Within a couple of clicks of entering www.oodle.com I was able to create this map of housing available in San Francisco. (Oodle brings together listings from hundreds of local and national sources and uses Google Maps techn ology to display their location.)
Once I have this capability on my mobile phone and based on my location at the time I have a very sexy new classified model. Sure, some people will enjoy reading classifieds as if reading a book. They are not as interesting as those who access the advertising in pursuit of a purchase.
The marriage of classified advertisements with Google maps is brilliant.
I’d like to see newspapers in Australia reporting on this online advertising phenomenon and in particular the rapidly changing classified space where mapping, mobility and lower cost are key drivers for online business growth.
What is really interesting in this space is the battle by newspaper publishers, particularly in the United States, to retail control of classified advertising.