Craigs list:
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Craigslist
Craigslist Inc.
Type Private
Founded 1995
Headquarters San Francisco Bay Area, USA
Key people Craig Newmark founder, Jim Buckmaster CEO
Industry Internet
Products classifieds, forums
Revenue unknown
Employees 24
Website www.craigslist.org
Craigslist is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring
free classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing, personals,
for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets
categories) and forums sorted by various topics.
It a was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area.
After incorporation in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities
in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of November 2006,
Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities all over the
world.
As of 2007, Craigslist operates with a staff of 24[1] people. 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.), and paid broker apartment listings in New York
City ($10 per ad).
It serves over 5 billion page views per month, putting it in 34th place
overall among web sites world wide, 9th place overall among web sites in the
United States (per Alexa.com on December 29, 2006), to 10 million unique
visitors. With over 10 million new classified ads each month, Craigslist is
the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over
500,000 new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in
the world. [1] The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell
ads and community announcements, to personal ads and even erotic services.
Although the company does not disclose financial information, journalists
have speculated that its annual revenue approached $10 million in 2004.
In December 2006, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster appeared at the UBS Global
Media Conference in New York and perplexed Wall Street analysts by telling
them Craigslist has little interest in maximizing profit from the website
but instead prefers only to help users find cars, apartments, jobs and
dates.
Background
Having observed people (on the Net, The WELL, and Usenet) helping one
another in a friendly, social and trusting community way, and feeling a bit
isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig
Newmark decided to create something similar for local events.
The first postings debuted in early 1995. The initial technology encountered
some limits, so by June of 1995 majordomo had been installed and the mailing
list "craigslist" resumed operations. Most of the early postings were
submitted by Craig 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 Craig was a bit surprised
when people started using the mailing list for non-event postings. People
trying to fill technical positions found 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. So Craig 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 something else.
By early 1998 Craig still thought his career was as a software engineer
("hardcore java programmer") and that craigslist was a cool hobby that was
getting him invited to the best parties for geeks and nerds. In fall 1998
the name "List Foundation" was introduced and Craigslist started
transitioning to the use of this name. In April 1999, when Craig learned of
other organizations called "List Foundation", the use of this name was
dropped. About this time Craig realized craigslist was growing so fast it
would be best if he stopped working as a software engineer and instead
worked full time running craigslist. By April 2000 there were nine employees
working out of Craig's flat on Cole Street in San Francisco.[2] 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.[3]
Significant events
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. [2]
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" [3]. Today, all of the above listed boards (as
well as some others) lead to a disclaimer.
In 2003 Michael Ferris Gibson filmed the documentary 24 Hours on Craigslist.
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 June 2007, 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. [4]
Controversies
* In July 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle castigated Craigslist for
allowing ads from dog breeders, and thereby allegedly encouraging the
overbreeding and irresponsible selling of pit bulls in the Bay Area. [5]
Craigslist sued for hosting discriminatory housing ads
* In 2005, Craigslist received its share of controversy for not removing
listings for the sale of Live 8 tickets on its websites.
* In January, 2006, the San Francisco Bay Guardian published an editorial
criticizing Craigslist for moving into local communities and "threatening to
eviscerate" local alternative newspapers. Craigslist has been compared to
Wal-Mart, a multinational corporation that some feel crushes small local
businesses when they move into towns and offer a huge assortment of goods at
arguably cheaper prices. [6].
* In February 2006, Craigslist was sued by the Chicago Lawyers' Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law for allegedly allowing users to post
discriminatory housing ads in Chicago that violate the Fair Housing Act. The
case was subsequently dismissed. [7]
* On September 8, 2006, several sites [8] reported that Craigslist's "Casual
Encounters" forums in several cities had been compromised by individuals
posting fraudulent ads in order to obtain personal information about people.
This information, including email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses,
photos, etc. was publicly posted online.
* In April 2007, a vacant Tacoma, Washington, housing unit was gutted and
vandalized after a Craigslist ad asked people to "Come and take what you
want. Everything is free. Please help yourself to anything on the property.”
[9] According to the Seattle Times, court documents show that the ad was
placed by someone the owner knew.[10]
Sale of sex, drugs, stolen items
One of the most popular forums on Craigslist, the Erotic forum, features
many ads offering sex from people seeking compensation. Law enforcement
often uses Craigslist in decoy operations. Craigslist cooperates with law
enforcement agencies to stop its users from selling sex, drugs and stolen
items.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 *[11]
Webby: 2001, Best Community Site, by the Academy *[12]
Webby: 2001, Best Community Site, by the People's Voice *[13]
Cities
The first 14 city sites were: [4] (entire list)
* March 1995: San Francisco Bay Area
* June 2000: Boston
* August 2000: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, San Diego, Seattle,
Washington, D.C.
* October 2000: Sacramento
* April 2001: Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Vancouver
Vancouver, Canada, was the first non U.S. city included. London, England was
the first city outside North America.
In November 2004, Amsterdam, Bangalore, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo became
the first cities outside of primarily English speaking countries.
As of November 2006, more than 450 cities in 50 countries are represented.
[4]
Notes and references
1. ^ Alwayson Magazine, Winter 2007, p.33
2. ^ Archived page from Craigslist's About Us (April 19, 2000). Retrieved on
2007-02-08.
3. ^ april fool's rules. craigslist. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
4. ^ a b craigslist.org (November 2006). craiglist fact sheet. Retrieved on
2006-11-28.
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