New Twist on the Social Classified App: Facebook Takes On Craigslist

By Karla Robinson
November 6, 2012

Facebook is developing a classifieds application for its users to help them engage with each other, expand their social circles and sell that couch.
“The new tool, which is tentatively called Marketplace… would allow users to create short advertisements that appear in their friends’ news feeds notifying them of everything from apartment rentals to furniture sales to job boards,” reports The Daily. “In short, practically anything you do on Craigslist can be done with this new service.”
For some ads — like those for a couch — users may have to pay a small fee (likely under $5) for the post to show in friends’ news feeds. “The new ads could include multiple photos and links to external resources. Users can also elect to ‘share’ a post on their own timeline,” expanding the message’s reach, the article explains.
The tool helps Facebook users create posts for targeted audiences, based on location or other criteria. For example, if a user is sharing a career opportunity, the ad could be restricted to those who have a Master’s degree.
“But it’s the projects section that is maybe the most interesting,” The Daily suggests. “Similar to Craigslist’s Gigs section, it would let users post tips and information about a variety of topics from clearing brush to installing WordPress. It would also let people share ‘ideas,’ or broadly scoped ventures they’d like to flesh out with help.”

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