{"id":15739,"date":"2016-11-17T14:46:10","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/junk-you-dont-want-anymore-now-online\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T19:47:12","slug":"junk-you-dont-want-anymore-now-online","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/junk-you-dont-want-anymore-now-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Junk You Don\u2019t Want Anymore\u2026\u2026 Now Online!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s imagine that to kick off the 21st<\/sup> century you are moving\u2026\u2026. into a new swanky apartment. The question is what do you do with the 3000lb piano that your parents insisted you took with you when you moved away from home? You don\u2019t even play the piano, so no way it is coming to the new apartment.<\/p>\n

Since it\u2019s the year 2000 and you don\u2019t want to muscle that piano down three flights of stairs. You call your local newspaper and buy a Sunday classified ad in the free stuff section for about $35. After buying the classified ad you hope that someone in the market for a free piano will read your ad on the particular Sunday that you ran it, have at least 6 strong guys handy, and actually show up to pickup\u00a0your piano. Slim chance.<\/p>\n

What if there was a better way to get rid of the piano?<\/p>\n

There is thanks to Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist. He made it possible for you to put your crap (the piano) and about anything else you can imagine online. It all started in 1995 with an email list about local events in the bay area. By 2000 the service was hosting online classified ads of all kinds in San Francisco[1]<\/a>. 16 years later, Craigslist operates in 70 countries, accepting 80 million new classified ads each month[2]<\/a>. Not only are the ads easier to post but also easier to find.<\/p>\n

Back to the damn piano, there is snowball\u2019s chance in hell that someone is going to read your ad in the newspaper and want your piano. If it was only 2016 you could post the piano on Craigslist\u2026\u2026. Not 20 minutes later some guy smelling like Marlboro cigarettes with a Movember style mustache would show up, he would somehow get the piano down the stairs and proceed to tie it on top of his Geo Metro. This is a far superior experience to the printed ad.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break it down. Your printed ad is expensive; in 2000 the newspaper industry generated $19.6 billion in classified ad revenue[3]<\/a>. The printed ad will run for a limited time like 1 to 3 days, so the chance of the right person seeing it are low. To lower the probability of success further, it is likely that your ad will be one of about 2000 other classified ads in the newspaper that day. Unless you are the rain-man it is impossible to search all the ads in the paper that day for specific content or keywords, like “free piano”.<\/p>\n

Craigslist addressed these frictions by making most ads free to post, available for 30 days, and searchable. By digitizing the classified ad, Craigslist disrupted the $19.6 billion industry. In 2015, US newspapers reported revenue from classified ads of only $4.6 billion[4]<\/a>. It is unclear exactly how much of the $15 billion decrease in ad revenue over 15 years can be attributed directly to disruption from Craigslist.<\/p>\n

Two business school professors, one from HBS and one from Stern, attempted to quantify exactly how much Craigslist cost the newspaper industry. They found that between 2000 and 2007 newspaper revenue decreased by $5 billion due to direct competition from Craigslist[5]<\/a>. The new competition caused the newspapers to reduce classified ad rates while increasing subscription and other printed ad rates. These price increases resulted in newspaper subscribers getting an even worse deal then when they had to crawl through thousands of classified ads to find pianos.<\/p>\n

What may be unfortunate for the newspaper industry is your windfall, without Craigslist you would still be the proud owner of a 3000lb piano on the third floor.<\/p>\n

(600 words)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Diamond, Erica. Huffington Post, \u201cThe Interview With Craig Newmark,\u201d http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/erica-diamond\/erica-diamond-interviews-_b_1364628.html, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>Craigslist, \u201cFactsheet,\u201d https:\/\/www.craigslist.org\/about\/factsheet, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> State of the Media, \u201cNewspaper: By the Numbers,” http:\/\/www.stateofthemedia.org\/2012\/newspapers-building-digital-revenues-proves-painfully-slow\/newspapers-by-the-numbers\/, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> State of the Media, \u201cNewspaper: By the Numbers,” http:\/\/www.stateofthemedia.org\/2012\/newspapers-building-digital-revenues-proves-painfully-slow\/newspapers-by-the-numbers\/, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Bercovici, Jeff. Forbes, \u201cSorry Craig, Study Finds Craigslist took $5 Billion from Newspapers,” http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jeffbercovici\/2013\/08\/14\/sorry-craig-study-finds-craigslist-cost-newspapers-5-billion\/#324834c47bc4, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s imagine that to kick off the 21st century you are moving\u2026\u2026. into a new swanky apartment. The question is what do you do with the 3000lb piano that your parents insisted you took when you moved away from home? 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