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I posited a similar point to a former colleague (mine was more about eventual market dominance due to excellent UI+UX), and he came back with Craigslist as a pe

I posited a similar point to a former colleague (mine was more about eventual market dominance due to excellent UI+UX), and he came back with Craigslist as a perfect example of a product that gained a massive user base well into an era where its UI felt very outdated. A few years after this exchange, I feel more like I was right about my point: FB Marketplace has almost completely taken over as far as a classified product marketplace, but the point still stands that Craigslist was able to do a ton with very lackluster UI+UX

cycomanic 6y ago
Another counter example: amazon. By far the worst userinterface of any webbshop, no filters, hardly any categories a search were very small changes in spelling/wording make huge changes in results. And still they are by far the biggest game in town.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
I think the problem with this analysis of Craigslist vs. Facebook is twofold. One, Craigslist had, in fact, a great UI. It was simple, clean and accessible to everyone, no matter whether you were using the newest desktop browser, a screen reader, a cheap phone or a potato. Craigslist is a success story of bullshit-free UI. It got beaten by FB Marketplace because Facebook has almost three billion captive users, and a marketplace bundled in the service they use many times a month takes less effort to visit than a completely separate site. From this, and many other cases - like e.g. everyone hating the IM/videoconference system they use and yet using them anyway, I conclude two rules of thumb: - UI that's good for users has very little to do with what UI/UX specialists peddle today; - Network effects trump UIs - a sticky service with bad UI will beat a competitor that offers much better UI, but doesn't hold the user captive.
- bsder 6y ago
  Craigslist also got beaten because they fought becoming a unified marketplace--with lawyers. Had they not fiercely destroyed all the various "Search all Craiglist" mechanisms, they might have had a chance at fighting FB Marketplace.

cycomanic 6y ago

Another counter example: amazon. By far the worst userinterface of any webbshop, no filters, hardly any categories a search were very small changes in spelling/wording make huge changes in results. And still they are by far the biggest game in town.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

I think the problem with this analysis of Craigslist vs. Facebook is twofold. One, Craigslist had, in fact, a great UI. It was simple, clean and accessible to everyone, no matter whether you were using the newest desktop browser, a screen reader, a cheap phone or a potato. Craigslist is a success story of bullshit-free UI. It got beaten by FB Marketplace because Facebook has almost three billion captive users, and a marketplace bundled in the service they use many times a month takes less effort to visit than a completely separate site. From this, and many other cases - like e.g. everyone hating the IM/videoconference system they use and yet using them anyway, I conclude two rules of thumb: - UI that's good for users has very little to do with what UI/UX specialists peddle today; - Network effects trump UIs - a sticky service with bad UI will beat a competitor that offers much better UI, but doesn't hold the user captive.

bsder 6y ago
Craigslist also got beaten because they fought becoming a unified marketplace--with lawyers. Had they not fiercely destroyed all the various "Search all Craiglist" mechanisms, they might have had a chance at fighting FB Marketplace.