Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by csharpminor on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @03:33PM (#13646872)

I actually think that Craigslist will come to see tough competition from Facebook Marketplace.

Facebook has the existing user base to get a network effect, has a much better UI, notifications, and solves for the worry of meeting someone who is a complete unknown.

Will be interesting to see if Facebook chips away at the Craigslist user-base over the next few years.

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by 1_2__3 on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @05:09PM (#13647697)

I'm skeptical FB will make inroads here. One of the bedrocks of FB, positive or negative, is that it connects together people who already know each other in some way. Craigslist is the polar opposite of that.

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by csharpminor on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:11PM (#13648184)

I don't think that argument it applicable to Facebook Marketplace. It allows you to see anything for sale in your region, not by friend circles. You may be thinking of Facebook groups that are used to buy and sell items?

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by wibbleywobbley on Wednesday February 15, 2017 @11:16AM (#13653038)

Agreed -- being able to 'check some out' before meeting them is a huge benefit and not something that Craigslist could easily replicate.

Also being able to directly message someone and (often) get a response close to immediately is great. Overall just a much better experience.

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by appleiigs on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @07:26PM (#13648669)

I think the greater risk for Craigslist is that categories that have standardize products will lose to niche markets. Maybe FB could implement a social aspect to the marketplace. For example, listing for cars for car people to comment on.

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by quadrangle on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @04:04PM (#13647173)

You're probably right, but that would be tragic.

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Re:Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable by csharpminor on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:15PM (#13648222)

Agreed that it would be tragic. After completing a few marketplace transactions though I think the writing's on the wall that Facebook's out to unseat CL. They've even put the app center-stage on the native nav bar.

CL has the benefit (and costs) of anonymity, as well as more diverse content. Hopefully they can keep the network effect going.

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