How to analyze Craigslist's entire history? Jeremy Zawodny is taking suggestions

blog.zawodny.com

45 pointsjoshwa3 comments

Map the "economic downturn" against the sort of things being advertised. Things like increase in car sales when the largest amount of people were employed, things that map what most people sell first when they have financial trouble. I guess that's pretty impossible to see, but I think it'd be cool to see the type of things posted when the economy is doing okay vs. everyone paniced and losing their jobs.

That's an interesting suggestion, but I'd like to see it the other way: Are there categories of CL posts that are a leading indicator of economic prosperity or downturn.

Something I only recently discovered is that there are actual business sales (ala "Salon with 6 Full Recline chairs and all equipment For Sale" business sales). You would think a category like that would definitely move in some direction with respect to the greater economy.

I'd like to see some OKCupid-like analysis of the ads that were flagged off. It could provide some well-needed scam-avoidance and filtering intelligence.

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