eBay Launches Intl. Classified Ads Site

According to this article, eBay just launched an international classified ads site called Kijiji.com. ("Kijiji" means "village" in Swahili.) This, of course, comes off of the heels of eBay's purchase of a 25% stake in Craiglist.com last August.

If there is one good thing I can say about eBay it is that they recognize the value of community on the internet as a means of achieving user lock-in - the oft-referenced "network effect." eBay, PayPal, and Craigslist all currently enjoy de facto monopolies in their respective sectors due to this phenomenon.

Full disclosure: I do not own shares of eBay.