Craig’s List finally hits Johannesburg
Our friend Stoffel told us about Craig’s list mid-way through last year – at that stage Johannesburg wasn’t on the list so we didn’t tell you about it as it had little relevance – well now it is and we need to start using it!
Craigs LIst is basically like the whole worlds classifieds – a list of everything you need to find – it all started in San Francisco and now no city is a functioning…
city without being listed with Craig. You can rent a house in New York, sell a car in Stockholm and find a boyfriend in Sydney… or a dog.
It’s appeal is that it, like google, is simple, clean and easy to use. It is a refreshing change from the usual banner-infested website. You go guys… you see, we told you less is more.
BY THE WAY THERE IS ONE FOR CAPE TOWN TOO – go on, click on your city
JOHANNESBURG CRAIG’s LIST
CAPE TOWN CRAIG’s LIST
craigslist is about:
giving each other a break, getting the word out about everyday, real-world stuff.
restoring the human voice to the Internet, in a humane, non-commercial environment.
keeping things simple, common-sense, down-to-earth, honest, very real.
providing an alternative to impersonal, big-media sites.
being inclusive, giving a voice to the disenfranchised, democratizing …
being a collection of communities with similar spirit, not a single monolithic entity.
a little history:
Craig Newmark observed people on the Net, on the WELL and in Usenet, helping one another out. In early ’95, he decided to help out, in a very small way, telling people about cool events around San Francisco like the Anon Salon and Joe’s Digital Diner. It spread through word of mouth, and became large enough to demand the use of a list server, majordomo, which required a name.
Craig wanted to call it “sf-events”, but more knowledgeable friends suggested calling it “craigslist” to reinforce its personal and down-to-earth nature. He still finds it awkward that such a visible site is named after him, but he’ll get over it.
Over time, people started posting items on the list in different areas, jobs, stuff for sale, and apartments, the latter in response to San Francisco’s apartment shortage. Craig wrote software which could automatically add email postings to a site which became www.craigslist.org.
After being approached toward the end of ’97 about running banner ads, he decided to make craigslist non-commercial. Some things should be about money, some shouldn’t, and I make enough doing contract programming.” He was joined by other folks who proposed running face-to-face parties to make the sense of virtual community more physical, and who proposed creating a nonprofit foundation as part of craigslist.
Craig devoted himself full-time to craigslist in early 1999.
A lot of HR people and recruiters tell us that craigslist is the most effective job site in the San Francisco Bay Area… and now a February 2000 Forrester report confirms this.
What works
People tell us what they like about craigslist including:
Giving people a voice
A sense of trust and even intimacy
Consistency of down-to-earth values
Simplicity
No charges, except for job postings
Freshness of the material
No ads, particularly no banner ads
What is craigslist?
A: Local community classifieds and forums – a place to find jobs, housing, goods & services, social activities, a girlfriend or boyfriend, advice, community information, and just about anything else — all for free, and in a relatively non-commercial environment.
Q: How did craigslist get started?
A: In early 1995, by Craig Newmark, in San Francisco, California. A little more history is here.
Q: Is craigslist a nonprofit?
A: No, craigslist was incorporated as a for-profit in 1999.
Q: Is there a connection between craigslist and eBay?
A: eBay acquired 25% of the equity in craigslist from a former shareholder in august of 2004.
Q: Which parts of the site have the most page views?
A: 1) jobs 2) housing 3) for sale 4) personals 5) forums
