Woah. It seems that the Manila edition of Craigslist has been launched sometime within the last three months. I wonder how I missed it.

Craigslist is the most successful classified ads on the web. The site is 99% text, but the lack of images and graphics does not deter from its runaway success in San Francisco Bay Area, where the site was initially launched, to New York, where it has transformed the underground economy of the Big Apple.

I think, however, that Craigslist Manila will be far from successful compared to the Philippine edition of Friendster Classifieds. First of all, Friendster Classifieds was started in the Philippines, when Friendster entered into a partnership with Pusit, a local classified ads site started by Terence Pua. And second, Pusit-Friendster was heavily advertised on Friendster itself among the users who were in the Philippines, where Friendster is such a big hit.

Friendster’s classified ads is obviously modeled after Craigslist, from the graphically sparse layout down to the warning page when viewing the adult personal sections. Right now, Friendster Classified Philippines has much, much more ads compared to Craigslist Manila. Then again, it’s very noticeable that there is no US edition of Friendster Classifieds; Friendster knows well enough that it can’t compete with Craigslist, which is hugely successful in the States.