When Craigslist users donвЂ™t know how the platform makes money, itвЂ™s because theyвЂ™re part of the user group who simply doesnвЂ™t get charged. When Facebook users arenвЂ™t sure how the platform makes money, itвЂ™s because the process of analyzing data and selling ads is deliberately hidden. This is a very direct relationship between user and platform вЂ“ and itвЂ™s totally different from the convoluted streams of data and targeted advertising used by platforms like Facebook and Google. The site doesnвЂ™t display banner ads, nor does it sell user data to third parties.

More recently, Craigslist has started charging for other kinds of ads, like real estate listings from firms and car ads from dealers.Д«ut regular users donвЂ™t have to pay a fee. (By siphoning revenue from classified ads, Craigslist has been one reason newspapers across the country have struggled to stay in business.) In fact, Craigslist has always charged money for certain ads, like job postings and classified ads. Many of those I spoke with thought Craigslist was a nonprofit or that it was community-run. Its profitability might come as a surprise to some. Today, Craigslist has more monthly page visits than The New York Times or ESPN, and itвЂ™s been incredibly profitable. For years, Newmark did customer service, responding to design complaints and concerns about scams. Almost as soon as the internet was becoming widely available вЂ“ roughly 1 out of 5 households was online at the time вЂ“ Craigslist was there to help people find roommates, look for jobs, go on blind dates or sell used furniture.Д¬raigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has been at the helm since 2001 and the founder, Craig Newmark, is still involved in the company. By 1996, it had become a website with job listings, apartment rentals and personal ads. You donвЂ™t need to turn users into dataД¬raigslist started as an email listserv in 1995, when early web enthusiasts were looking for a sense of community and DIY education. Sort of like a shark thatвЂ™s never had to evolve, Craigslist has remained incredibly successful without giving up values of anonymity, accessibility and transparency. The site looks more or less the same today as it did in the late 1990s. Then again, you can always just keep checking and try your luck on the next sofa that you happen to notice.The platform has weathered the internetвЂ™s boom-and-bust cycle, with countless peers and competitors coming and going. There are dozens of such apps available for iPhone and Android, many of which include features to make searching and being notified of new postings easy as pie. If this all sounds way too high maintenance, you can always just get a Craigslist app. Many of these features require paid memberships. Some of the available readers also include features that will text you or email you when postings arise. Then, you can view them individually or all together via FeedReader. Remember that you need to copy a new RSS URL for each search criteria.

Click Refresh to refresh the feed and view new postings.Дo this for as many Craigslist searches as you want.

Paste the Craigslist URL into the address space provided in the pop-up.

Click Add a new feed on the left hand side.

Click the large button underneath reading Create Account.

Click Create Account at the top of the fields on the right.

If these feeds arenвЂ™t to your liking, a quick Google search will reveal dozens more to choose from. A few of the most popular and highly rated include: There are numerous readers out there, many of them free. In order to read an RSS feed, you need an RSS reader. In other words, it can be used to keep on top of budding news stories, posts on popular forums, and more. ItвЂ™s a format that delivers web content to you that may change over time. Now, when viewing your reader, youвЂ™ll receive notifications whenever a new post pops up matching this specific search criteria.

Paste the URL into an RSS reader of your choice.

Just copy the URL from the top of your browser. The next page will look very confusing.Click RSS in the bottom right hand corner.Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the results page.

Craigslist google reader