From a platform perspective, Oodle has a lot in common with Twitter…

1. We index a real-time a stream of perishable, unique “tweets” (800-900k new messages a day) in the form of classifieds listings. Actually, we do more than just index these listings.  Our real-time infrastructure tags, enhances and prunes the messages flowing through our system.  For example, if someone posts a listing a for “2006 Prius,” we determine that it’s a car listing (hybrid subcompact), year=2006, manufacturer=Toyota, make=Prius and enhance the listing with all the standard features, including a stock photo if one was not submitted.  (In other words, we auto-apply hash tags.)  Moreover, if someone posts a listing that is fraudulent or inappropriate, we have a range of proprietary technologies that automatically detect, flag and remove the message.

2. Users search and browse our stream. Due to the volume and structured nature of our stream, we enable users to quickly slice and dice the stream both through keyword search and by selecting attributes (or tags).   Moreover, we’ve applied our parsing technology to search, so if someone searches for a 2006 Mercedes, we convert the query into year=2006, manufacturer=Mercedes Benz to deliver the most relevant results.

3. Users post “tweets” (classified listings) into our stream.  And the post is a quick and simple process. Recently, as part of the work we did with Facebook Marketplace, we streamlined our post process to make it as lightweight as possible.  It’s not quite 140 characters but we’re getting close. More importantly, we bring the user’s identity into the listing.  So rather than a stream of anonymous content, listings are tied to the identity of the poster (on Oodle, Facebook, MySpace, etc.).  Someone can also see the previous listings posted by that user.

4. Users follow relevant topics in the stream. When you’re looking for a car, you want to see all the listings that are currently posted, as well as new listings as soon as they get introduced into the stream.   With a single click on Oodle, users can easily follow any search (e.g., Acura TLs for under $10k within 60 miles of Burlingame, CA).

5. Users share and discuss “tweets.” It’s easy to share an Oodle listing with your friends on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.  You may see a listing you think a friend would be interested in — or want feedback from a friend (should I buy this car?).   Having said that, we’re really only just getting started in this area.  There are a lot of interesting features coming soon…

It’s exciting to see users become more comfortable with metaphors around streaming, subscribing and sharing.  It not only enables us to better represent the cool stuff we’ve built over the last few years, it serves as a wonderful launch pad for where we’re going with “social classifieds.”

Last year, we launched the MySpace Classifieds channel in the U.S. Since then, we’ve seen tremendous growth as more and more people are turning to social classifieds as a way to buy, sell and find things — from cars to guitars. We’re excited to work with MySpace Canada to bring social classifieds to a broader audience.

Because user profiles are linked to each listing (as opposed to anonymous IDs), there is inherent transparency in who you are selling to, trading with or buying from. These features make MySpace Canada Classifieds a safer environment and provide a more efficient way to connect buyers and sellers.

Users of MySpace Canada can also quickly spread the word about what they’re selling or share information about what they are looking for through MySpace bulletins and blogs. Every listing also has a forum for asking questions or sharing additional details about listing.

We’re thrilled to be working with MySpace Canada to broaden the appeal of classifieds by offering a safer — and more social — alternative for people to share their listings.

Thinking about applying for a job here at Oodle? (Because we’re hiring!) Following are the top “Five Reasons Why I Love my Job at Oodle”

1. Classifieds are Cool – Oodle is building the next-generation of classifieds, which leverage the social graphs of Facebook and MySpace, creating an entirely new way for people to buy and sell their stuff.
2. Creative and Collaborative Environment – As a product manager, I get to outline the product vision for Oodle and define the product features that will make our site loved and used by millions of users. Ideas, however, come from everywhere — from users, from our partners, from marketing and engineers. My job is to take those ideas and work with a really smart and innovative team to turn them into reality. We work in a very agile driven environment where product works collaboratively with engineering to get an idea turned into reality in just a couple of weeks.
3. Customer-focused Product – I feel very fortunate to be able to work on product that has impact. How cool is it that you can launch a product and get immediate feedback from users? On the morning that we launched Facebook Marketplace, we had over 500 new postings within the first hour — many were made by international users who came to check out the new site. At the end of the day, we had over 1000 responses to our survey from users giving us feedback. Over the weekend, we had a number of users writing in telling us how much they loved the new service. In fact, one user found their dream poodle on Oodle and said they are telling all their friends to check out Oodle!
4. Company Culture – I love how the employees of Oodle really drive the company culture at Oodle. We have Teaching Tuesdays where anybody at Oodle can teach something that they know a lot about, e.g. how to Salsa, Yoga, play poker, even do your taxes. We have Foodle every Friday, where everyone brings in a potluck dish to share. We celebrate monthly birthdays. We have annual traditions such as cook-offs, camping trips, ski trips — all ideas initiated by someone at the company. While we work hard, Oodle is very family oriented and friendly, which is key to having a work/life balance.
5. CEO – Craig Donato, Oodle’s CEO, is just about the friendliest and happiest CEO you will ever meet. In addition to be being a visionary and innovative leader, he has a passion and energy that is infectious and inspires us all. Have I persuaded you to apply for a job here? Send your resume to Jobs@Oodle.com

