Osom: The Bastard Son of Craigslist and Instagram

By Drew Prindle Published December 23, 2019

Imagine for a moment that Craigslist, the granddaddy of online classified ads, happened to have an affair with Instagram, the artsy girl from down the street. Now imagine those two had a lovechild that somehow came out Swedish. If you can envision that, then you’ve got a pretty solid idea of what Osom is like.

Seriously, that comparison couldn’t be more spot on. The app, which debuted in the App Store last month, really is a perfect Craigslist/Instagram hybrid. Take its marketplace features for example – they bear a striking resemblance to Craigslist. You can browse listings globally or locally, and rather than simply hitting a “buy” button when you see something you want, you’re required to send the seller a message and make them an offer.

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But that’s about all the features Osom got from its father. Aesthetically, it’s all Instagram. Snap a picture of whatever you’re selling, and you can instantly apply a variety of filters to make it look more vintage and visually appealing. If you’re just there to do a bit of window shopping, Osom’s photo-forward design makes it much more fun to browse through stuff people have posted – it’s a much more enjoyable and engaging experience than scrolling through a long list of blue links on Craigslist. And if you find something you like, but don’t necessarily want to make an offer just yet, you can “osom” it and save it to your favorites list.

Check it out in the App Store – it doesn’t cost a dime. At this point, the user base is predominantly Swedish, but Osom has steadily been gaining steam in other areas since launch day, so there’s bound to be a few local listings in your city.

Drew is our resident tech nerd. He’s spent most of his life trying to be James Bond, so naturally he’s developed an…

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