This is the third of five posts where we look at how print became part of human social interaction and how the social Internet is very similar.

The basis is from the research of Asa Briggs and Peter Burke and referenced from Wikipedia here.

Asa Briggs’ and Peter Burke’s third finding:

3. Creative reading: Printing allowed people to read texts and interpret them creatively, often in very different ways than the author intended.

On the social Internet, messages are frequently used in ways the writer never intended.  Occasionally we even see how parts of various Web sites are used to create new sites that are more useful than the originals or Web tools that take raw information from a sites and add features not found on the originals.

Some organizations embrace others using their information. Google Maps is used across the Internet by scores of tools. Twitter allows access to updates and user information to third-party tool developers that add features not available on Twitter itself. Facebook is experimenting with giving external sites more access to the information shared on that site. Such are model examples of sharing information.

On the other hand, Craigslist.com has repeatedly blocked efforts by users to take information from the site and make it easier to find, store or use. Craigslist has its reasons, but they’re not sharing the assets that many others are trying to help organize and make even more useful.

My opinion is that organizations should openly let users share their information in every way they dream up. As a result, organizations will find new uses for what they do, and these new uses could generate increased user engagement and even revenue.