Craigslist International – Shoestring Limits

Craigslist is a useful service and an amazing company.

It has revolutionized a multi-billion dollar industry (classifieds) with under 20 employees.

However, the limits of Craigslist become apparent when you look at the sites for non-Anglophone cities:

http://osaka.craigslist.org/

Do they really expect this model to take off in Osaka, Seoul, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, etc.? This must be the worst example of website localization. The irony is almost brazen. A service for local classifieds in a foreign language.

A normal profit-driven company couldn’t get away it, but when you’re known as a low-budget outfit that’s 99% free, you’re allowed a lot of lo-fi leeway, I suppose.

In any event, the footprint doesn’t impress as much as the low usage underwhelms.