eBay My World: beware Web 2.0 community creep

In “New eBay Wiki aims to harvest collective knowledge of the 193 million eBay community” and “eBay seeks ’social shopping’ dollars with Web 2.0 forays” last June, I discussed eBay’s embrace of the social Web:

eBay will be introducing eBay Blogs and an eBay Community Wiki at its eBay Live conference in Las Vegas next week…eBay Live sessions, "It’s Not About Me, It’s eBay Blogs!" and "Wiki 101–An Overview of the eBay Community Wiki," will present eBay’s new Web 2.0 marketing and sales tools.

 

I pointed out that eBay’s implementation of Web 2.0 applications did not represent a new found eBay appreciation for the power of online user interaction and communication:

The eBay Wiki, however, is but the latest way eBay users can “learn, contribute and share” at eBay. eBay offers so many eBay community communications options, in fact, that it advises: ‘When you have something you want to share with the eBay Community, choosing the right tool to post makes all the difference.’

eBay’s “About User-generated Content” FAQ describes a dizzying array of five different eBay venues for eBay buyer and seller contributed content: Blogs, Discussion Boards, Reviews, eBay Wiki, Guides…

eBay also warns: ‘It’s important not to use these opinion areas for feedback about a trading partner. Our Feedback system is designed to keep track of all comments related to transactions. Posting Feedback in other areas results in inaccurate Feedback scores.’

eBay has added an additional venue for eBay users to “customize, personalize and share,” "My World." According to eBay::

What is your eBay My World?

As an eBay member, you get publishing space to tell the community what makes you ... you

Customize: Pick your favorite features so your my World page looks like you,
Personalize: Tell the world about you--What you sell on eBay, your interests…anything!

Share: Add search tags so you can connect with people in the community.

EBay launched the new service as “Introducing My World – A New Profile Page”:

an updated profile page we'll be launching soon called My World. A My World page complements your About Me page and enables you to showcase your personality and interests by combining many of the features already available on eBay.

What you can do with My World

Think of My World as your place to show the rest of the eBay Community who you are on eBay. You can customize your page's look, layout and content through a variety of available features and modules:

• Feedback – Feedback will always be prominently displayed atop My World so that you can quickly see the transaction history of each member.
• Listings - Display your current listings and customize how they appear on your page.
• Photo or Icon - Show the world your face! Upload your own personal photo or choose from over 30 icons to represent you.
• Bio - Provide a description of yourself, your interests, your selling policies or anything else you want to include. You can also create search tags that make it easy for other members to find you.
• Reviews & Guides - Reviews & Guides are a great way to share your opinions and demonstrate your expertise. Showcase your Reviews & Guides on your My World page to gain new readership.
• Blog - Whether you blog for fun or for business, you can attract readers by including your latest eBay Blog posts on My World.
• Store - eBay Stores sellers will have their own Store module with customizable promotion boxes.

eBay apparently aims to promote My World as dedicated, eBay user homepages which will be populated with information created via other eBay community and interaction features: “Each member will have their own URL at http://myworld.ebay.com/[yourUserID].”

The community redundancy of eBay My World has been noted by eBay users at the eBay Forum for My World:

FORUM POST:

What are the differences between "My World" & "Me" pages?

Time and energy are very limited ATM so we'd like to know if this is worth investing what little energy we have in.
TIA

FORUM REPLY

Hi Tia!
Your ME page is basically an open book. You can put anything you want there within some common sense limits, of course), designed the way you want with HTML. There are a few layout things eBay provides that you can drop on there like items you're selling, or some of your feedback.
The MyWorld page combines a lot of seperate content from eBay, like feedback, reviews and guides you may have written, your eBay blog, items you're selling, your store and store promotions, and a bio module that provides personal and business interest info, and a picture.
If you have limited time and resources, your best immediate step is to customer your MyWorld with a picture, and fill out the business info in the BIO module. You're up and running.As you find more time, you can do something more involved with your ME page. You may want to do something basic with it now and revisit it later to develop it further.

Uncle Joe

By the time TIA finds a chance to “develop it further” eBay may have put forth even more community creep.