Craigslist Question and Answer

Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonimc blog had a great Q and A with Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster of craigslist.com.

Q: What do you think of the challenges to Craigslist posed by Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites that have the ability to implement similar free classifieds (such as Facebook’s “Existing Marketplace“)?

JIM: As Mae West once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

CRAIG: If these sites genuinely help people connect, then that’s always a good thing.

Q: Do you care if something better comes along to replace Craigslist? Is your goal to enhance peoples’ lives, or to see Cragislist succeed? If something else came along that did a better job of enhancing peoples’ lives, would you acknowledge it as such and not fight it?

CRAIG: If something serves people better, they will vote for it with their clicks.

JIM: If there was a better Craigslist that was genuinely well-intentioned and sustainable, that would certainly make our lives easier.

Q: Are there any plans to redesign the site and update its look?

JIM: A wag once said that Craigslist has all the visual appeal of a pipe
wrench, which we took as a compliment. But we are always trying to make the site easier to use, more accessible, and even speedier.

Q: How has the international section picked up? Are there international cities that have picked up on the service successfully?

JIM: We hear that Craigslist is the cat’s pajamas in Canada, and it’s becoming more popular in cities like London, Paris, and Tokyo. Local language translations (duh!) should make our international sites more accessible.

View all questions and and answers here.