• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 1, 2012

With Craigslist in its crosshairs, Facebook is reportedly working on a classifieds service, which utilizes users’ personal networks.

“The new tool, which is tentatively called Marketplace … would allow users to create short advertisements that appear in their friends’ news feeds notifying them of everything from apartment rentals to furniture sales to job boards,” The Daily reports, citing sources.

On the news, Forbes asks: “Why Did This Take Facebook So Long?” Indeed, “if you’ve already got 1 billion users, all of whom are already telling people their location, then wouldn’t running classified ads strike you as an obvious thing to be doing?”

As CNet reminds us, however, this wouldn’t be Facebook’s first crack at a classifieds service. “Back in 2007 … the social network launched a free classified service it called Facebook Marketplace.”

Adds CNet: “While Marketplace still exists on the social network, it didn't exactly take off, and in 2009 Facebook handed it off to another company called Oodle.”

“This time around, the Facebook Marketplace would have better integration within a user’s regular news feed, and could even pop up on their Timeline (profile),” Venture Beat notes, citing The Daily’s report.

“Far more interesting, though, is the potential for Facebook to start serving up help-wanted ads,” Business Insider suggests. “Unlike Craigslist's untargeted text listings, these could be targeted based on location and education.”