Mouthy state attorney generals and music-blaring competitors made an appearance in the new Craigslist blog.
For a look at the inner thoughts at online classifieds site Craigslist, one usually had to hope for a post on Craig Newmark’s personal blog about the business. A company blog has been absent, an almost mind-boggling state of affairs in a time where it seems every business runs one.
Craigslist joined the 21st Century with the debut of their official blog. CEO Jim Buckmaster posted a handful of items over the course of a month, a mix of news and views.
One post noted how job site Monster.com vented some frustration over Craigslist in a childish way. Someone at Monster.com engaged the services of a truck to advertise the site, and play loud music to catch attention.
The driver parked in front of Craigslist’s building several times, to the dismay of people trying to work, before finally confronting the driver. His marching orders included a request to get a photo of the truck in front of the Craigslist office.
“Is it possible that Monster is “green” with envy, now that our job boards alone receive more employment-related traffic than all of monster.com?” Buckmaster asked in his post.
On a more recent topic, Buckmaster blasted Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal over his public comments about Craigslist. Blumenthal criticized Craigslist on profiting from prostitution, an odd position since Craigslist does not charge for those ads, and they don’t carry any type of additional advertising on the site.
Buckmaster pointed out Craigslist incurs expenses each time it enforces terms of services against offending ads. “Craigslist will not be used as a punching bag for false and defamatory statements,” he said, also noting how yellow pages and newspapers in Connecticut run and profit from similar ads, leaving the accusation unsaid that Blumenthal is playing politics with the Craigslist name.
Future posts on the Craigslist blog should be similarly entertaining. Buckmaster isn’t shy with his opinions, but to keep track for now readers will have to bookmark the site. For whatever reason, the official Craigslist blog lacks a newsfeed.
