Craigslist

» go to craigslist.org now (it still works)

~ what it is ~

i should say upfront: craigslist never really had a turkish presence. there is technically an istanbul section but it is mostly empty. so i never used craigslist for what it is actually for, which is local classifieds. but every time i traveled to the us between 2008 and 2018, i used it. apartments in san francisco, an old camera in portland, a ride from los angeles to san diego. each time the site looked exactly the same as last time. that consistency is part of the point.

Craigslist is a classified ads website. apartments for rent, used cars, jobs, things people are giving away, missed connections, services, and a few categories that are now gone. it started in 1995 as an email list run by craig newmark in san francisco. it became a website in 1996. it has been profitable since 1999. it has barely changed in look since 1998.

the site is plain text and tables. no javascript on most pages. no ads. categories are sorted alphabetically. the design is what you would call brutalist if you wanted to be polite. it loads instantly because there is nothing to load. that is part of why it works.

~ the page that has not changed since 1998 ~

go to craigslist.org now. the homepage is a list of cities. click on a city. you get the same layout that has been there since 1998. blue links on a white background. the categories down the left side. the date selector at the top. that is it. they have made very small visual updates over the years but the gestalt is identical.

this is on purpose. craig newmark and jim buckmaster (the long-time CEO) have always said that the simplicity is the point. people use craigslist because they want to find an apartment quickly, not because they want to admire the design. every redesign in this category, going back to twenty years of competitor sites, has lost more users than it gained. craigslist not redesigning is the smart move.

~ how it stayed profitable ~

the trick is asymmetric pricing. most listings are free. you can post a free ad to sell your couch, advertise your services, or look for a roommate. but a few categories are paid. job postings in major cities cost money, often a lot of money. apartment listings in new york cost money. car dealerships pay to post.

this generates millions of dollars a year on basically zero infrastructure. the company has fewer than 50 employees. the servers are not particularly large. the profit margin is very high. the model has been the same since around 1999. craig newmark has consistently refused to raise prices on free listings or add advertising. the company stays small on purpose.

~ why it killed local newspapers but not itself ~

classified ads were how american newspapers stayed profitable for the entire 20th century. those ads paid for the journalism. craigslist took the classifieds, made them free for users, and killed the newspaper revenue model in the process. studies have estimated that craigslist cost newspapers about 5 billion dollars in lost revenue between 2000 and 2007.

the same logic should have killed craigslist. you would expect a competitor to come along, take craigslist's listings, make a slicker site, and steal the audience. several have tried. nobody has succeeded. the network effect on local classifieds is genuinely strong. once craigslist is the place to look in your city, the next listing site cannot get the same liquidity. the listings are why people show up. people are why the listings show up. it is a knot nobody has untangled.

~ why it still matters ~

craigslist is the canonical example of small, profitable, intentionally limited. the company could be ten times larger if it wanted. it does not want. craig newmark has consistently chosen "stay useful" over "grow." the site is now part of the basic infrastructure of how americans rent apartments and sell used couches. that is a public good, even if it has been a private public good for a long time.

the deeper lesson is about the value of not changing. craigslist had the option to redesign multiple times. it had the option to add features. it had the option to monetize more. it did not. that consistent refusal to do the obvious-but-wrong thing is rare in tech. most companies would have raised more money, hired more, redesigned, lost the audience. craigslist did not. that is why it is still here.

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