Social Networking Watch

Craigslist Sues eBay

ADOTAS -- May 14 --  Craigslist is slapping eBay with a counter-lawsuit in which it accuses the online auctioneer of stealing corporate trade secrets, among a roster of other unseemly deeds. Craigslist also charges eBay with unfair competition, diluting its minority stake in its business, fraud, copyright infringement and posting misleading advertisements on Google. The countersuit is a response to eBay's suit alleging that Craiglist violated its rights as a minority shareholder. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS

eBay Sues Craigslist

MARKETING PILGRIM -- Apr 23 -- eBay bought more than a quarter of Craigslist's stock (28.4%) back in 2004. According to the suit, this January, unnamed "unilateral actions" by founder Craig Newmark, CEO Jim Buckmaster and/or the Craigslist company itself diluted eBay's shares, diminishing the power that eBay should wield by an alleged 10%. eBay says that the unnamed actions were unethical and unfair. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETING PILGRIM

Craigslist Giveaways

TECH CRUNCH -- Mar 25 -- Someone placed an ad on Craigslist saying that anything at a home in Jacksonville, Oregon was up for grabs. People responded, and carted away most of the belongings of resident Robert Salisbury. He arrived home to thirty people picking over the last of his stuff. Is Craigslist responsible for stuff like this? There are certainly plenty of lawyers who'd consider taking the case on contingency. But pointing the finger at Craigslist for what happened is not what should happen. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Craigslist Not Liable For Discriminatory Ads

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Mar 17 -- In a victory for web companies that publish user-generated content, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that online classified service Craigslist isn't liable for discriminatory housing ads placed by users. The 7th Circuit upheld a trial judge's ruling dismissing the case, holding that the federal Communications Decency Act doesn't permit people to "sue the messenger just because the message reveals a third party's plan to engage in unlawful discrimination". The lawsuit stemmed from a complaint by the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which sued Craigslist for housing ads that contained language like "no minorities" or "no children". Craigslist argued that the federal Decency Communications Act immunized it from suit based on content posted by users. A similar issue is pending in the 9th Circuit in a lawsuit against Roomates.com. The appeals court in that case originally ruled that a lawsuit against the site could proceed to trial, but later granted re-argument. A decision in that lawsuit is expected soon. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

MySpace Competition? The World is Big Enough

L.A. TIMES -- Apr 1 -- While MySpace may continue to dominate in North America (50% are from USA), Friendster, Google's Orkut and others are thriving overseas. In the Philippines, Friendster is used by an ~87% of the country's 8 million Internet users. ~70% of Friendster's 40-million-person user base comes from Southeast Asia. With Orkut and its servers under the jurisdiction of American law, (it's popular in Brazil and India) the question of whom it must answer to overseas is an area heavy with legal concerns and complications. ~55% of Orkut's 47 million users come from Brazil. Only 19% of traffic comes from the USA. FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES

Mark Brooks: The seeding phase of any social network or community is critical for it's future focus and success.  Craigslist started with a few of Craigs friends and remained true to San Francisco for several years before branching out to other countries. Friendster started with a few of Founder Jonathan Abram's friends in Silicon Valley. MySpace and Bebo were seeded more systematically, and quickly, from eUniverse communities and the likes of BirthdayAlarm.com.

Norwest Invests $10 mln in Indian Social Network

ZD NET INDIA -- Nov 2 -- A top Silicon Valley VC firm invested $10 million in Sulekha.com (1.5 million members). Norwest Venture Partners, led by Indian-born managing director Promod Haque, said the $10 million in Series A financing would fund the expansion of Sulekha's focus beyond India's top eight cities and into new business segments. The English-language site may eventually offer regional dialects. Beyond self-published blogs and online directories, users can buy and sell classified advertising, as on Craigslist.com. Founded in 1998 in Austin, Texas, it first targeted non-resident Indians, before spreading to Indian cities. It had funding from Indian early-stage Internet and mobile investor Indigo Monsoon Group. Sulekha has offline partnerships with book publisher Penguin and newspaper companies DNA and Indian Express to distribute the work of tens of thousands of bloggers, and plans to spend more on marketing with partners such as mobile carriers. FULL ARTICLE @ ZD NET INDIA

Craig Newmark - Craigslist Not For Sale

REUTERS -- Sep 28 -- Craig is not interested in selling out despite MySpace $15 billion valuation. Craig was running his site (back when it was an e-mail list of local events) during the dot-com blowup. He saw stupid companies get stupid money and lose it. Keeping Craigslist a real $20-30 million company is much more satisfying than making it a fake $15 billion one. FULL ARTCLE @ VALLEYWAG

Mark Brooks: Craig is nothing but consistent. Many people have approached him since the site's inception and his answer has always been the same. eBay owns 25% of Craigslist only because one of the founding employees sold their share. I own Markslist.com btw.  One day I'll do something useful with it. Any ideas? At one stage it was the social events calendar for Friendster. Now Jonathan (Friendster founder) has started Socializr as a social events social network.

REUTERS -- Sep 28 -- Craig is not interested in selling out despite MySpace $15 billion valuation. Craig was running his site (back when it was an e-mail list of local events) during the dot-com blowup. He saw stupid companies get stupid money and lose it. Keeping Craigslist a real $20-30 million company is much more satisfying than making it a fake $15 billion one. FULL ARTCLE @ VALLEYWAG

Mark Brooks: Craig is nothing but consistent. Many people have approached him since the site's inception and his answer has always been the same. eBay owns 25% of Craigslist only because one of the founding employees sold their share. I own Markslist.com btw.  One day I'll do something useful with it. Any ideas? At one stage it was the social events calendar for Friendster. Now Jonathan (Friendster founder) has started Socializr as a social events social network.