Facebook Classifieds? NOT 'Another Blow for Newspapers'

UPDATE:  Craigslist vs. Facebook? Why Craigslist wins, big time

A “Canadian take on telecom and technology” fears a New York Times story titled “Facebook to Offer Free Classifieds” signals “Another Blow for Newspapers”:

Mark Evans: For anyone looking to reach an audience of 22 million active users (many of them young people who don’t read newspapers), this is a huge opportunity. Of course, this is yet another blow to solar plexus for newspapers, who have seen the amount of high-margin classified advertising shrink in recent years amid competition from online rivals such as Craigslist. (I’m sure many newspaper executives have a dart board in their offices with Craig Newmark’s photo on it, and will likely add Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as well).

Just as the “imagery” is doubtful, so is the argument. Here’s why:

1) “For anyone looking to reach an audience of 22 million active users”

NO. Facebook is not an open platform like Craigslist and MySpace are. “Anyone” can not just “reach” the Facebook audience. Registration and login is required to even access Facebook and the tool’s myriad friendship qualifiers mean there are not 175 million friends freely interacting, as at MySpace, nor millions of listings readily browsable, as at Craigslist.

It is unlikely that the casual poster of a free classified will make a special Facebook effort if not already an active Facebooker.

2) “Newspapers have seen the high-margin classified advertising shrink”

Yes, but NO. The Facebooker college audience is not the customer segment that places “high-margin classifieds.” Facebook’s $5 virtual flyers is more the price point.

The college dorm roommate search and used textbook swaps are not the stuff for wielding “another blow to solar plexus for newspapers.”

3) “Many newspaper executives have a dart board in their offices with Craig Newmark’s photo on it, and will likely add Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.”

HARDLY, but they have done slick cross-promotional vehicles with Yahoo executives touting the Yahoo “strategic partnership with consortium of over 150 newspapers across the U.S.”

What is actually happening at Facebook with Classifeds?

A blog post at Oodle, an existing classifieds aggregator of "over 20 million classifieds from 75,000 sites":

Oodle just launched a classifieds group on Facebook in time to help students get rid their stuff at the end of the school year. Users can specify if they’d like their listings to only be available to their friends and other Facebook users, or if they’d like to share them with the broader local community.

Facebook users:  Time to get rid of unwanted items, such as futons, textbooks and bikes. Or to hit up your friends on for extra tickets, rides home or recommendations for new roommates.

(Oodle links to its “classified group on Facebook,” but a “must login” screen is what appears.)

This is not Oodle's first foray into the "low-margin" college classifieds market, however. Oodle already offers a network of branded "College Sites" targeting hundreds of campuses around the country.

While Oodle gains greater promotion and access via its Facebook deal, nothing really transformative has occured in the classifieds market.

Other Facebook news?

Facebook really has gotten a “Canadian take on telecom and technology”; It is banned for use by Ontario government employees, according to CBC reports:

They won't be among the 21 million worldwide users of the popular social networking website Facebook — at least while they're at work.

When workers tried to log on to their accounts, they were greeted with "access denied" messages on their screens in the same way as pornography and gambling sites are blocked on provincial computers.

UPDATE: Craigslist vs. Facebook? Why Craigslist wins, big time