First off- I continue to think that it’s fascinating that while we are all using Google search to find information, our behavior is, in the aggregate, creating new information. Meta-wow.

Google Zeitgeist lets the world know important things like:

• Searches for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” surge around Halloween.
• Chili is the most sought after recipe.
• A lot of people want to know “how to kiss.”
• Everyone’s all freaked out about Swine Flu

Like a lot of trending information being created today, I feel compelled to know about it, and completely at a loss about how it helps me make money, be happy, or serve God (the three sieves of “useful”).

You can see the whole report here.

Thoughts?

The basic story: Romy Maxwell was building a mashup of Craigslist data that displayed listings on a map. The project, called Flippity, seems pretty cool. It’s non-commercial, and uses data that Craigslist publicly syndicates through its RSS feed. But apparently, as soon as Craigslist found out about it, they blocked the application, as well as any other applications built using Yahoo Pipes.

You can read the more about the story on Romy’s blog, and at Tech Crunch on the Washington Post.

Of course, a lot had has already been written about this.

Here’s my question:
What’s the point?

Craigslist doesn’t charge for the vast majority of their content. They generally allow anyone to use their RSS feed for non-commercial purposes. It seems to be in their economic interest to further syndicate their content so that more people are engaging with them and their brand.

So… why?

Any guesses?

This reminds me of another current, high-profile case of online protectionism. Murdoch’s ad judgement at least makes sense- he’s “Big Content,” steeped in the old way of doing things. But Craigslist is supposed to be a shining example of the new way of doing things. They give away a bunch of stuff, give everyone access to it for free, and then charge below market rates for the one small subset of their “product” (job listings in a few large metro areas), and they make a fortune.

So, what gives?