Never Heard of Craigslist
Hard to believe that any newspaper executive whose bread and butter is classified advertising wouldn’t know of Craiglist, but as this piece from Editor and Publisher notes, “As late as November 2004, a large number of executives admitted they had never heard of Craigslist.”
It notes some innovative ideas for classifieds online to help newspapers compete: pictures in classified ads, pictures that scroll across a paper’s Website homepage, ways to parse searches for ads so a product like a car that match with specific needs such as family. But it’s also true that any of these ideas are basically technological tweaks, and ones that anyone — Craig or someone like him — can mimic without a lot of trouble. The issue is more than anything mindset and a willingness to constantly improve and innovate and figure out what the local, or national, community want.
I have heard from a number of consultants and executives that many newspaper execs they meet still seem to be in denial about the Web, about people under the age of 35 using digital media in high proportions to print, about the need to learn new means of distribution and dissemination. I’m not saying someone whose job is to get out a newspaper should be an expert in Web technologies. But they really should understand where their competition is coming from and where their next generation of consumers resides.