Craigslist

 Craigslist

Craigslist.org, the classifieds pioneer celebrates its tenth anniversary

 

 

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Without any advertising, Craigslist attracts 10 million Internet users per month. Launched in 1995 in San Francisco, the free classifieds site is now present in 175 cities and 34 countries.

 

Amassing a fortune does not interest Craig Newmark, his only goal is to help his fellow citizens build a social network. The founder of Craigslist is the antithesis of the Silicon Valley young guns of the 90s. And unlike many of them, he founded a company that continues to thrive based on the principles of sharing and trust. In 1995, this computer engineer created a mailing list to keep his friends informed of interesting events in the San Francisco area. Quickly, this network becomes a means of exchanging all kinds of classified ads. By force of circumstance, Craig Newmark launches the Craigslist site to which he devotes himself full time. 'We connect people for the purpose of doing business, but we also have a social impact,' says the 52-year-old as he drinks his morning coffee at a bar in his quiet San Francisco neighborhood. a local who has never used Craigslist to sell a car, find an apartment or a job, meet the love of his life or friends to play basketball. Some even claim to have found it all on Craigslist, plus a dog and a second-hand couch.

The end of everything free

 

In 1999, Craigslist ceased to be a non-profit organization and began to charge employers for posting job offers. Today, a classified ad costs them 75 dollars (61 euros) in San Francisco and 25 dollars (20 euros) in Los Angeles and New York. Everything else is free. After a long online debate, however, Craigslist is preparing to charge real estate agents on its New York site. 'We are still primarily free and will remain so, except where the online community allows us to do so and there is social justification for it,' promises Craig Newmark. turnover of 10 million dollars (8.1 million euros) in 2004. And growth is still there: 2.5 billion page views per month today against 1 billion a year ago year, without spending a dollar on advertising. A growth that the founder of Craigslist describes as 'slow, organic and authentic'. Uninterested in management, he proclaimed himself 'customer manager' and left the position of CEO to his right-hand man, Jim Buckmaster, since 2000 . Jim looked at the numbers on internet usage in this town,' says Craig Newmark. This is how Paris has had its own Craigslist since December 2004. After eight months of existence, the site is still far from equaling its elder. For example, the San Francisco site lists more than 32,000 real estate offers compared to 2,500 for the Paris site.