Craigslist, the community connected website has decided to charge for more listings. More employment listings will attract fees as will listings by apartment brokers in New York. This is seen as good news by newspaper publishers who have been fighting what some say is a losing battle with Craigslist for advertising products and therefore revenue.
Meanwhile, over at The San Francisco Weekly they have put together a nine page story about Craigslist and the damage they see it and similar free websites doing to publishing companies. It’s a considered piece if not a bit off the mark in pitching newspapers as the underdog in the advertising battle with Craigslist. For example, the article claims that the San Francisco Chronicle loses $50 million a year because of ads which have migrated to Craigslist.
Craigslist is live in Australia but is yet to gain significant advertiser traction.