To entice customers to stick with eBay and not turn to rivals Amazon.com and Overstock.com, the world's largest online auction is unveiling its own social networking site. The new "neighborhoods" will move away from the text-based forums and encourage community members to post photos, product reviews and tips. "The idea is this will provide more 'stickness' so a user will come back more often, spend more time there and will more likely purchase items," said Karsten Weide of research firm IDC.
This year, eBay also plans to roll out other customer-friendly features, including "One Click Bid," which will help buyers during the final 15 minutes of an auction, and will work on speeding up its checkout process.