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The Making of an Urban Legend:

Craig’s List Has 10 Million Visitors

A MONTH!!

By

Irene A. Masiello

CraigsList.org is a unique website currently getting 10 million hits a month. Impressive. Very Impressive.

Craig Newark, the brain, heart and soul behind creating this on-line community doesn’t think there is anything special about the kind of genius, his genius, that created an international phenomena.

There’s a great bumper sticker that says: “Think global; act local.” Newmark started his list to help his friends wanting to give back to his community. His astonishing efforts went global in 10 years with absolutely mind -boggling results. The adjectives abound for this progressive, visionary man who changed the way people approach the Net, networking and a sense of on-line community.

What’s Craig’s List? Well, there is no point in trying to describe the ineffable; it’s a one of a kind experience that is so vast your head will spin. Each edition of CL appears to be a different entity in each city fortunate enough to have their own list. First it was just a few cities and now there is a CL in about 100 major American cities. The CraigsList.org spirit kept on going to Canada, the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the Americas.

The NYC CraigsList is amazing. You can get a date, a job, almost EVERY imaginable service, get free stuff, barter, adopt or place a ferret, dog, snake, cat, fish, turtle, parrot, parakeet, finch, etc., get advice, find great deals, buy a car, rent a room, sell a house, get musicians one at a time and build a band, find them all together as a band, get someone to clean your house, clean someone’s house and get paid, give away Aunt Tilly’s shoes, sell them or trade them, buy tickets, find a new friend to use that spare ticket, find someone to cry with, locate an Instant Message buddy to talk to about sex with, secure erotic services, give them, find something you lost, discuss politics and most everything else, ad infinitum. You name it and you will find it on Craig’s List and it is all advertisement free.

Impossible, you think? It’s not only possible, it’s already been done and the results are staggering. Posting is free for almost everyone. In the major cities like NY and LA the only paying customers (with a very modest $25 charge) are companies seeking employees. Certainly, this is considerably less costly than a local newspaper with a potential audience of millions. Recently, a Rockefeller Center media corporation posted a job on “The List” offering a salary of $1-3 million a year.

We saw Craig on CNN where he discussed the benevolence and goodness his List has encountered in dealing with large numbers of people. SNN thought: “there ‘s someone who let it begin with him and revolutionized the world!”

Here at Starlight, our mantra is “like minds and kindred spirits; ordinary people living extraordinary lives changing the world one person at a time. Let it begin with you!”

Craig did exactly that and stayed humble, approachable, polite, very friendly and giving. We asked him: how does it feel to be an Internet guru, after all, if one is getting 10 million hits to a website a day, one is doing something right. Craig’s response: “I’m no guru.”

However, to the rest of us, Craig is an urban legend. He’s united the world in a unique way and good will abounds says Craig. At this time, 2005 AC (After Craig) his site will garner about over 1 BILLION hits a year.

What’s Craig’s experience with people? He states: “primarily people are overwhelmingly good and trustworthy. There are bad guys out there, but they're a tiny minority.”

Want an example of how well Craig List works? Take a look at the home page of this website. Please see Michael Garcia’s “Silent Majority” art. Michael, a talented young artist, and Starlight crossed paths last winter while Michael was in LA and Starlight was in NY. Where did the twain meet? On the London’s Craig List in cyberspace.

CraigsList.org is a happening place to be. Come and visit: www.craigslist.org and see for yourself.

Talk about inSPIRITion! Here’s looking at an awesome spirit, here’s to you, Craig! CHEERS!

©Copyright-July 2005-Irene A. Masiello – all rights reserved.