Facebook will give up preliminary efforts to build its own classifieds service and will have classifieds powered by Oodle’s network instead. The effort, announced in Oodle’s blog, will launch by Q1, 2009. With the signing, Facebook joins MySpace, Wal-Mart, Media General, Cox, The Washington Post Co., CanWest and others as Oodle distributors.
CEO Craig Donato told us that Oodle’s distribution now reaches 100 million users, including its international efforts in Canada, the U.K., and recent adds in Ireland and India. But the addition of Facebook might move the company into (more) uncharted territories. Social networks have the capability to change the classifieds category, he said.
“People don’t like how anonymous classifieds are,” said Donato. The social networks “create an environment of trust and safety. With Craig’s List, someone with an anonymous ID shows up at your house to look at your car.”
The significance of having landed both Facebook and MySpace, and possible competitive issues between them, is downplayed by Donato . “Different audiences, different partners,” Donato said, noting that both have their own look and feel. He noted that Military.com is another social network that has signed with Oodle.
Donato added that Oodle’s current applications will soon be extended to give-aways and barter goods. “If you have tickets to a ball game, you might be emailing all your friends to see if they want them. We can create a more efficient way to pass things along. It is almost a precursor to classifieds.
Speaking in general, Oodle is going strong, Donato told us. The 45 person company did go through a recent layoff of ten staffers, consolidating account management etc. as an effort to conserve resources. But since then, it has hired five new engineers. “We have a lot of product work to do,” said Donato.
Great post.
This seems like a really good deal for Oodle and Facebook as well the other in network partners. Certainly, this will be better than what Facebook did before with its bare bones Listing service. However, I think the value is in the ‘network’ in terms of reach and cross pollination, not in the assumption that ‘friends will buy from friends.’
The previous (old school) classified business as well as ebay, Craigslist, etc had nothing to do with people buying from people they knew. It was all about connecting buyers and sellers. In the old school model, it was highly localized and trust came from being able to personally see the merchandise. In ebay’s case, the trust factor comes from ratings based on other peoples experience with the seller (and buyer). I think this single capability allowed the buyer to send money to the seller without seeing the product. Without this, buyers would not have readily sent money.
Finally, I am not convinced that people actually like to buy from people they know. If you have ever done it, it is awkward for both the buyer (who wants a good deal) and the seller (that wants the best price) that have to see each other after the transaction.
Hi Peter,
Great insights in the dynamics of the Oodle/Facebook deal. Now, I have two questions, as you tease us into asking them:
1. What about the rest of the world. Facebook is massively present outside US/UK? How will Oodle tackle this, are they interested?
2. How will companies like Craigslist, Kijiji and others deal with the privacy and mobile perspective (i.e. Dan Miller’s opinion articke) of the classified business?
Greetings from Europe.
Sacha
Was hoping you’d take a closer look at iList and maybe post a review. :)