Craigslist

Craigslist Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	1995 (incorporated 1999)
Founder	Craig Newmark
Headquarters	San Francisco Bay Area, United States[1]
Area served	570 cities in 50 countries
Key people	Jim Buckmaster (CEO)
Services	Web Communications
Employees	32
Website	www.craigslist.org
Alexa rank	33[2]
Type of site	Classifieds, forums
Advertising	None
Registration	Optional
Available in	English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
Launched	1995
Current status	Active
Screenshot Screenshot of the main page on January 26, 2008

Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, in 2006

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements – with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.

Description

Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, before becoming a web-based service in 1996. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four in 2001 and 2002 each, and 14 in 2003.

In 2009, Craigslist operated with a staff of 28 people.^[3] Its main 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 City, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon – and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).

The site serves over twenty billion page views per month, putting it in 33rd place overall among web sites worldwide and 7th place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on June 28, 2010), with over 49.4 million unique monthly visitors in the United States alone (per Compete.com on January 8, 2010). With over eighty million new classified advertisements each month, Craigslist is the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over two million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.^[4][5] The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements to personal ads. The adult services (previously erotic services) section, closed on September 4, 2010, has been a matter of controversy over claims that it promotes prostitution.^[6][7]

The site is notable for having undergone only minor design changes since its inception; even by 1996 standards, the design is very simple. Since 2001, the site design has remained virtually unchanged, and as of April 2010, Craigslist continues to avoid using images and uses only minimal CSS and JavaScript, a design philosophy common in the late 1990s but almost unheard of today for a major website.

In December 2006, at the UBS Global Media Conference in New York, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster told Wall Street analysts that Craigslist has little interest in maximizing profit, instead it prefers to help users find cars, apartments, jobs, and dates.^[8][9]

The company does not formally disclose financial or ownership information. Analysts and commentators have reported varying figures for its annual revenue, ranging from $10 million in 2004, $20 million in 2005, and $25 million in 2006 to possibly $150 million in 2007.^[10][11][12] It is believed to be owned principally by Newmark, Buckmaster, and eBay (the three board members). eBay owns approximately 25%, and Newmark is believed to own the largest stake.^[12][13][14]

Background

Craigslist headquarters in the Sunset District of San Francisco

Having observed people helping one another in friendly, social and trusting communal ways on the Internet via the WELL, MindVox and Usenet, and feeling isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local events.^[15]

The first emailed San Francisco event listings debuted in early 1995. The initial technology encountered some limits, so by June 1995 majordomo had been installed and the mailing list "Craigslist" resumed operations. Most of the early postings were submitted by Newmark 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. The number of subscribers and postings grew rapidly. There was no moderation and Newmark was surprised when people started using the mailing list for non-event postings. People trying to get technical positions filled found that 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. Community members started asking for a web interface. In need of a domain name for this, Craig registered "craigslist.org".

By early 1998, Newmark 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 the fall of 1998, the name "List Foundation" was introduced and Craigslist started transitioning to the use of this name. In April 1999, when Newmark learned of other organizations called "List Foundation", the use of this name was dropped. Around the time of these events, Newmark realized that the site was growing so fast that he could stop working as a software engineer and work full time running Craigslist. By April 2000, there were nine employees working out of Newmark's apartment in San Francisco.^[16]

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. Newmark was approached with an offer for running banner ads on Craigslist, but he decided to decline. In 2002, Craigslist staff posted mock-banner ads throughout the site as an April Fools joke.^[17]

Craigslist has a user flagging system to quickly identify illegal and inappropriate postings. When a certain number of users flag a posting, it is removed. Items are flagged for three categories: misplaced, prohibited, or spam/overpost.^[18] Although users are given a short description of each flagging category, users ultimately flag on their preference, prejudice, or misunderstanding of the Craigslist Terms of Use.^[19] To better understand and clarify flagging it is up to the users to define rules themselves in such places as the Unofficial Flagging FAQ^[20] and the flag help forum.^[21]

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.^[22]

• 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, but no disclaimer was put on the "men seeking women", "women seeking men" or "women seeking women" boards. As a response 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."^[23] Today, all of the above listed boards (as well as some others) have a disclaimer.

• 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 called "Gigs" was added, where low-cost and unpaid jobs and internships can be posted 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 September 2010^[update], there have been no substantive changes to the usefulness or non-advertising nature of the site—no banner ads, charges for a few services provided to businesses).

