So, you’ve been holding onto your Ty Beanie Babies (making sure to keep their tags in perfect condition) for 10 years. What do you do with the collection now? Sell it on eBay! The eBay community is composed of more than 100 million people around the world who make up a cohesive group of buyers and sellers. By featuring eBay discussion boards, groups, blogs, and chat rooms, in addition to allowing users to create "eBay My World" profile pages, the site allows individuals to truly feel connected to the community. This sense of “groupness” leads individuals to willingly conform to group norms in attempt to be accepted as part of the group, and in this case, the eBay community.In order for eBay to succeed, new members of the community must conform to the buying/selling norms of this space. Wallace (1999) mentions that when new users enter certain interactive online spaces, they may be directed to certain “signs” that inform them of the proper way to behave. Before individuals become eBay users, the registration process directs users to a user agreement which acts as the “sign on the door,” informing users of the expectations within the eBay community. Rules such as “do not post false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, or libelous content” and “do not fail to deliver payment for items purchased by you…,” inform new eBay users of the buying/selling norms—practicing honest and efficient online trade.
Wallace (1999) refers to MacKinnon’s argument by stating that even with very little formal regulation online, “the Leviathan is there anyway because we want the Internet to flourish and sense it will not unless we build a framework of trust and establish means to ensure compliance with, at the very least, netiquette” (p. 69). As a unique online auction space, eBay provides an extremely convenient way of buying and selling items, and therefore individuals are motivated to build this “framework of trust” necessary for this trading to continue. Rules and values, as well as a feedback mechanism, have been created leading eBay users to stick to the norms (practicing honest and efficient trade), ultimately allowing eBay to flourish.
I think it’s safe to say that many of us don’t even read those user agreements and simply scroll down to the bottom to “check” the box. Therefore, there must be an additional reason to why this online space has continued to prosper since its creation in 1995. According to Wallace (1999), an amorphous entity referred to as the Leviathan, defines what behaviors are acceptable in a specific space, leading individuals to conform to this behavior. In this space it seems as though the Leviathan operates on two levels. First, eBay's Trust and Safety team is responsible for keeping the marketplace safe and therefore tries to build trust between members by implementing the eBay feedback system. Next, the individual community members must accept and utilize this system in order for the Leviathan to prevail and for the norms to be enforced.
After engaging in a transaction, users are prompted to provide positive, negative, or neutral feedback on the buyer or seller which come together to form each user’s feedback score, and ultimately their reputation on eBay. Since this score is automatically listed next to their username (represented by a respective colored star), this feedback system enforces group norms by providing individuals with an incentive to conduct transactions in a fair and honest manner. Since there is no way to improve your feedback score except for actually behaving correctly (and having others recognize that), individuals will be motivated to conform to social norms. When users conform to the buying/selling norms of eBay, they will be accepted by the group since individuals will be more willing to do business with them.
So before you go online to sell those beanie babies, you better make sure that you are willing to conform to eBay norms by practicing honest and efficient trading. If the “sign at the door” doesn’t put you in your place, the Leviathan will.
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http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/10/as-youtube-like-it.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/10/1-hancock-our-very-own-leviathan.html
2 comments:
Hello Alyssa. I really enjoyed your look at eBay, as I’m a big fan of the site. One thing I noticed in your discussion of the site’s Leviathan was how you discussed the directed incentive being towards honest and polite business practices. I feel this is not entirely accurate, as I have witnessed events that leave holes in the feedback system that eBay has made famous. Namely, I am thinking of the phenomenon of negative feedback retaliation. A buyer that gives a seller negative feedback, even when it is truly deserved, is almost guaranteed to get negative feedback in turn, seemingly out of spite because they provided an honest opinion instead of a glowing review of the seller that was not earned. Because I believe most users become aware of this practice fairly quickly, it lessens the impact of a negative feedback, as one must examine the situation that caused the feedback to be given. But still, eBay is a thriving online community, so the other regulations in place along with the feedback system must clearly be successful in creating and maintaining a Leviathan.
Alyssa, I like your post about eBay. It really highlights some of the more interesting forces in how eBay operates. The system of peer judgement you mentioned is an example of a self-policing force in the system. However, it's not the only force. I'm surprised you didn't mention the policing force of eBay itself in trying to maintain an honest trading community. Also, you didn't mention the norms of the comments itself (e.g. "A++++++"). Besides that, you really got to the main aspect of eBay and I thought it was a very well written post.
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