The Internet classifieds battle hots up with Microsoft's Live Expo

First Google launched Google Base, which was intended to provide a platform for people to be able to buy and sell all manor of things via a digital classifieds service that will also become an e-commerce platform for brick and mortar companies.

Now Microsoft has launched Windows Live Expo - which is more directly designed to take on Craig's List.

Whereas Google's approach is all about e-commerce and listings - Microsoft's is about social networking and classifieds. And they have woven blogging and messaging into Expo. They clearly believe that we are likely to be interested in seeing what our friends and neighbours have on offer, perhaps more than just any stranger.

It looks to me like Google Base, Microsoft's Live Expo and Craig's List are all going after exactly the same turf. And their real collisison course will be with Ebay and Amazon on one side and newspaper classifieds on the other.

But, ultimately more and more classifieds wil move to the Internet - Google and Microsoft will both prove winners - and the biggest losers will be local newspapers.