A friend of mine put her apartment for rent a few weeks ago. She was surprised to find out that real estate brokers have picked up her free ad and have taken credit for her apartment in their displayed inventory. She was then amazed to discover that this stunt has been performed by quite a few who were now competing with each other over the commission they obligated their clients to pay for her freely advertized apartment. This made me think (again) of where web 2.0 fits in cutting harmful middlemen. (more…)