• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 19, 2009

Oodle plans to expand its classified network to support a variety of categories from cars to homes and rentals, adding functions and tools that tap into social networks, CEO and founder Craig Donato told Online Media Daily.

Roommates in college towns would have an option to post on MySpace or Facebook, tying the classified ad into their profile page. "We're not really talking about it right now, but these would be great tools to help you find a roommate," he said. "Anywhere you are trying to find other people the social environments are powerful."

San Mateo, Calif.-based Oodle, which launched in 2005 with the mission to reinvent classifieds, now works with about 200 companies including Facebook, MySpace, Wal-Mart and Fox Broadcasting. Oodle indexes listings on the Internet--about 500,000 new ones daily.

Facebook's Marketplace has already relaunched as a "social classifieds" application in the U.S. to let consumers see the people who sell the items they want to buy. The tool, which launched earlier this month, ties the listings of sellers to their profile. It makes the marketplace "conversational," Donato said.

Posting a listing on your profile allows friends to comment, share it with others, and show their approval or disapproval. It's meant to remove potential scams and fraud in a marketplace typically filled with anonymous sellers and buyers.

This week, Oodle began rolling out the Facebook tool internationally in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and other English-speaking countries, followed by an English version for non-English-speaking countries around the world. Other languages should follow, Donato said.

Consumers post a listing on any on the sites and it's pushed across the entire network. Car dealership, real estate agents, landlords and others also can use Oodle through monster.com or autobytel.com.

Oodle offers a tool that resembles Google AdSense, but for classified listings. Anyone can post a listing for free, but tying in a bid ranks it higher in the search results. About 80,000 sources are indexed, not all of them are paid. Donato describes the tools as a combination of a Craigslist-type of free-style posting and professional listings.

Another feature that Oodle has developed through the years is technology that scans listings posted to any of the sites across the network to remove or flag inappropriate listings. "If someone posts a classified for tickets to a baseball game, we know who the team is playing on the night of the game and can add information to the listing," Donato said.