My Answer to the Quora question: "Why hasn't another product disrupted and displaced Craigslist?"

Think of Craigslist as two distinctive functions -- each of which may, or may not be disrupted.

One function is that of gathering postings -- which Craigslist does on behalf of most categories for free, while monetizing only a small portion of job and real estate classifieds in select markets where their dominance is so great that the benefit is worth the cost to the party posting. Because every other posting category is free, Craigslist has "de-monitized" those markets, making it hard for others to enter and gain traction (see Wired Magazine the Craigslist Credo). In regulatory terms, we have a name for such a practice: dumping -- i.e. pricing below cost to thwart competitor entry. While not 100% dominant, Craigslist remains the undisputed leader in a wide number of realms and isn't likely to be disrupted out of its power position any time soon.

The other function is that of displaying postings -- an area that Craigslist has deliberately not innovated in for more than a decade. Just like having a film company that produces content, if you own all the movie theaters that show the content, you have a sweet double hold on a market place because you are on both sides of the content game. And you don't need to upgrade those theaters if the movie desirous public has no where else to see new releases.

But here's where Craigslist can be disrupted: the postings in question are public facts about exchanges. Just as any price/supply/demand in a marketplace is open for any and all to notate and republish, so too is the entire set of Craigslist data -- as these offers between seekers and providers are clearly in the public domain. Historically, Craigslist has attempted to block access by others to the comprehensive use of this data. They block many 3rd parties who try to gain access to the data, and sometimes threaten to sue and bankrupt others as if they themselves created the underlying data and hold copyright like property rights over the same.

But public facts are public property. And while some think that predatory Terms of Use demanding that you hand over the Brooklyn Bridge in liquidated damages if you don't comply with some obscure (and potentially constitutionally void) constraint will stand in court -- such absurdities will break if exposed.

A fear, uncertainty,dread approach over access to data breaks down in a world where Google already indexes all of Craigslist data and caches that information all over the internet (for search performance results). If its possible and legal for Google, then why not for any and everyone else to also index and offer access to the same data. In short, Google doesn't get special secondary property rights to privatize public data to the exclusion of anyone else. Equal access to exchange data and search data is a principle in parallel to the notions of net neutrality.

The points above are not a theoretical discourse. Look at 3taps.com/developers to see the execution of this concept. And look at what a 3rd party application (craiggers.com) can do in recreating the whole of Craigslist in a format that gives access to data in a way that is not remotely possible in the legacy Craigslist offering. Craiggers is a perfect example that the function of displaying Craigslist data (rather than gathering it) is a totally distinct (and competitive) marketplace, even if there are still huge network effects in the gathering of Craigslist postings.

Note, Craiggers does NOT disrupt the existing Craigslist revenue model for Craigslist. It simply opens up the field (along with any other developer building on 3taps assisted access to Craigslist data) that wants to build on top of (rather than compete with) the network effects of Craigslist. Think Kayak and Indeed, but now for the whole body of data covered by Craigslist accessible, rather than just a single vertical.

Advocacy for Open Exchanges

This blog advocates for open exchanges between seekers and providers. I feel strongly that there is a public good created when exchange spaces are efficient and fair. Efficiency is an economic concept that can be measured in terms of friction between the parties. Fairness is an ethical concept that can be measured in terms of transparency and equality of access.

Other critical norms to me included the capability for exchanges to support, at users discretion, public, private, and anonymous interactions. Public behavior relates to your true identity being known and typically is achieved through having the name you are acting under linked to a verifiable identity marker via Twitter, Facebook, or Google. Private behavior relates to your using a private alias whereby your identity is cloaked from the immediate counter party -- though it may still be knowable to a trusted third party that can validate that your private identity is verifiably attached to your cloaked true identity and payment details. Anonymous behavior relates to using a fully anonymous (even to the exchange) identity that ensures complete privacy for the party concerned.

I support a full statement of principles related to open exchanges and have gathered these values into a statement of advocacy posted at 3taps.com/advocacy. 3taps is the startup that I've founded that focuses on making open exchanges a practical reality for any user and any developer who wants to build on a "data commons" of postings that relate to exchanges between seekers and providers.