iMedia: There's been a lot of talk these past few years about the growth of mobile. What's your take, and how have you and your team planned for bringing Craigslist to the handset?
Newmark: Right now our site is pretty good for mobile devices. There was a recent report talking about how much our site is used on mobile.
Sometimes the classifieds are not the best model. The best tool for internet access for everyone in the future will be our phones. In the U.S., and increasingly in developed nations, everyone has or will have a phone. Right now the universal manifestation of the net is actually texting. I consider texting part of the internet.
iMedia: Craigslist's design has remained largely the same, even though a dizzying array of technological developments has dramatically revolutionized the way we think about websites. How do you evaluate the endless stream of Web 2.0 applications?
Newmark: I think some of the technologies are great. I like the ability to run a JavaScript-based application, but our overriding concern is keeping it simple. How to do both is a challenge. I'm looking forward to local applications on one's mobile device. I prefer them to run within the browser because that means they'll run everywhere. Firefox is pretty good at this and pretty stable. I wonder what it will be like with Chrome.
iMedia: You're the founder of Craigslist, and yet you still do customer service. What's the key to excellent customer service?
Newmark: My primary role is that I deal with media, and I have fairly serious director responsibilities. I'm part of a team of service reps; my boss is the customer service manager.
Like any other human effort, we're flawed, but we try really hard. In my past jobs, we had talked good customer service but were not really permitted to provide it. That always irritated me. I want to do better. Plus, a company core value -- and a personal core value -- has to do with treating people like you want to be treated.
My schedule is irregular. If I get an email and I'm in front of a system, it's handled immediately. If I'm in an interview, it may be delayed an hour or so. I have a few in my inbox right now. People know my email address. My schedule is basically 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. I am deliberately a bit obsessive. I handle a lot of the emails, and I also do forums moderation. In the morning, I will do whatever it takes to clear my backlog and then go for coffee.
There are 25 of us doing customer service. In terms of the kind of customer service I do, there are four other people who do nothing but customer service for the entire organization. Our site is largely self-policing. People can flag a post for removal, and if other people agree with them, it's removed. It's not a perfect system, but like democracy, it's the best one anyone has figured out.
iMedia: If you were going to start a company now, what would it be and why?
Newmark: I accidentally started Craigslist, and I'm not a real entrepreneur. I'm serious about our business, but Jim [Buckmaster, CEO] is the real entrepreneur. My role was just a pleasant accident.
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Susan Kuchinskas is a freelance writer who has written for Adweek, Business 2.0, M-Business and internetnews.com.
