Chris Tolles and I were having dinner this week. Chris, if you don’t know him, is the VP Marketing at Topix and all-around brilliant guy. he pointed me to a great blog post on the Topix blog about craigslist’s ambitions and their UI.
for all those web two dot oh companies that think a simple google-esque search bar is the only way to go, it may be worth reading this article. sometimes there is a real paradox of choice. but sometimes more clutter is actually better.
Clutter is sometimes better. Now I have an excuse…
I think you are correct in that it depends on the goal and the status of your audience at the time.
I think that the distinction between Google and Craigslist is mainly along abstract/concrete lines. I’m more likely to use Google when I’m researching a company or a person. I know that with the right keywords and phrases, I’ll be able to coax a lot of relevant information out of the web. If I’m trying to get a “sense” of something with which I’m unfamiliar, Google works for me. Of course, I often have to scroll through several pages of results before I find all the pieces of what I need.
Craigslist, by comparison, is a specific, localized tool for more clearly-defined tasks. If I want to sell my trumpet to a buyer in the next town over, Craigslist is the way to go. When I’m looking for something on Craigslist, it’s either there or it’s not. It doesn’t take long to determine.