Twitter – Classifieds?

Yes, you read that right. Twitter is now being used as a way to buy, sell, and job hunt online. To get my head around this new, 140 character way of posting classifieds, I spoke to people at Tweba, iList Micro, and the smaller startup Twitmart.

Tweba

Beginning life as a pet project last December, Tweba (originally called Tweebay) was developed to showcase the versatility of the Twitter API. In fact, the original version took only a day to code.

After some user feedback and tweaking, it’s just been relaunched as a fully fledged online Twitter classifieds service, with, in just of a week, more than 50,000 users listings.

According to developer Paul Rawlings,

“Tweba allows people to list for free and to create a stream ([a] bit like twitter) of everything that they are selling on the internet. The great thing about Tweba is that it addresses the issue of selling on multiple destinations and creates a central place to buy and sell. Once listings are placed in Tweba, Sellers can then use Tweba to promote their listings on over 30+ of their social networks, pushing their listings to more of their Social Circles.”

But Tweba isn’t Rawlings only foray into the world of Twitter. A few months ago, he launched Twe2, “which allowed Twitter users to receive their updates via SMS outside of the USA for Free. Within 8 weeks of launching we had sent over 1,000,000 sms and had [tens] of thousands of users.” The fast-growing startup has now been sold.

So how can users get started on Tweba?

Arguably the most versatile of Twitter classifieds sites, Tweba actually allows users to maintain a store of sorts, “a true central place on the internet where they can buy and sell,” explains Rawlings.

Getting listings into Tweba is easy. You can either create one directly on the Tweba site or you can post on Twitter using a hashtag such as #ihave and it will be automatically pulled into Tweba. And, because everything on Tweba is like a Twitter feed, each event on Tweba posts to the timeline and the system decides where the message needs to be visible.

To create a listing on the Tweba site, hit the “click to start” button in the right sidebar. Then login with Twitter or Facebook, or create your own Tweba account, a great function for those not interested in using Twitter. Once you’ve signed it, Tweba will ask for access to your Twitter account – click allow. Tweba then takes you to your own, customizable Tweba home page. After that, buying and selling is simple – just follow the simple prompts.

iList Micro

From the developers of iList, iList Micro allows users to post directly to Twitter using #iwant, or a variety of other, special hashtags. But how did the people at iList come to think of Twitter as a classifieds tool?

“iList had some very basic integration with Twitter from the start,” says Chris Abad, iList CEO. “We all use Twitter quite a bit, and knew it was a great tool for communication with your network. As things progressed, we saw Twitter emerge as a viable application platform. We felt Twitter had some very unique characteristics that were beneficial to a marketplace-like environment, and we could best leverage these by building a product that was tied exclusively to Twitter.”

But why does a site like iList Micro work?

According to Abad, there are a few reasons, though the top one is unsurprsing – Cost. But the real genius in iList Micro is its algorithms. “We’ve been able to write sophisticated algorithms which can understand tweets and automatically make accurate recommendations,” says Abad. “Someone could be out and tweet from their phone something like “I need a new Macbook Pro #iwant.” We’ll find that and, within minutes, send that user a link to a list of people on Twitter who want to get rid of their Macbook Pro’s. That sort of interaction is easy, seamless, and realtime.

So how can users get started with iList Micro?

iList Micro is easy to use from the get-go. Right at the top of the landing page is a search box, allowing users to do a quick check for items they’re interested in. And once you’ve found something you like? Just click “reply” and sign in with your Twitter account. Twitter then takes you straight to a reply box, targeted at the item seller. Write in your 140 character message, hit update, and you’re done!

Listing without going through the iList Micro site is also easy. Just post your item on Twitter using #ihave and let iList Micro index your tweets and make them searchable.

What if you want a real time feed? Follow @ilistmicro and iList Micro will send you a page with potential matches. Every time you use iList Micro, its recommendation system gets that much better.

Twitmart

A much smaller enterprise, Twitmart is less of an independent classifieds site and more of a Twitter-Craigslist mashup. Founded by Dave Becekemeyer and based in Lowell, MA. And, like Craigslist, Twitmart is based on a sense of community.

“Twitmart leverages your friends (I have a computer to sell) as well as a subset of tweets that can be searched and organized in a traditional buying format,” explains Beckemeyer. “[But it] also provides an additional privacy angle. Both parties only expose their public TwitterID’s as their contact details. This makes it easier to assess something about the advertiser and helps to build a degree of trust.

“In the future (when Twitter adds additional location data to the URL) localized real-time searches will become possible. Thus the speed of twitter will enable us to advertise or broadcast for things that others can help us with in the local area. For example a ride home, meet me for coffee, clean up this location.”

So how can users get started with Twitmart?

Just visit the Twitmart site and, like Craigslist, click on the category that interests you (note: so far, Twitmart’s only location is Lowell, MA, at the present time Twitmart can be used from anywhere, and people can find the seller’s Twitmart listings regardless of their location). Next, select the ad you’re interested in. If you’d like to reply, just click the reply link – a Twitter ID at the top of the page – and sign in to Twitter when prompted. Twitter then takes you straight to a reply box, targeted at the item seller. Write in your 140 character message, hit update, and you’re done!

Want to keep up with the latest deals? Just follow #twitmart.

By Peta Andersen
May 15, 2009
© Daype Inc.