Remember Ning.com, the service for building and using social applications? I've been waiting for a really interesting app to come out of that - and this may be it. Anytown Marketplace is the creation of the exceedingly clever Jonathan Aquino. Jon described it as "a Craigslist-like app that you can clone and customize for your city if it doesn't yet have Craigslist." The Ning blog wrote:
"You can now set up your own Craigslist-style marketplace for free and without any coding (as the app owner, just drag-and-drop categories where you want them, then add, edit, or delete right there on the app).
When you clone it, it retains the categories youíll find on Craigslist, but you can also add, edit, or delete categories so your new marketplace app is relevant to your area."
I need to look into it more closely, but the concept sounds great. I only hope it can be exported to craigslist-less New Zealand! :-) Update: I'll be darned, there is a craigslist here.
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http://auckland.craigslist.org/
Posted by: oxen | November 9, 2005 3:06 AMI stand corrected... what about Wellington (where I live)?
Posted by: Richard MacManus | November 9, 2005 3:09 AMCopying what's already out there and done well doesn't seem like a great way to exploit ning.com :)
Sorry, had to say it...i usually agree with you and wish i had thought of what you say...
Posted by: ariel | November 9, 2005 11:07 AMyes, that's a fair point Ariel...
Posted by: Richard MacManus | November 9, 2005 11:13 AMAriel, our intent was not to take what's out there, Craigslist in this case, and copy it for the sake of copying it.
We had a very specific intent here: to give folks in the other 15,800 major cities worldwide the option to have Craigslist at all.
Craigslist is only in 204 cities today. That's great and it works beautifully for us here in San Francisco Bay Area (and Auckland perhaps as well), but my sister in Bozeman, Montana doesn't have it. Nor do alot of other people.
For those who might want this type of marketplace, our goal was to create an easy and straightforward way to set one up for any town or group, for free, and hopefully help a few communities in the process.
Posted by: Gina | November 10, 2005 8:02 AM