Competing with Craigslist

Another channel targeting tradition media. Are newspapers and magazines endangered?

Link: SiliconBeat: Competing with Craigslist.

A new report by the Classified Intelligence consulting firm drives home the profound effect the San Francisco-based Web site has had on its home turf.

Called "Competing with Craig,'' the collection of articles is aimed mostly at newspaper executives. Its centerpiece is a write-up by Bob Cauthorn, the former vice president of digital media at the San Francisco Chronicle who has never been afraid to speak his mind.

Cauthorn, who ran SFGate.com before leaving this year, illustrates how tiny Craigslist has stolen a massive chunk of the classified market from established media companies such as the Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune and Knight Ridder, parent company of the Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and this blog.

Cauthorn estimates that with job listings alone, Craigslist has taken $50 million to $60 million away from print newspapers.

Craigslist, which has only about 14 employees, is successful because it's easy-to-use, cheap and has generated strong emotional ties with its users, Cauthorn says. He added that it doesn't hurt that many people believe -- incorrectly -- that Craigslist is a non-profit organization.