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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Craigslist starts virtual
Honolulu bulletin boardANOTHER popular mainland phenomenon has entered Honolulu. Craigslist's Honolulu site, like its mother site based in San Francisco, is an online community bulletin board at honolulu.craigslist.org.
Anybody can post stuff for sale, jobs wanted or sought and just about anything else you'd find in a newspaper or other advertising section. Posting is free.
Manoa Valley Salon & Spa, an Aveda salon and day spa, is among the real estate for sale on the site. Owner Eileen Dervisevic listed the business, with nine years remaining in the lease, at $599,000.
Yesterday afternoon, the personals category had the most entries with more than 1,000 posts. It was followed by items for sale with more than 800 posts and housing at nearly 600 posts. Other categories include services, resumes and forums, as well as a blog by Craig Newmark, who calls himself founder and customer service representative.
The Honolulu site was launched in early November without any due diligence or market research.
"We're driven by what people in a community ask for and what they need and what they want, rather than studies or anything like that," he told TheBuzz. He was walking on a windy North Beach area street in San Francisco on his way to an evening of dramatic reading at Cafe Niebaum-Coppola.
"I asked the community what's appropriate to charge for, basically asking them to set our moral compass. They said it's OK to charge people for job postings; it's also OK to charge landlords and apartment brokers for apartment postings. So far, we're only charging for job postings in San Francisco."
Seekers of employment or housing and other posters pay nothing. Newmark doesn't foresee charging Honolulu employers or recruiters "for a very long time, if ever."
He didn't have hard numbers on how Craigslist may have cut into more traditional advertising venues.
"We hear allusions to it," he said. "The only thing we know is that we've helped out a lot of people looking for a place to live in Manhattan and we've done a really good job, and that (the postings) have affected some print media."
Manhattan brokers who charge a fee "post in our no-fee section. I spend a lot of time every week chastising them and ... even the less scrupulous brokers, when they see we're trying to level the playing field, they cooperate," Newmark said.
In San Francisco, the playing field has definitely shifted.
"I know it's definitely increased competition in the area and required a lot of the dailies and weeklies to help push their Web sites into being more user-friendly," said Jennifer Lachman, classified advertising manager for the free alternative weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian. It also has a Web site at www.sfbg.com.
"I'd like to think we're still competitive," she said.
Craigslist has not caused great concern for advertising sales in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
"I think the dilemma is that you already have some strong classified sources in the market," said Donnie Welch, vice president of advertising. "Anytime these places come in, you can take 'em seriously, but there's still the newspaper and the newspaper Web sites are still pretty strong here."
Craigslist has none of the press or other costs associated with traditional classified advertising venues.
"Our constraints are things like, how do we keep the site fast, how do we maintain a high level of customer service. That's what seems to matter to people," Newmark said, having arrived at his destination.
"We don't owe anybody any money; we're not making any attempt to get rich. We're not making that attempt, so we can afford to be a community service. It ain't bad. That's one of my personal cliches, but it's my cliche," said Newmark.
Making a playful reference to flirting, Newmark handed his phone to a woman who said "hello," and, after taking the phone back, he told her he was being interviewed by a major daily newspaper. "Maybe she'll be impressed," he said.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com