Commentary
The Unasked Question
- by Christopher M. Schroeder , September 3, 2004
Often in business, when industry-defining juggernauts like eBay make unexpected moves - no matter of what size - that leave more questions than answers, hearts start to flitter. Some of the questions are just industry curiosity - or at least the curiosity of other community/social networking execs looking themselves for valuation parameters. How big IS Craigslist? How big is the investment?
Other questions are seeking more fundamental meaning. What's in it for Craig? What's in it for eBay? Craig has said he now has a brilliant partner with outstanding understanding of community development and the tools to reach those communities at the largest scale. eBay decided to plop down what, to them is rounding error, to learn from a compelling and viral enterprise for classifieds and self-published community interaction. As Sigmund Freud used to say, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
Those in the local classified and community businesses - especially local newspapers - are asking, "what will this do to us?"
This last question, of course, is near and dear to my heart - but I'll suggest it is the wrong one. The important, but truly unasked question in all this is less about what this deal will do to the newspaper business, and more about what the newspaper business can do to this deal.
The question is this: Why can't/haven't/don't newspapers create and offer their OWN self-published, community focused lists?
I am an active user of Craigslist, believe it is a marvelous site, and phenomena. I salute Craig, his innovation, and unquestioned dedication to community. He is a true Web hero.
But, in the end, the site is, well, a LIST. There is nothing proprietary or truly unique about what Craigslist does. The user interface is nothing to write home about. The searching capabilities are basic, if not primitive.
Local newspaper - the better ones anyhow - have not a few years, but decades of proven commitment to their communities. With the interactive and community tools offered by the Internet, is the leap to doing what Craigslist has done so enormous? In some respects, is this not the exact extension the Web allows, and new audiences should come to expect, from local newspapers in the online world?
I've been asking around on this subject for two years, and here's a sampling of what I hear.
Newspapers will not give away for free that which they charge for now. Fair enough, but offering self-published marketplaces of goods, ideas, and community need not be a zero-sum game. Perhaps newspapers could continue to charge for key areas, but there is much our communities would love to publish that has almost no impact on current business. Most community events, most goods (say under $500) aren't in newspapers now in any event.
Newspapers are "the man," the "institution;" they cannot be trusted to create the ethos and environment of a truly community-based experience -- of, created, and run by the community. If newspapers have nothing else, they must have trust, must be responsive to the voice of their communities, or they would have no business in the print world. Why is it a leap to say communities would not embrace the right, useful, honest experience just because an organization started in a print medium?
Culturally, newspapers will never embrace what it takes to offer a true self-published, community self-defined destination. Maybe. Newspapers are traditionally concerned that experiences, unedited, can lead to bad information, or racist and defamatory experiences. That's not a bad instinct to have. At the same time, users are not stupid. With easy user interface, any site can make clear that which is editorially controlled, and that which is purely community driven - and users can make decisions accordingly. Newspapers could even establish other sites, or other brands, specifically for these capabilities - at least to get started.
It is worth trying if nothing else. A friend of mine recently held focus groups in San Francisco with folks between 18 and 35 and found, each went every day to Google and Craigslist. Not one volunteered that they went to a local newspaper site.
And some are trying. Cox and our own Washingtonpost.com have been experimenting with exciting ideas around self-published communities. I wait with enthusiasm for the Philadelphia Enquirer's coming launch with Tribe.net.
In the end, there has been much hand wringing about what the Internet world will do to traditional publishing - and the fact is, it is already doing a ton. For those who embrace the media on its own terms, with its unique capabilities and audience needs, the main question can turn from "What will it do to us?" to "What can we do with these tremendous capabilities for our now and future users!"
I'd love to hear your push back, and will publish your reactions.
