Facebook Takes on Craigslist

Facebook is working on creating an online classified ads project called Marketplace, where users can create advertisements that appear on friends' news feeds.

Online classified ads are dominated by Craigslist and obviously Facebook's alleged new business will affect it greatly. The news was confirmed by two unidentified Facebook sources, according to the Daily.

Marketplace lets users post ads for everything from apartment rentals to furniture, but also could be a place for jobs and something akin to Craigslist's "Gigs" category.

Right now paid ads, called "promoted" posts, don't appear as regular posts, but the new ads will feature numerous photos, links and can be shared. Real estate listings, however, may be free.

So far, not much definite is known about these rumored plans, but it's interesting to think that Facebook is now attempting to go after Craigslist's business. Newspapers already tried and failed, so we'll see if Facebook's sheer numbers (1 billion strong) can muscle in on the online classified ad territory.

 
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