Original Article

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eBay is partnering with Bebo to allow users of the social networking site to list auction items on their profiles.The agreement will allow Bebo’s 30m members to detail items they want to buy or sell. Clicking the link will take visitors directly to eBay’s own pages, the Wall Street Journal said.eBay hatched the plan to attract a younger audience. The auction site has a higher than average number of users above 35 years of ageat 58%, while 54% Bebo’s user base is under 18, a far higher figure than even rival MySpace.eBay previously partnered with Facebook to present students with listings for textbooks.

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World wide web has allowed individuals to at first share information via web pages. In the beginning stages this “information” was only technical and I am pretty sure that nobody would have expected the internet to develop in the ways that it is being developed now. The information is still in web pages, but in oneweb page one can sell/buy products, network with individuals, send/receive e-mails and subscribe to news feeds to be on top of the current world. The two of the most well-known websites for college students are the sites of Ebay and Facebook. With ebay’s strategy to target younger audiences, this move is sure to advertise the name of “ebay” and it will also facilitate buying/selling items between people who might not have been that into ebay.Ebay’s auction type is that of “second-price sealed-bid auction”: however users are given the id of the people who are bidding. Social network websites such as facebook and bebo have greatly facilitated the understanding of social networks because it helps in demonstrating many concepts discussed in class. For instance, triadic closure is made extremely easy with facebook: since the person’s friends are viewed over the profile page, one can easily make friends with his/her friend’s friend. Moreover, friends can be organized in terms of friendship, class, school, region, and many other different categories therefore it can facilitate the understanding of the differences between networks organized into different categories. Then ultimately what does ebay’s collaboration mean to us? You never really hear about triadic closure between items. Items making friends with other items? ebay lists all the items when you search for them, however you cannot really see any relavance between closely related items. there are links such as “you might also be interested in:” however one seller might be from the United States and one seller might be from Hong Kong, and this creates dillema for many buyers. With the collaboration of a social network and an auction function, this dillema disappears and closely related items (not necessarily in terms of the item itself, but in terms of the seller) and other network-aspect ideas can be applied between items now. And one of ebay’s ultimate problems - bad sellers - can be prevented because you actually get to know the seller network-wise as you purchase items.