Craigslist
1381 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
Phone: (415) 566-6394
http://www.craigslist.org
Insights
Craigslist is the ultimate site built with user-generated content. It is gigantic and ever-changing. Typically, postings are removed after seven days if a user does not pull it down.
The most glaring omission is a value proposition. Perhaps that is because most of the postings are free, except for employment ads and Manhattan real estate postings. It's up to each person or company posting to develop a pitch that they think will sell. The great advantage that the site also offers is the ability to continually update the content to see what actually works.
Buyers must be aware that the site is full of scams and fraudulent claims that newspapers of the past tended not to have. Those papers are still alive, but not well. Some Valley luminaries such as Marc Andreesen are counting the days until the end of papers such as The New York Times. Arianna Huffington believes that the right business model must emerge in order to justify print media. The Associated Press has been struggling to see how it can generate value from content alone. It seems that FREE trumps trusted-sources of information, and AP needs to see what else it can add to create a superior experience for consumers of media. Lawsuits can't close their value gaps.
Benchmark
| Company name | Rating | i | ii | iii |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Craigslist |     |
20 | 10 | 20 |
| Housing Maps |  |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| SF Gate | |
10 | 0 | 0 |
| SF Indymedia | |
20 | 0 | 10 |
| Average |    |
13 | 3 | 8 |
Last updated: Monday, June 8, 2009