Wednesday, July 05, 2006
FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Ebay looks to cash in on blogs:
"By Eoin Callan
Published: July 4 2006 17:34 | Last updated: July 4 2006 17:34
Ebay wants to create software tools that will allow the online auction company to cash in on the rapid growth of blogging, a senior executive told the Financial Times.
The group’s plans reflect a wider push by many of the world’s largest companies to tap into the potential revenues from blogs. More than 75,000 blogs are created each day, adding to a current total of about 35m, according to Technorati, which tracks blogs. This rate of expansion has attracted interest from executives from a range of industries.
But many are unsatisfied with their current options for engaging with the fragmented and independent-minded community of bloggers.
Courtney Holtpeter, a strategist at Universal Music, said: “There are not enough touch points between the places that music fans, for example, are finding out about new things and the places they can buy those things.”
Ebay wants to build bridges by developing software which it can then put in the hands of bloggers, allowing them to create links between niche communities and relevant products.
“Our approach would be to develop new tools that we can turn over to bloggers, so they can define the natural shape of the marketplace on their own. That is how Ebay originally developed,” Doug McCallum, UK managing director of Ebay, said in an interview.
He said some of the ideas for this software were likely to come from Ebay’s open-source network.
While Ebay’s plans are still in very early stages, similar software is being launched this week by MeCommerce, a venture-backed company that will allow bloggers to insert product listings inside their blogs and keep 50 per cent of the profits.
The service reflects the kind of embedded approach companies have been groping for.
The idea behind the software is to allow bloggers to recommend music, books, DVDs and T-shirts to readers who can make impulse purchases without leaving the blog. MeCommerce provides the inventory and the distribution using the same partners as Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, and uses payment systems such as Google Checkout..."
"By Eoin Callan
Published: July 4 2006 17:34 | Last updated: July 4 2006 17:34
Ebay wants to create software tools that will allow the online auction company to cash in on the rapid growth of blogging, a senior executive told the Financial Times.
The group’s plans reflect a wider push by many of the world’s largest companies to tap into the potential revenues from blogs. More than 75,000 blogs are created each day, adding to a current total of about 35m, according to Technorati, which tracks blogs. This rate of expansion has attracted interest from executives from a range of industries.
But many are unsatisfied with their current options for engaging with the fragmented and independent-minded community of bloggers.
Courtney Holtpeter, a strategist at Universal Music, said: “There are not enough touch points between the places that music fans, for example, are finding out about new things and the places they can buy those things.”
Ebay wants to build bridges by developing software which it can then put in the hands of bloggers, allowing them to create links between niche communities and relevant products.
“Our approach would be to develop new tools that we can turn over to bloggers, so they can define the natural shape of the marketplace on their own. That is how Ebay originally developed,” Doug McCallum, UK managing director of Ebay, said in an interview.
He said some of the ideas for this software were likely to come from Ebay’s open-source network.
While Ebay’s plans are still in very early stages, similar software is being launched this week by MeCommerce, a venture-backed company that will allow bloggers to insert product listings inside their blogs and keep 50 per cent of the profits.
The service reflects the kind of embedded approach companies have been groping for.
The idea behind the software is to allow bloggers to recommend music, books, DVDs and T-shirts to readers who can make impulse purchases without leaving the blog. MeCommerce provides the inventory and the distribution using the same partners as Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, and uses payment systems such as Google Checkout..."
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