Steve Outing shows in his Poynteronline E-Media Tidbits that Craigslist in Denver is outdueling the Denver Post-Rocky Mountain News in the general merchandise area of online classifieds. In a head-to-head comparison tallying the classifieds on the sites, Craigslist is far ahead of the papers in listings for housing rentals and bicycles, both items that probably appeal to a younger audience.
On Craigslist, 620 bicycles for sale vs. 10 in the Post-News classifieds. The difference must to a large degree be attributable to Craigslist being free, but also because if you were looking to get rid of a bicycle, where would you expect to find more interested people -- Craigslist or the newspaper?
The newspapers that survive may very well be the ones that find a way to emulate Craigslist, not just to realize the classified ad revenues but also to build brand loyalty (as tenuous as that may be these days) with younger readers who eventually will care about other issues in their local communities. That loyalty will be of value only to web sites that offer highly interactive, reader-driven content (citizen journalism) to those young people as they age, have families and become more interested in local news.
That combination may be the formula to economic success that can support a staff of professional journalists working in tandem with the citizen journos.
In the meantime, some of us 40-somethings need to get on a bike a bit more.
