Entries from lucasgrindley.com blog | Exploring the new way for journalism tagged with 'Classifieds'
Let's welcome Tribune to modern classifieds industry
The very same Tribune Co. that has put itself up for sale is about to give away classifieds for free. Well, some classifieds, at least. Merchandise only. For a long time now, sites such as Craigslist have given away classifieds...
An Oodle of a fool
All I can say is, and you believed him? Oodle (created by Craig Donato) has a genius idea of combining all classified ads into one search. It’s simple. Just index all classifieds and scrape the important information into fields. Problem...
Craigslist founder: Newspaper classifieds have bigger worries than my site
Craig Newmark doesn’t accept the charge that Craigslist is a threat to newspapers. In fact, he says classified ad managers like what he’s doing. They pretty consistently like what we are about and our spirit, even though we are making...
Can't be the social network, so join the network
With TIME magazine’s recent pronouncement that we are all the person of the year because we participate in this alter-world of media, I’m reminded of something I hear from folks in the online journalism world far too often. It goes...
Is it OK to sabotage Craigslist?
Newspapers are losing millions of dollars to Craigslist. Lost revenue leads to layoffs and budget cuts. So, I have to ask, is it OK to sabotage Craigslist? Seriously. It’s an option. So we should at least discuss it. What’s stopping...
Craigslist combats spam with traditional business model
In earlier posts, I inferred that Craigslist’s only methods for eliminating racism and prostitution from its Web site are a flagging system and “education” pages. But it turns out there’s one other way – charging users. Here’s how the San...
Zollman on wasted effort
Listen to Peter Zollman, of the Classified Intelligence and the AIM Group, in an article he wrote for SNPA eBulletin yesterday: As audience migrates online at a remarkable pace, too many newspapers are positioning for the past. They’re trying to...
The 7th Step; Beyond CraigsList
Newspapers should take what they know about their kryptonite and use it against each other. Remember Rule No. 1. “If newspapers are going to survive, first some must die.” Maybe even more than most industries, newspapers spend time identifying and...
Surviving CraigsList, Part 6
6) Disrupt CraigsList Instead of learning from our failed newspaper brethren, let’s take a lesson from CraigsList itself. They stole our lunch by giving away something we couldn’t or weren’t willing to give away ourselves. It’s our turn to steal...
Surviving CraigsList, Part 5
5) Identify competitive advantages What CraigsList offers is not the same service as the newspaper. Newspapers have printed pages; CraigsList does not. That’s the one thing CraigsList can never give away: Printed listings, delivered directly to your neighbors’ homes. So...
Surviving CraigsList, Part 4
4) Cut expenses Even if the newspaper does start selling advertisers around its classifieds content, it’s probably never going to recoup all of the lost classifieds revenue. There are consequences to that realization. The Classifieds section must shrink. Just like...
Surviving Craigslist, Part 3
3) Identify the actual advertisers If core Classifieds are placed by readers, then who are the advertisers? Newspapers print all kinds of content. No one pays us to print stories. How did we make a business out of that free...
Surviving CraigsList, Part 2
2) Change paradigm The operators of CraigsList are not out to make a buck, they’re out to make a point. And this is their biggest weakness. Once newspapers accept their lesson, we can make more money than CraigsList. Here’s the...
How Newspapers Can Survive CraigsList
The six steps to overcoming a disruptive business model and creating a new one to live by. With CraigsList in your market, the time for hand-wringing and worrying is over. It’s time to do something. So far newspapers like mine...
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