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Robertson Adams |
I think classifieds will take at least two routes forward. First, I think buyers and sellers will connect through web services such as SOAP, which means my mom would find an intermediary such as her local newspaper which would create a search agent that would find qualified buyers for her home or car, and the buyer would have filled out a profile too.
The other route I can see is that social networks such as Facebook or Bebo will play a role in helping people find products and services they didn’t know were available from one of their networks.
Having been a developer of a classified advertising grid for real estate, rentals and cars at The Boca News during the 25/43 project, I recall how the listing agents were horrified that their ads would be listed by price instead of by the sexy words (”Magnificent,” “Move-in Ready”) they would dream up to “add value” to loser properties in Deerfield Beach. Advertising founded on deceptions such as these will always play a role in purchases built on emotional motives rather than rational ones such as price or technical feature set (in the case of buying a light truck or SUV).
Classifieds are not lost to local newspapers at all, but the papers must help local folks adapt their ads to create a more efficient sale with structured data and targeted distribution network rather than continue down the path of unstructured data (4-line ads in tiny print) blasted out at a general audience.
Robertson Adams is webmaster and communications associate for the Knight Foundation in Miami.
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