While top-heavy and dollar-intensive city information Web sites likes Sidewalk struggle to make a dent in the consciousness of busy urbanites, a San Francisco Bay Area email list has achieved a loyal and constantly growing following, with investment limited to a few hours a day of its founder's time. In fact, many members of craigs-list say the 2 1/2-year-old service is the area's top resource for info on jobs, housing, resale consumer goods, and entertainment.
Thursday night, around 400 subscribers gathered in the city to press flesh, give eye, and, of course, exchange business cards. At the party, the list's founder, Craig Newmark, announced the formation of the craigs-list foundation, which will "help members of our community ride this tidal wave of change and, indeed, exploit it." Partnering with him in the foundation's formation are Nancy Melone, senior manager of electronic commerce at KPMG, Weezy Muth, a Web developer at American President Lines, and Christina Murphy, a career consultant at Smith Hampton & Devlin.
The group was very successful at lining up sponsors for the party, which featured endless pizza and a no-host bar. The major sponsor was KPMG.
Nearly 5,000 people have subscribed to craigs-list, which offers several options for receiving info. Listings are free, and submitted by email to Newmark, who publishes the listings using software he wrote and freeware. Including editing of some posts, Newmark estimates that he spends about eight hours a week running the list.
Jeannene Hansen, a graphic artist who attended Thursday's party and was one of the list's first subscribers, says she regularly reads the events, community, and apartment digests. "Although I don't need an apartment, I just like to see who's moving into the city, what kind of people are coming in." When she adopted a cat from someone on the list, she recalls, "I went over to this stranger's house, but we were immediately comfortable with each other. Craig is sort of our chaperone."
There does seem to be an extraordinary level of comfort among subscribers. "I feel I can really trust what's on that list," says Web administrator Phil Glatz. When he's responded to postings, he says it's worked out positively. Glatz clearly feels a sense of community: "I think the feeling is that it's all people 'like us,'" he says.
Indeed, most subscribers seem to work in technical and new-media fields and are, to a great extent, connected by word of mouth, amplified by their state of being wired.
For example, Steve Glauberman, president of Enlighten, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based multimedia interactive communications company, found out about craigs-list through a friend starting up a high-tech company in San Francisco. When Enlighten opened a San Francisco office, Glauberman posted three jobs on craigs-list.
"We have received huge responses," Glauberman said, estimating that he saw 130 résumés in 24 hours. "Craigs-list seems to be the best job list we have ever used."
With a recent spate of publicity, the list will likely grow exponentially. As its composition changes, some members are worried that its character might also transform.
"I've seen a big difference in the quality of the list in the last few months," said Margi Smith, a member of the Well Engaged implementation team, who regularly cruises the job listings. "They used to be things like, 'Hi, I work at such-and-such company, it's a great place to work, and my boss is looking for someone to ...' Now, recruiters seem to just throw all their listings together in unrelated posts. I've seen listings for an architect, even a maid."
Like a suburban city manager, foundation organizers hope to manage growth, though plans for this, as for the new foundation itself, remain vague.
"I'm sure we'll look for funding," said Muth, "we'll also look to see if we can generate revenue. We don't know how yet." Her group has discussed setting up a mentoring program, sponsoring technical training, holding more networking events. "The main thing," she said, "is that we are a community and we're going to help each other."
