NEWS: Expedia founder in web property move

News/Social Networks/Web Culture/Daniel Pimlott
Found on FT.com

If Richard Barton the founder of Expedia has his way, Zillow.com could be the new Myspace... for Real Estate.

FT.com post:

Richard Barton, the founder of Expedia, wants to repeat the success of the online travel agency in the fast-growing market for US property websites, by opening up his Zillow.com to user-generated content similar to popular networking sites such as MySpace.

The move, to be announced today, will allow home-owners and estate agents to add properties’ photos, descriptions, improvements and selling price to Zillow – the company founded by Mr Barton in February.

The new service will be free but Mr Barton, who left Expedia shortly before Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp bought out the company for $3.3bn in 2003, said that Zillow wanted to tap into the estimated $6bn online advertising market for property and financial services.