Craigslist

Craigslist is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, housing, personals, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs and resumes categories) and forums sorted by various topics.

It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. After incorporation in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more cities in 2000 (all of them in the U.S.), four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of June, 2006, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 310 cities in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Asia, Israel, and Latin America.

As of 2006, Craigslist operates with a staff of 21 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 and Los Angeles), and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).

It serves over 4 billion page views per month, putting it in 30th place overall among Internet companies world wide, 7th place overall among Internet companies in the United States (per Alexa.com on July 8, 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. ^* 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.

Background

Having observed people (on the Net, The WELL, and Usenet) helping one another in a friendly, social and trusting community way, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local San Francisco events. Soon word-of-mouth and popular demand led to the addition of new categories, and "the list" became large enough to demand the use of a list server (majordomo), which required a name. Friends started calling it "Craig's List", and the name stuck. Craigslist was once renamed listfoundation.org for a brief period in 1999.

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. ^*

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. ^*

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 is 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" ^*.

In 2003, a documentary was made, 24 Hours on Craigslist by Michael Ferris Gibson.

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.

In July 2005, Craigslist beamed over 2 million classified ads into deep space (one light year) in the near future, after Buckmaster won an eBay auction for broadcasting time on Deep Space Communications Network. Newmark said, "We believe there could be an infinite market opportunity" in space. ^*

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. ^*

In 2005, Craigslist received its share of controversy for not removing listings for the sale of Live 8 tickets on its websites. ^*^*

In 2006, Craigslist started to charge a $10 fee for brokers posting rental apartment listings in New York City to address a curtail overposting and bait-and-switch practices.

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. ^*

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.