Edgeio Takes Craigslist to the Next Level
As Mike Boland wrote earlier this week, Edgeio has launched.
This is a very interesting site because one can publish local classified or services listings directly there or on a blog and Edgeio will “pick them up.” In other words, I can set up my free blog (Blogger, WordPress, etc.), list a bunch of items for sale and they will appear on Edgeio — no fees, nothing!
Here’s how Edgeio does it:
Edgeio constantly monitors RSS enabled websites — today we are monitoring more than 25 million sites! Any item tagged “listing” and included in an RSS feed will be published on the edgeio website and through the edgeio network.
Of course all will depend on how many consumers show up and use Edgeio. But its distributed/decentralized publishing model is pretty radical in concept. In one sense it’s simply another version of what search engines are doing by indexing sites. But what if Edgeio becomes really a hit and millions of people show up to use it? Perhaps as a trade or service business (accountant, cabinet maker, lawyer) I publish a listing and description of my services etc. on my blog and Edgeio picks it up and I get lots of leads. It’s all free to me. I potentially can reduce my spend elsewhere.
Even if it succeeds wildly with consumers I don’t think Edgeio will be “disruptive” in the near term. But the medium term could be a different story. I’m fascinated by the potential for RSS distribution both on the advertiser side and the consumer side. There’s a great deal more to say there than I have time for now.
Keith Teare, Edgeio CEO, will be speaking on what should be quite an interesting panel at Drilling Down called “The Ultimate Mashup: Classifieds, Local Listings and ‘Social Search.’ “