Here at Oodle, safety is a top priority and we’ve taken a strong stance to combat classifieds SPAM. We use proprietary fraud detection software to scan each and every listing before it can enter our network. In addition, our support team is armed with proprietary moderation tools for tracking down suspicious behavior and new scams. Working with the Better Business Bureau, we recently published an online classifieds safety guide to protect both buyers and sellers against potentially harmful situations. Following are a few simple tips to make sure you have a safe — and successful — classifieds experience:

• Always meet in a public place — and avoid making an in-person transaction alone
• Inspect all items before you buy
• Beware of underpriced offers — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• Don’t wire money or take advance payments
• Insist on cash–never use money wires, MoneyGrams or Western Union
• Never give out personal identifiable information, such as your credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or bank numbers
• Only pay for shipping if you know the seller

To see the entire guide, visit http://safety.oodle.com/files/Oodle_Safety_Brochure.pdf.

If you do happen to run into a fraudster or are suspicious of a certain listing, tell us about it so we can spread the word.

By sharing, reusing and giving our stuff away, we can curb the purchase of new items and the disposal of old ones. Following are a few tips for using online classifieds’ sites to make giving, sharing and searching for used stuff as easy as possible:

1. Give Your Stuff Away: Sites like Freecycle.com and Handmedowns.com allow you to give away your stuff online locally. The new Facebook Marketplace allows you to give things away to friends — as well as the larger Facebook community, which includes charities.
2. Sell Your Stuff Online: Classifieds sites, such as Oodle.com and AOL Classifieds allow you post an online classified ad for free. On the Facebook Marketplace, you can even sell your stuff and designate the proceeds to one of thousands of charities nationwide.
3. Find it Used: Online classifieds make it easy to search for items by category — from baby gear to autos. Can’t find what you are looking for? Sign up for email alerts that notify you just as soon as a listing appears — or “Ask For it” on the Facebook Marketplace.

For more information about how you can curb your intake of new items and lessen your trash output, take a look at the thestoryofstuff.com.

One way for families to save money is to rent an apartment or home in lieu of staying in a hotel. A great place to begin the search is Oodle.com’s vacation rentals. Oodle aggregates vacation listings from more than 50 sites, including greatrentals.com, vrbo.com, cyberrentals.com, hutz.co and vacationrentals.com, making it easy to find the perfect vacation rental.  If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for, Oodle allows you to set up an alert, so you will be notified just as soon as a vacation rental that matches your requirements is posted.

Keep in mind that renting a house or apartment is not like booking a hotel room – it’s a binding contract between you and the homeowner. In the event you need to cancel, you may have to do so within a week or even 30 days for a full refund.

Please share the love the and vote for Oodle!

Video courtesy of Oodler David West.

Oodle had a great year in 2008.  We brought some great partners into our network, including Walmart and MySpace, and our traffic more than tripled. Indeed, last month we hit a big milestone when we received more than 10M visits.

I’m really excited about where we’re going this year.  More and more people are turning to classifieds in this tough economic environment to find great deals or raise extra cash.

Our mission, as always, is to find innovative ways to improve the experience of using online classifieds.  And one of the best opportunities to do that is to make the experience more social.  With our partnerships with MySpace and Facebook we’re now poised to usher in a new generation of classifieds!

The following are some tips to minimize the time you spend looking and increase the chance that you’ll find hundreds of jobs within a 50-mile radius of your zip code:

• Search by job title. This will deliver the results that best match your resume qualifications. If you are searching for a job with an uncommon title, consider searching by keyword to reveal the job titles in the left margin. You can also use a wider geographic radius to find the title you are looking for.
• Change your location. Once you have found (and checked off) all the job titles that you are interested in, move the radius back to your home city/town. To do this change the radius by clicking on the location crumb trail and use the dropdown box, searching from “More Choices.” Now click “Find it!”
• Set up an alert. Even when there are currently no results on your search. New jobs are posted each day and an alert will let you know about one that matches your requirements, just as soon as it is posted.
• When you receive an alert with a job you are interested in, click the link which will take you to your original search page with the new listing at the top of the page. The “Details” window will be opened for the new listing. Go to the home page of the listing by clicking the link in the title, or the “See Full Details” link in the “Details” window.
• Each potential employer has a different method for you to apply for the job. Some sites ask you to send your resume. Others will only take an application through their website application form process. Read the job listing carefully and follow the instructions.
• If you are just trying to get your foot in the door to a specific company, search under “Companies” for a list of openings. If you do not see the company you are looking for, widen your search to a country-wide radius from your home town/city, and then use “More Choices” under the “Company” options.
• Finally, when you have found a job and would like to discontinue alert email, simply click the “Unsubscribe” link.