I’ve always been fascinated with Craigslist as a website — mostly because it’s one of very few sites these days that is extremely popular while also being extremely ugly.
If, say, high school is any indicator, that’s typically not how it works. With virtually no aesthetic value, Craigslist gets by on raw practicality – lots of it.
How else could it drive over 10% of U.S. page views? Since its formation in the late 90s it has grown to provide a virtual bulletin board for the entire U.S. and much of the world. In the world of need-based online connections, it’s a God. So when I heard about another bulletin site called MyHometownLink.com that specifically serves Wellesley, Needham, and Weston, Mass., I had to wonder – why bother?
MyHometownLink (MHL) is modeled similarly to Craigslist — helping people connect over personal services, etc., but, comparatively, MHL is a microscopic version that someone took the time to paint.
What I mean to say is that MyHometownLink actually looks ok, but divide its range by Craigslist’s and you’ve got a number with about as many zeros before it as there are names in a Mexico City phonebook. MyHometownLink focuses only on connecting students with adults looking for wholesome household tasks like lawn mowing, babysitting, tutoring and ‘other jobs’ — maybe a great resource for those looking to whitewash a fence.
But seriously, who would ever use MyHometownLink? I ask this question of Wellesley, Needham, and Weston residents because anyone out of the area obviously wouldn’t, and I find it hard to believe this would be your first destination if you needed a hand with something menial even if you do live in any of these locations. I suppose there’s value in having an online bulletin board just for just your town, but doesn’t Craigslist get close enough by way of the sheer volume of people on it?
Like I said, MyHometownLink looks cleaner than Craigslist, if you like pastel clipart, but Craigslist has proved that looks don’t matter and a flashy logo won’t get your jet ski sold – so that’s not going to be a differentiating factor. There’s no actual marketplace on MHL, just a niche job listing. No personal ads either (unless you sneak them into the “other jobs” category. Tell me that category name isn’t begging for some Chatroulette-style misuse. Z-J anyone?)
There is actually one defining feature of MyHometownLink, which is a social networking element. Workers and employees are able to see connections and links they share like you would on Facebook or LinkedIn. Whether this adds any value to the online bulletin board is a question users will have to answer for the company.
While companies like SitterCity.com have gone a long way to take business, (and traffic at about a half-million views per month, according to Compete.com) these sites sell more than just connections. SitterCity essentially sells background checks. BostInnovation editor Kyle Psaty posted a job for yo-yo lessons this morning without having to go through anything like that, and without having to list a single connection in the community. (He’s not even very good at yo-yo-ing.)
I don’t really think MyHometownLink is a terrible idea, believe it or not. At least for parents looking for yard work and students trying to make a couple extra bucks over the summer, it could be useful from time to time. Unfortunately, for most people, I don’t think this is enough reason to use it. Though it might help grandmas all over the North Shore get rid of weeds in their driveways, Craigslist can do that and much more. And so the question remains: why use the tiny bulletin board when the biggest one in the world is already much more effective?
