is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free
Classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing,
Personals , for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets categories) and
Forums on various topics.
The service was founded in 1995 by
Craig Newmark for the
San Francisco Bay Area . After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more
U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of November 2006, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities all over the world.
Its sole 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 ;
Los Angeles ;
San Diego ;
Boston ;
Seattle ;
Washington D.C. ,
Chicago ) and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).
The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements, to
Personal Ads and even erotic services.
In December 2006, Craigslist CEO
Jim Buckmaster appeared at the
UBS Global Media Conference in
New York and perplexed
Wall Street analysts by telling them Craigslist has little interest in maximizing profit from the website but instead prefers only to help users find cars, apartments, jobs and dates.
's
Sunset District ]]
Having observed people (on the Net, the
WELL , and
Usenet ) helping one another in a friendly, social and trusting community way, and feeling a bit isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local events.
The first postings debuted in early 1995. The initial technology encountered some limits, so by June of 1995
Majordomo had been installed and the mailing list "craigslist" resumed operations. Most of the early postings were submitted by Craig 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. Both subscribers and the number of postings grew rapidly. There was no moderation, so Craig was a bit surprised when people started using the mailing list for non-event postings. People trying to fill technical positions found 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. About this time community members started asking for a web interface. So Craig enlisted the help of volunteers and contractors to create a website user interface for the different mailing list categories. Needing a domain name for this, Craig registered "craigslist.org" and later "craigslist.com" to prevent the name "craigslist" from being used for something else.
By early 1998, Craig 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 fall 1998, the name "List Foundation" was introduced and Craigslist started transitioning to the use of this name. In April 1999, when Craig learned of other organizations called "List Foundation", the use of this name was dropped.
- 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 was added called "Gigs", where low-cost and unpaid jobs and internships can be posted for free.
- On 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 June 2007, there have been no substantive changes to the usefulness or non-advertising nature of the site (still no banner ads, still only charging for a few services to businesses).
In 2001, the company started the Craigslist Foundation, a
§ 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization that helps emerging nonprofit organizations get established, gain visibility, attract the attention of potential donors, and develop the skills and knowledge required for long-term success.
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.
- 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, Canada , was the first non U.S. city included.
London ,
England was the first city outside North America.
In November 2004,
Amsterdam ,
Bangalore ,
Paris ,
Sao Paulo and
Tokyo became the first cities outside of primarily English speaking countries.
As of September 2007, 450 cities in 50 countries are represented.
