Thing 6 - Craigslist Rocks

Somebody has recently told me that Craigslist became a place to look for a job, especially in the legal field, so I tried to check the theory myself. My first emotion was "wow, the thing grew big since I've last seen it." It is indeed full of legal and paralegal postings and many other jobs for that matter (save for librarians, who seem to still like their special library places to advertise openings). Who needs those monster boards and job banks when craigslist got it all? I like the simple nature of craigslist, it's universal appeal and white/black/blue appearance, volunteer and free stuff ads, and mostly the local touch. It is very human compared to other sites: Boston.com has an authority of a big metro newspaper, which makes you feel being watched while you fight that nagging question in your head "does anything still read Globe classifieds?" I think Craig's secret is to make you and your privacy feel respected. Other sites tend to bombard you with ads, questions, and demands for registrations, and you often feel distracted and tricked by imagery and animation. After all, you search for classifieds for a reason.

I was genuinely surprised by the growth of the Graigslist "for sale" section. No wonder eBay wants its part of the company! I think it used to be more of a free giveaway "students leaving their furniture to others" kind of service (I felt a pang of nostalgia reading its "Lost and Found" section), but money talks here too. As part of the experiment, I decided to sell some baby things here (never got around to do it on eBay) - will see and report how the experiment works.