Google Building Maker: Our Tools, Your Labor

By Thomas Claburn

Having already made billions by leveraging the links created by Web site owners to power its search engine past rivals, Google has reason to continue panning for gold in the river of free content that is the Internet.

Google of course is not alone in this: Pretty much any social Web site worth anything relies on aggregating the product of free labor -- comments, reviews, ratings, clicks, and the like. The goal is to amass something of value from information that on its own has so little value that its creators give it away gladly, particularly in return for software or a service.

Some companies like online movie ticket service Fandango pursue user-generated content with the ardency of a stalker, sending e-mail solicitations after you've seen a movie to ask you to submit a review or rating. The messages might as well say, "Please write for us for free! We can monetize your work."

Google has pursued this strategy with services like Knol, SearchWiki, and various contests. And its latest gambit along these lines is Building Maker, which Google hopes to see used to add a third dimension to the mostly flat world of Google Earth.