might work for a while, but it probably wouldn't steal any craigslist regulars unless it was easier to use, had better stuff or suddenly had half a million regular users.

Finally, there's my experience with craigslist -- I had a bunk bed that I wanted to get rid of, so I posted an ad, asking for just a six pack or a bottle of wine in exchange. I didn't go with the first person who responded, but with the young mother who wanted the bed for her son. I helped the father load the IKEA parts into his car, he handed over a bottle of Chilean wine, and we both felt good about the deal.

No, the opportunity would happen when craigslist goes and 'monetizes' itself with splashy ads and irritating pop-ups, and someone else quietly introduces a simple, text-only competitor. That's the kind of business I want to start. :)

Mathew · 2 years ago

Newmark admitted as much during his conversation with Weinberger that he's not a visionary and that Craigslist's now is not rocket science. Sure, he was in the right place at the right time but you could say that about a lot of entrepreneurial success stories.