Craigslist is hardly remarkable. With a global reach, it brings in less than $100 million dollars from helped wanted and real estate classifieds on a cheap platform that, for the most part, hosts free private party ads. A single, regional U.S. metro daily newspaper brings in more. Indeed, the pure-play help wanted site monster.com, owned by Monster Worldwide, brought in $1.4 billion in revenue last year, a 21 percent increase over 2006. So why the continuing, breathless coverage of Craigslist? It’s a minor matter.

Craigslist is remarkable for the destruction it sowed with the wide-eyed assistance of credulous journalists.
Craigslist’s “non-profit ethos” is a testament of the mark’s persistent gullibility long after the scam is done.
I have a bridge for sale for the reporters who find his utopian model groovy.
What a laugh he must have at our expense…

I will like to know what you people actually sells

I think that as kijiji gets bigger it is lowering the value of craigslist. Once there are alternatives I think something becomes less valuable.

I think that the power and remarkable nature of Craigslist in comparison to other sites lies in its simplicity. Craig built Craigslist into a true competitor of other venues that are run by corporations, and has been very successful at filling in gaps where larger companies had failed.

And yes Kijiji has been launched as well as a hundred other sites, but Craig did it first and to date, he and his employees have done it best. It’s usable, affordable, and built in large part by the people. These three things (along with some others) is why Craigslist continues to grow at newsworthy speeds.

The reason people are upset by Craiglist’s lack of concern for money is because they still are able to make money while holding this attitude; and while serving people not stockholders. THAT attitude is most criminal in the Monitization of Everything world we live in.

Publishers underestimated Craigslist once with devastating results. Newspapers, which derive nearly 80 of their revenue from classified advertising, lost half or more of their lucrative classified business over the past five years, a loss that now threatens the economic stability of the industry.  So while, as my friend Mr. Greenman suggests, Craigslist may not be remarkable for the amount of money it takes from a single, newspaper market it is hardly an inconsequential matter for local publishers. Were it not for its mostly free, somewhat non-profit model, Craigslist could do greater damage. Now the question is whether publishers will make another, perhaps fatal mistake by missing the point of the Craigslist experience. Which is that “in a way anyone can do what we do,” according to the quirky Craig. That may not be entirely true, but it is enough true to crush a feudal business predicated on controlled distribution and an arcane classification system for categorizing commerce among and between people. It is the emergence of everyone as an online broker in an open, connected marketplace that warrants coverage, breathless or otherwise.

Publishers underestimated Craigslist once with devastating results. Newspapers, which derive nearly 80 of their revenue from classified advertising, lost half or more of their lucrative classified business over the past five years, a loss that now threatens the economic stability of the industry.  So while, as my friend John Greenman suggests, Craigslist may not be remarkable for the amount of money it takes from a single, newspaper market, it is hardly inconsequential. Were it not for its mostly free approach, Craigslist could do much greater damage. Now the question is whether publishers will make another, perhaps fatal, mistake by missing the point of the Craigslist experience: shifting trust in the digital marketplace. Craig Newmark may be a mensch, but he is THE trusted face of online classifieds, an always-on customer-service celebrity with the world’s biggest buddy list. “Trust is the new trust,” is how the enigmatic Newmark once explained it to me. What he means is that in an environment where anyone can do what he does, the authentic expression of trust is the key differentiator. That may not be entirely true, but it is enough true to crush a greedy, feudal business predicated on controlled distribution and an arcane classification system for categorizing commerce among and between people. It is the emergence of everyone as an online broker in an open, connected marketplace that warrants coverage, breathless as that may be