Introducing Marketplace: Buy and Sell with Your Local Community

Marketplace has been around since 2007, I'm surprised it's taken this long to "introduce": http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2008/12/facebook-chooses-oodle-t...

I don't know if its just me, judging by the ad's that facebook shows me 70% of them are not legit. Fake clothes, fake watches, scam companies etc. How can I trust a service that will be not regulated at all, I mean its a nice idea, although I'd be very careful on what am looking in there. (At least ebay is a bit more regulated I'd say)

I live in a geographically isolated area which is small enough to not get it's own Criagslist area, but big enough that there is a lot of 2nd hand selling and buying. This almost exclusively happens through a FB group. It seems like this is a good natural move for FB.

I sold my old motorcycle in 2009 using FB Marketplace. Half the inquiries I got were from scammers, even then... Have they improved anything in that regard? I especially don't want people spamming my Facebook messages now that they're more intrusive.

More services means more data for them to exploit. Weak on privacy guarantees = whatever services they offer are heavily mined for your data.

When it comes to sales, craigslist is useful because it allows you to remain anonymous. With FB, I seem to be exposing exactly who I am, where I live, what I have for sale. In places with high crime rates, this opens me up to becoming a victim, as perps can search this information, see my name (maybe search online for more details), etc. Craigslist has even worked with police departments to set up safe areas[0] for people to exchange items. Will FB prioritize these important aspects?

I just recently saw an advertisement for their rural internet initiative, launching 3kW large-wingspan aircraft over remote areas to transmit network signals[1]. On the surface it is a useful goal - to connect more people - but ultimately, FB wants to increase its membership, and enrich its supply of data collected by people. Do we really prioritize having people send likes on FB from their shantytowns[2] instead of helping them improve their own villages -- food, sanity[3], customs, etc.?

From [2]:

> Mr. Kohli, 17, said he spends about four hours a day on the Internet and uses an Express Wi-Fi plan to supplement his Airtel data plan.

> Facebook has no desire to enter directly into the Internet service business.

> An important cog in the system is the merchant in each village that sells the service. Facebook and AirJaldi decided that there should be just one authorized seller per village to give that person a strong incentive to sell as many subscriptions as possible.

[0] http://www.npr.org/2015/03/27/395586863/police-departments-o...

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-31/facebook-t...

[2] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/facebook-strives-to...

[3] http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_madiath_better_toilets_better_l...