Facebook, Friendster Offer Free Classifieds

by Gavin O’Malley, Monday, May 14, 2007 6:00 AM ET

MOVE OVER, CRAIG. FACEBOOK ON Friday said it would add free classified ad-listings to its popular social networking site. The new service, dubbed Marketplace, poses a potential threat to a number of companies–from Craigslist and newspapers to Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. Also on Friday, Friendster announced that it had added classifieds through a partnership with Olx.com.

Marketplace will allow Facebook’s some 22 million active users to create classified listings in four categories: housing, jobs, for sale, and “other.” Users will be able to limit the exposure of their classifieds to individual networks such as immediate friends and coworkers.