• In April 2008, eBay announced it was suing Craigslist to "safeguard its four-year financial investment." eBay claimed that in January 2008, Craigslist executives took actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%."^[24] In response, Craigslist filed a counter-suit against eBay in May 2008 "to remedy the substantial and ongoing harm to fair competition" that Craigslist claims is constituted by eBay's actions as Craigslist shareholders.^[25]

• On May 13, 2009, Craigslist announced that it would close the erotic services section, replacing it with an adult services section to be reviewed by Craigslist employees. This decision came after allegations by several US states that the erotic services ads were being used for prostitution.^[26] Postings to the new category cost $10 and can be renewed for $5.

Craiglist website as it appeared on September 4, 2010 with black censored box in place of Adult Services

• On September 4, 2010, Craigslist closed the adult services section of its website for US cities, replacing its front page link with the word "censored" in white-on-black text, after the site received criticism and complaints from attorneys general that the section's ads were facilitating prostitution and child sex trafficking.^[7] It is unsure if Craigslist completely removed the adult services section. The link was not active. The adult services section link was active in countries outside of the U.S.^[27]

• Matt Zimmerman, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, "Craigslist isn't legally culpable for these posts, but the public pressure has increased and Craigslist is a small company. Brian Carver, attorney and assistant professor at UC Berkeley, said that legal threats could have a chilling effect on online expression. "If you impose liability on Craigslist, YouTube and Facebook for anything their users do, then they're not going to take chances. It would likely result in the takedown of what might otherwise be perfectly legitimate free expression."^[28]

Related media

• In 2003, Michael Ferris Gibson filmed the documentary 24 Hours on Craigslist.

• In November 2007, Ryan J. Davis directed Jeffery Self's solo show My Life on the Craigslist at Off-Broadway's New World Stages.^[29] The show focuses on a young man's sexual experiences on Craigslist and was so successful that it returned to New York by popular demand in February 2008.^[30]

• In the 81st Academy Awards, host Hugh Jackman performed the opening number along with the 'Craigslist' dancers (a reference to the "recession", and hence a joke that a casting call had been put on the CraigsList instead of using the usual expensive Hollywood casting techniques).^[31]

• Nerdcore hip-hop musician Schäffer the Darklord recorded a song called "Craig's List" for his album Mark Of The Beast.

• On June 16, 2009, "Weird Al" Yankovic released a song entitled "Craigslist" which is a parody of the website, done in the style of The Doors.

Reception

• In July 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle criticized Craigslist for allowing ads from dog breeders, and thereby allegedly encouraging the over breeding and irresponsible selling of pit bulls in the Bay Area.^[32]

• 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 lower prices.^[33]

Nonprofit foundation

In 2001, the company started the Craigslist Foundation,^[34] a § 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects people to the resources they need to strengthen communities and neighborhoods. It offers free and low cost events and online resources to promote community building at all levels. 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".

Since 2004, the Craigslist Foundation has hosted an annual conference called Boot Camp, an in-person event that focuses on skills for connecting, motivating and inspiring greater community involvement and impact. Boot Camp has drawn more than 10,000 people since its inception. The latest Boot Camp event was held on Saturday, August 14, 2010.^[35]

The Craigslist Foundation is also the fiscal sponsor for Our Good Works, the organization that manages AllforGood.org, an application that distributes volunteer opportunities across the web and helps people get involved in their communities.^[36]

Cities

The first 14 city sites were:^[14] (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, British Columbia was the first non-U.S. city included. London was the first city outside North America.

In November 2004, Amsterdam, Bangalore, Paris, São Paulo, and Tokyo became the first cities outside primarily English-speaking countries.

As of May 2008^[update], 500 "cities" in 50 countries have Craigslist sites.^[14] Some Craigslist sites cover large regions instead of individual metropolitan areas — for example, the U.S. states of Delaware and Wyoming, the Colorado Western Slope, the California Gold Country, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are among the locations with their own Craigslist sites. As of 24 September 2009 (2009 -09-24)^[update], there are 695 unique Craigslist sites that can be posted to.

Languages

In March 2008, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese became the first non-English languages supported.^[37]

See also

• Craigslist controversies and illegal activities by users

References

External links

• Craigslist homepage
• company blog
• Craigslist Foundation