Gumtree

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This article is about the Gumtree online community. For other uses, see Gumtree (disambiguation).
Visitors to gumtree.com in 2008
Visitors to gumtree.com in 2008

Gumtree is a network of free online classifieds and community websites and is one of the top 20 websites in the UK.[1] Local sites exist for Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the USA. The main categories are flat share/house share and for rent, goods for sale, community, friends and dating, jobs and business services.

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[edit] History

Gumtree.com was started in London in March 2000[2] by Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall as a community site designed to connect people who were either planning to move, or had just arrived in the city, and needed help getting started with accommodation, employment and social opportunities.[citation needed] It was initially targeted at Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans but has since expanded to cover the broader communities in the cities where it operates.[citation needed]

Gumtree.com is now London's largest flatshare and job site and the UK's largest classifieds site overall according to Alexa. All listings are free, except for some job categories in London.[3]

In 2004, Gumtree came second in the Sage Business Awards.[4]

Gumtree was acquired by eBay in May 2005 for an undisclosed fee.[5][6]

In April 2007 Gumtree was extended with Hong Kong adverts, in May 2007 with Singapore, in August 2007 with the USA and in November 2007 with Polish classifieds[7]. June 2007 saw Gumtree's databases standardized to MySQL Enterprise "to Manage Explosive Growth."[8]

As of 2008, about 70 per cent[9] of the 2.8 million visitors[10] to the web site hail from the UK.

In 2008 Gumtree launched a photosharing community which has succeeded well on a virtual community market that is otherwise considered as rather full, primarily because it is aimed entirely on images, something that on other communities is more of a subsection to the main idea. http://www.thephotodiary.com/

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gumtree embraces Web 2.0 - 13 Jul 2007 - Computing
  2. ^ MySQL AB :: The Twelve Days of Scale-Out: Gumtree Standardizes on MySQL Enterprise to Manage Explosive Growth
  3. ^ http://www.gumtree.com/help/help_with_my_paid_job_ad Gumtree: help with my paid job ad(accessed 16 April)
  4. ^ http://www.gumtree.com/media/sage_business_awards2004.html
  5. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/19/ebay_gumtree/ The Register: eBay sitting on the old Gumtree.com Published Thursday 19th May 2005 11:38 GMT (Accessed 16 April)
  6. ^ Ebay buys Gumtree.com - Business - News - Manchester Evening News
  7. ^ BBC NEWS | Business | 'Gumtree for US' launched by eBay
  8. ^ MySQL AB :: The Twelve Days of Scale-Out: Gumtree Standardizes on MySQL Enterprise to Manage Explosive Growth
  9. ^ 68 per cent ofthe visitors come from the UK
  10. ^ Gumtree attracts 2.8 million visitors

[edit] External links