My Aug 2005 Toledo Talk comment

http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/21/1325#6521

An e-mail I received about Toledo Talk:

"Why isn't there anything listed about jobs? Seeing as there are so many people seeking them and it appears that the Toledo Blade may be taking their paper offline completely, we need somewhere to access local job openings!"

Classfieds for jobs and whatever. How come Toledo doesn't have a Craigslist site?

"Craigslist.com, their classified adverts website has quietly emerged as one of the top 10 internet companies in the world in terms of page views, attracting more than 10 million unique visitors per month and with a presence in 175 cities across 34 countries."

Craigslists exist for Ann Arbor and the 3 big C's in Ohio. Why not Toledo?

More about Craigslist from the BBC story:

"More than five million new classified adverts per month generate 2.5 billion page views. Each month, the website runs a million new forums postings and publishes 160,000 job adverts."

Craiglist's impact on newspaper classifieds:

"Craigslist's rivals are not fooled by its apparently listless approach to business. Some analysts are already predicting that newspaper classified advertising could vanish entirely. Investment bank Goldman Sachs describes Craigslist as "a real menace" to newspapers, and warns that "all publishers face a significant threat to their profitability". Neither Craig nor Jim seem to lament the threat they pose to the future of local newspapers, however. "People trust conventional media less and less," says Craig."

July 27 opinion titled "Craigslist: the scourge of newspaper classifieds."

"Newspaper execs hate [Craig]. And for good reason. According to a London consulting firm, in its relatively short existence, Craigslist has "destroyed" approximately 75% of US newspaper classified pricing, rates on which just last year newspapers depended on for over 35% of their revenue."
posted by jr at 11:26 P.M. EST on Sun Aug 07, 2005 #