BigShinyThing

The most popular websites are being made into films telling the backstories of users.

EBay’s TV series has already suggested that websites have got this brand-sponsored programming thing down. Now a movie about Craigslist threatens to launch the community posting website on the world.

Sample Craigslist post:

HUGE 2BR apt features:
*OAK HARDWOOD FLOORING
*SOARING CEILINGS
*EXPOSED BRICK
*TRACK LIGHTING
*FIREPLACE
*BRAND NEW KITCHEN w/DISHWASHER
*2 SPARKLING FRESHLY TILED BATHS
*XXX TEENAGE SLUTS RIGHT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR

Eight million people post something every month on Craigslist, or CL as it’s affectionately known to users. Like eBay, the site has even developed its own language - a search for ‘generous’, for example, might throw up someone willing to pay for sex , while a ’skiing partner’ might refer to either a source for cocaine or a new drug buddy.

A listings site for anything and anyone, Craiglist has long been fodder for freakspotting on the net. Now the movie-going public can enjoy the same guilty pleasure.

‘24 Hours on Craigslist’ traces the backstories of some 80 people who posted on Craiglist in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday, August 4 2003. Says the director Michael Ferris Gibson, “It’s kind of an improvisational film. People trying to do nasty things with each other in the middle of the night - I think it captures the spirit of it for just this one day.”

The BBC have also recently picked up on the Craigslist phenomena, suggesting that it could potentially become as big as eBay and other internet giants.