Yet Another Classified App
Posted on March 02, 2006
Filed Under: Work
Tagged:
Microsoft announces Windows Live Expo
Microsoft announced the beta release of Windows Live Expo, a classified ad service with ties to their maps and instant messenger products. (yawn)
It’s a run of the mill classified site with a pinch of social networking thrown in for good measure - because you know...social apps are cool.
Essentially, you can use your MSN Messenger Contact List or personal e-mail groups to share the “classified space” - buyers and sellers can communicate via IM to conduct a sale or discuss the products. Not all that innovative if you ask me ... and frankly, Craigslist is still much easier to use but whatever.
Microsoft has the same problem every other classified newcomer has ... gaining momentum. I just ran a search on “Events” within a 50 mile radius of Washington DC. Surely I’d expect to find something listed - but no. Nothing going on in the sleepy little area around the beltway.
Now I know for a fact that there’s something going on up there...so I have to fault Microsoft’s service for not providing good information, which means I probably won’t use the service again. It’s a fact of life on the internet. Generally, you get one chance to impress someone. Microsoft didn’t.
This is where newspapers and companies like Oodle really leverage their strengths. They can launch a classified listing service right out of the gate complete with ads and therefore provide a good experience for the first time user of the service.
You can see Microsoft’s new site here
You can see some pictures of puppies here
Comments:
- David (March 23, 2006 at 11:09 PM):
-
Tripp Fenderson (March 24, 2006 at 08:43 AM):
Oh I see. You go and take a job outside of the media business and now you think you can criticize us?
No one in (or out of) the industry questions whether or not newspapers are on the downturn. It has been happening for years - the adoption of the Internet as the preferred choice of news simply accelerated the slide.
And it’s going to get faster…
Online publishing is getting cheaper and easier. For under $2000 in time and materials, an organization can deliver topical news online with advertising operations to back them up.
The fracturing of “news” content online only serves to further fracture the advertising market - not to mention the fact that most newspapers’ classified advertising is not well-suited for the web and their sites are poorly designed for people looking for information quickly.
While some newspapers may not have a bright future, news organizations will continue to grow and thrive. The means of delivery is simply changing and “newspapers” need to reconsider how they define themselves. I’m happy to say that in talking with a number of people in newsrooms recently, that very change has already started.
Ken Otterbourg, Managing Editor of the Winston-Salem Journal, has a couple of good posts on his blog on the topic as well:
Also, ljworld.com has an interesting article on the Hesston Record’s complete adoption of the Internet as a delivery channel.
It’s an interesting time to be in the industry, David. Are you sure you don’t want to come back?
Leave Your Comments:
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
and newspapers think they have a future? HA…