The Ultimate Craigslist Story - 24 hours on craigslist
Channel: Michael Gibson
Date: 05/05/2012

This is a clip from the 2003 documentary "24 hours on craigslist".  Watch the entire movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2j_ZqopHC0
--

In 1995 craigslist.org was born in the Bay Area: a free, down-to-earth and uncensored bulletin board that revolutionized the ease and speed with which people could communicate, exchange goods and services, and create community.  Primarily focusing on housing, jobs, items for sale and personal ads, the site soon became a hub for San Francisco's wired community.

2003.  Craigslist is big.  Really big.  Over 1/3 of all Bay Area internet users utilize craigslist on a regular basis. Outside of the Bay Area, craigslist has spread to 31 cities across the globe, with no sign of slowing.  In San Francisco alone, the site receives over 23,000 posts daily, with page views close to 29 million daily.  With no advertising, no commercialization and only word-of-mouth promotion, craigslist has become a phenomenon.  And it's still free.

Our film:

From a single post on craigslist we assembled eight film crews and a soundtrack to document a random day-in-the-life of what has evolved into the world's largest community board. Not just the "Best-Of" or the "Success Stories", but a real, down-to-earth look at the fastest-growing grassroots cyber-community in the city that started it: San Francisco.

This is that day: August 4, 2003:

An Ethel Merman drag queen searches for the perfect backup band for her Led Zeppelin covers. A suburban professional woman assembles a diabetic cat support group. A couple seeks the perfect rabbi for their marriage.  An aging, would-be mother finds her ideal sperm donor. Doors for sale, one night stands, compulsive roommates, transsexual erotic services.  The mundane and the sublime, the ridiculous and the profound, all come together to paint a portrait of a thriving, humanistic community in the midst of an ever-accelerating culture.