www.josschuurmans.com

Dugg: Craigslist's unorthodox path | The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe ran a background piece about Craig Newmark of Craigslist' fame (Wikipedia: Craigslist).

"(...) Newmark, who is customer service representative and founder of Craigslist Inc., didn't start the website as a business, but it has grown into an utterly unusual one. (...)"

"(...) Peter Zollman, founding principal of Classified Intelligence (...) says Craigslist is a for-profit business "run like a nonprofit."

(...) "There's nothing noble or altruistic or pious about what we're doing," [Craig] says. "Once you make enough money and provide for your future, it's more satisfying to change the world a little bit." (...)"

On journalism:

"(...) "Has Craigslist caused newspapers pain? Yes. It's called capitalism," Zollman says. "They came along with a better mousetrap, and people started using it."

Newmark is personally interested in exploring the potential for the Internet to support new kinds of journalism, whether produced by professional investigative reporters or amateurs. "We need investigative reporters to ask tough questions," he says.

Among the organizations he supplies with moral or financial support are the Sunlight Foundation, which aims to improve access to congressional information; NewAssignment.net, which promotes "open source" reporting; and ProPublica, which is building a team of investigative journalists. (...)"

(Via David Weinberger)

read more | digg story

Blood from stone: Don't focus on ad revenue from social networking services | Charlie Schick

Charlie writes: "(...) Your core service drives the interaction with the customer, but the money can come from some other area.

But, be careful where you _think_ you can get the money. (...) Online social networking services thrive because they are a form of social lubrication. (...) Yes, social network is the concentrator, but what the folks end up doing is where the money's at. (...)"

Interesting comment from Stefan Constantinescu: "(...) recommendation engine may sound unsexy now, but they will LEAD the next generation of corporate buy outs and be the foundation for the services we use in the upcoming decade. (...)"

read more | digg story