On the internet, everything is one click or URL away – switching costs are pretty damn low.

Craigslist (which has never really aspired to much – monetarily, okay good on them or technologically, bad on them) is now getting more aggressive defending its (?) data.

So the old “do no evil”/hippie-granola phase seems to be over. Craigslist wants to defend its (?) data/money – okay.

Granted, brand recognition and network effects are powerful on the internet – but not even remotely insurmountable – ask MySpace, About.com, etc., etc.

So why is it really so hard to compete with Craigslist?

My guess is that it *isn’t* – just that not too many of the big (or even midsize) players have thought to (not enough revenue potential? There must be some – Craigslist is fighting over it now…)

Look, if a marginally better competitor (open API and traditional no user charges) were put out there and publicized, it is hard to imagine that Craigslist would not lose at least a portion of its audience.

I would like to see how well Padmapper would do if they had to license listings from CL. Better yet why dont you COMPETE against CL and see how you do.

It’s clear to me that it’s more popular than ever. Everybody uses it, and all these other apps and entities want to rip off it’s contents…

Come on, It totally dominates it’s space.