TheWayoftheWeb

The Wall Street Journal (article behind subscription) has reported Ebay is looking to hook up with Bebo in an attempt to attract a younger audience, as it’s current demographic remains in the 35-44 age range.

It’s interesting that they’re looking to tie up with a social networking site to achieve this, particularly after delisting Real Money Transfers, and raising the costs of teen purchases such as comics, video games and DVDs, as I mentioned in January.

Should this all go ahead, will it see a Bebo revolt? After all, Bebo gained prominence after the commercialisation of Myspace.

I guess it will always be a gamble to try and get money from any site perceived as a friendly place to network, but the secret may be if it looks like the Ebay option gives a perception of value to the users.

Interesting changes are afoot at the world’s biggest fleamarket and online auction site.
Firstly, the charges for a number of categories will change from March 1, 2007. Listing fees are being reduced and simplified, which is nice at first glance. But, if you’re one of the many, many people who sell comics, DVDs, music and video games, then you’re in for a shock. The Final Listing Value is now up to 9%!
Ebay’s own example shows that selling many of these items will now have an increased cost to the seller, and it seems to suggest that you’re better off listing items for an unfair price to get the maximum cash, rather than offering a fair price. Could this see low-margin sellers looking elsewhere? Take a look at the examples for yourself, and note that they all assume an item needs to be listed twice to sell.

There’s also the news that Ebay is delisting ‘Real Money Transfer‘ items when they correspond to video gaming. RMT is basically the method for selling your gold or other items harvested from World of Warcraft etc, and converting them into real cash.
Interestingly, however, Second Life is exempt, due to questions about whether it is a game, or a virtual world.

The repercussions could be that low margin sellers and World of Warcraft gold farmers both start looking elsewhere to make sales. And coming at the same time, it could give a significant boost to any alternative route to market.
It also suggests that virtual money making could increasingly move towards the likes of Second Life, whose makers, Linden Labs, have already stated their intention to be behind the framework for the 3D Web 3.0.
And finally it highlights the problem of monopolies in the online world, as much as in reality. Do I accept that I’m going to be paying an extra £1 in fees for every DVD and game I sell, in addition to Paypal costs and postage? Meaning that I get less reward for the pain in the backside which is Ebay trading? In addition to the risks that sellers seem to shoulder by using Paypal?

Thinking of getting into blogging to make a quick buck? After all there’s been a lot of posts, and even blogs dedicated to it…

Well, I say good luck to you. Because if you don’t have a strong belief and passion in what you do, then it doesn’t matter. To make money, you either need to be very good at blogging, at marketing, or at business. Even better to be a great combination of the three.

And you’re going to be up against countless competition. Need an example? One of my contacts suggested I chatted with the guy behind the Techzi blog. Turns out he’s knowledgeable about the net technology, and has some interesting thoughts and ideas. The kicker? He’s 12.

Now you could go two ways when you discover that. You could get disgusted with the way the world is going and string yourself up from the rafters. Particularly if you’re likely to be turning 30 this year!

Or you can use it as a chance to get involved with a different generation of web user and combine talents, skills and experience…

Enough of the next generation….now for the one I’m stuck in….
I’ve made some pledges on my previous post about aims for 2007 regarding Disposable Media (New Wii Special out now!). Now it’s time for some more for me….

1. Learn more HTML and CSS. (Web ‘editor’ is never just editorial, and nor should it be).
2. Play guitar and read more. (Boosting creativity and taking a screen break).
3. Become less obsessed with Xbox 360 Achievement Points. (It’s gaming crack).
4. Explore more ways to become more valued in my career, and in the wider world.
5. Raise funds by blogging, Ebay, etc, etc to fund a new HDTV…and maybe an Alienware PC!
6. Stop making vague lists, and start catching up on all the web news, and getting stuff done…

In many companies, the IT dept are seen as the geeky blokes who come and fix your PC when it breaks, and maybe, those who monitor your emails and snaffle all your best gossip and naughty links…

But isn’t there a possibility that someone, somewhere, could make the decision to allow them to lead the changes needed in companies that haven’t been web aware?

Consider this… almost all the great internet brand names come, somewhere along the line, from fairly technical, or at least web savvy people being involved. From Microsoft through to Myspace, Picasa or Wikipedia, there was, at some point, a geek in a fairly prominent position in the company to make the technical side happen, and convey the enthusiasm of a new peer-to-peer TV service like Joost, for example.

In most ‘traditional’ companies, tech words are part of business lingo speak, and to be derided. Meanwhile anyone who can actually log into a site is seen as a tech geek.

Part of this is down to the fact that for most people, their PC is a locked down typewriter. Your email is monitored, downloads are blocked, and sites are banned. And this stops anyone with a vague interest in learning more from actually being able to do anything, unless they can afford a PC of their own, and want to devote their spare time to it. Meanwhile the IT people are seen as a barrier to innovation, and spend their time apologising for the fact you can’t download a new patch to save time, effort, and money in your day job…

So why not actually look to change? Why not encourage any appropriate person in the company to download new software, register to new sites, and actually experience the point of having a net connection in the first place? Even if it’s simply using an IM client to chat, it means somewhere is getting more knowledge about the possibilities out there, and might end up selling advertising, or come up with an entirely new variation.?

The only reasons I can see are the fears that everyone would spend all day mucking around (unlikely…in my opinion the novelty soon wears off. And most people probably wouldn’t be fussed, limiting the interest to those most suited for experimentation and learning), and the threat of internet trojans, viruses, and other malware. But surely it’s better to have an IT dept that is completely up-to-date and taking on those threats and beating them, rather than trying to simply avoid encountering problems. After all, every new business idea comes from identifying and tackling challenges and risks, and that’s what stops every man and his dog from having an idea like Google, or Ebay. And then IT will even be seen as a force for good.

And as an example of this irony, I’m lucky enough to have greater access on my PC currently. Yet I need to get an IT engineer to let me run an anti-virus scan… Genius.