11/25/08

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook is searching for a partner to take over its classified listings application. Apparently Facebook distributed a request-for-proposal to a number of classified sites earlier this year. TechCrunch says rumors are that Oodle has won the contract. We asked Oodle CEO Craig Donato about it, who said he had "no news."

It wouldn't surprise us if a deal was in the works. Oodle was tapped by MySpace earlier this year, and Donato has told us on several occasions that his company is exploring the opportunity around the notion of "community classifieds."

Facebook Classifieds have not exactly been going gangbusters. On Thursday of last week, San Francisco had only 20 new listings while New York City had zero.
The problem may be in part that Facebook Classifieds is pretty limited: only a short listings, picture and communication (via Facebook’s messaging system) are allowed. They're also hard to find: a small "Marketplace" link on an otherwise very busy personal home page.

They're even harder to find on MySpace. Classifieds aren't on the home page at all. Users find them exploring the "More" link in the main navigation. But they have moved up the rank of the "More" subnavigation.

So far, both megasites have chosen to put classifieds in silos, instead of weaving them into the dynamics of social networking. The obvious example: "Hey, my friend Bob is selling his Mustang! I loved that Mustang!"

But perhaps it's best that both MySpace and Facebook tread lightly here. The buying and selling of stuff between friends -- even between friends of friends -- takes a different sort of social contract, especially if you hope to remain friends.