Craigslist Unlikely to Add Multimedia
Craigslist probably won’t stream video resumes any time soon, despite YouTube’s influence, CEO Jim Buckmaster told a UBS media conference in N.Y. Thurs. Even if the 20-person company does roll out multimedia, it lacks the staff to review content before posting, he said. The company doesn’t lack money, but the only change users can expect is local language versions of some foreign sites, he said.
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A text-only site is “friendlier” to older browsers and more accessible for disabled visitors, suiting Craigslist’s “philanthropic” leanings, Buckmaster said. The company “puts needs and wants of users first and foremost,” not charging for most postings, he said. The company collects fees from job postings in 7 cities and from brokered apartment listings in N.Y. “Maximizing profit is not part of the equation… We do well by doing good, focusing only on improving the service for users,” Buckmaster said.
The company doesn’t monitor for content, relying on users to “flag” inappropriate material, Buckmaster said: “We've got 20 people serving 50 million customers per month.” The flag system “has been much more powerful -- that performance couldn’t be matched by a staff of any size,” he said.
The company’s “culture of doing our own thing and rolling our own when it comes to technology” extends to ad revenue potential, Buckmaster said: “We do get contacted thousands of times a year with inquiries,” most of which “we politely decline” despite “staggering” opportunities.
And don’t expect partnerships with or enhanced services from eBay, a 25% Craiglist stakeholder, Buckmaster said. The online auction house told the online classifieds site “they didn’t want to get involved unless [we] thought they could add value,” he said, adding that the companies collaborate on “antiscam, antispam.” At Cragslist, eBay’s mail-it-in sales and delivery procedure wouldn’t work, since “well over 96% of transactions are between people who live near each other and do meet face to face,” Buckmaster said: “As wonderful as [eBay’s] technologies are, they're just not relevant” to Craigslist.