The latest issue of Fortune Small Business features an interview with Mark Pincus of Tribe.net. Here are a few of the highlights:
On Tribe’s positioning:
Tribe.net is the next generation of online classifieds. Local and community classifieds is still a $12 billion business, with no market leader. Add another $4 billion to $5 billion for online. With Tribe, you connect only with your friends and your friends’ friends, and you’re more likely to trust their listings for a roommate because they’re not coming from strangers, as they would in the newspaper or on Craigslist.
On how Tribe plans to make money:
It’s too early for that, and I am not defensive for not having revenue. I’ve already built a fairly large user base with no marketing. We will depend on subtle, targeted advertising much like Google’s. BMW of San Francisco, for example, might want to reach all Bay Area Tribe.net users searching for cars. We’re also looking at forming partnerships with our newspaper investors, such as the Washington Post Co. When linked with a newspaper’s site, our mix of personal info and commerce could mean that more classifieds find buyers and more classifieds get posted.
And one of my favorite quotes I’ve heard on the topic, in response to the question, “Why isn’t social networking just this year’s flavor?”:
Social networking isn’t just a fad. The value of social networking lies in a person’s ability to get to a trusted target audience, which will yield better search results in less time.
Great answer, Mark!
