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Meeting People on Craigslist

The Internet, and Craigslist in particular, is an excellent way to meet people. Whether the purpose of meeting people is to network, find friends who share a similar interest, find romantic matches or discuss important issues there is a place on Craigslist to help you find the people you are seeking. Although Craigslist can help people to meet others in a number of ways, this article will focus exclusively on networking on Craigslist and using Craigslist to find potential romantic dates. There will also be a brief section specifying a few precautions individuals should take when interacting with others online.

Why Craigslist is Free

Although the founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark, was approached in 1997 about the possibility of running banner advertisements on Craigslist to generate a profit, he made the decision to keep Craigslist as a noncommercial website. Even after Craigslist was converted to a for profit organization commercialization did not infiltrate the website. The points listed in the Craigslist mission statement demonstrate why Craigslist has remained noncommercial:

• Giving each other a break, getting the word out about everyday, real -world stuff
• Restoring the human voice to the Internet, in a humane, non-comm ercial environment
• Keeping things simple, common-sense, down-to-earth, honest, very real
• Providing an alternative to impersonal, big-media sites
• Being inclusive, giving a voice to the disenfranchised, democratizi ng...
• Being a collection of communities with similar spirit, not a single mon olithic entity

Craigslist's Web Traffic

Craigslist is booming.

Traffic to the core Craigslist.org domain, which also serves as the local San Francisco site, has spiked dramatically over the past weeks. Hitwise reports the marketshare of total U.S. Internet visits to the craigslist.org domain increased 62 percent for the week ending July 23, 2005 versus the same period one year ago. For the week ending June 25, 2005 versus a year ago (week ending June 26, 2004), Craigslist's market share was up 73 percent.

Craigslist's local sites are also gaining market share. Hitwise reports for the 60 most popular local Craigslist domains, collective marketshare of visits rose 98 percent for the week ending June 25, 2005 versus same period a yearago.

For the week ending July 23, 2005 versus week ending July 24, 2004 the fastest-growing city sites for Craigslist were local sites, Fresno, Calif. (+174 percent), Providence, R.I. (+244 percent), Miami(+141 percent), and Dallas (+318 percent).

Craigslist's success has come at the expense of incumbent local media. According to a December 2004 study authored by Bob Cauthorn, former digital media VP at SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle's site, Craigslist has cost between $50 and $65 million annually in lost revenues from employment ads for San Franciso Bay Area newspapers and their online divisions.

Not only are more users going to Craigslist sites, they search "craigslist" more on the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search). According to Hitwise, across the major search engines, "craigslist" is now the 30th most popular search term. For the week ending June 25, 2005, the search query "craigslist" accounted for .025 percent of all searches, up from .011 percent for the week ending July 3, 2004.

In reaction to competition from free Craigslist listings, many newspaper publishers' online editions of such as Tribune and Knight Ridder have begun to offer free classifieds in some or all categories.

"Craigslist may appear barebones, but its utility and ability to tap into local communities and marketplaces is evidenced by rapid audience growth in existing and new local markets," said Bill Tancer, Hitwise vice president of research, , in a statement. "Should Craigslist successfully scale and penetrate new markets like it did San Francisco, one lingering question is sure to manifest: how will established purveyors of classifieds listings, particularly local newspapers, adapt and compete?"