social media and developer community

eBay has a long history of making Community feedback and input a differentiator for eBay's global marketplace, most recently with June 2006 launch of the Chatter blog, eBay Blogs and the eBay Wiki.

So, it's no surprise when the eBay developer community gets into the act. Nabit recently wrote me to tell me about their community hub page, which has links to their active blog and forum - they've even found their way onto the Developer area of the eBay Wiki.

As mentioned in the Web 2.0 community panel at DevCon, using social media (blogs, wikis, tags, comments, photo sharing, RSS) is a great way to drive awareness and traffic to your developer tool. These tools take communication that used to be done exclusively in email (the original killer app) to harness the attention of backlinks and pings and feeds for your business.

Upshot? Web 2.0 tools are just a different channel for communication that you are already doing with your customers. Try out some of the ways you can turn passive consumers of your tool into active participants with your tool.

Digg v3 Party

Originally uploaded by Laughing Squid.

jay and kevin know how to throw a launch party. alan and i were among the crowd on Thursday night in the appropriately hip SF skid row bar that hosted the event, where we got a preview of the v. cool Digg v3, including impressive design elements from Stamen Design. Look out 'cause Digg is not just about tech news anymore.

Digg is launching Digg v3 on Monday - and they have a developer API coming out this summer...

btw. Kevin is #23 of who matters while apparently slashdot doesn't matter. guess the diggvdot game is already outdated in less than a year. reports of slashdot's demise may be slightly exaggerated, but these are words I would not have predicted a year ago.

Greg Matters

"...our goal was to identify people whose ideas, products, and business insights are changing the world we live in today - those who are reshaping our future by inventing important new technologies, exploiting emerging opportunities, or throwing their weight around in ways that are sure to make everyone else take notice.

In assembling this list, we emphasized one key question: What have you done for us lately? We also considered its important corollary: What will you do for us tomorrow?"

- Business 2.0, on how they selected their 50 People who matter.

If you're looking for Greg, he's #31 on the list with other names, such as Bill, Rupert and Oprah. Or possibly on stage making it all look effortless...

Because he's a great person on top of being someone who matters, Greg's not the type to boast or brag. Go to his blog and congratulate him anyway in his comments - he deserves it.

Way to go, fearless leader! :)

"Come on, Eng-erland"

Originally uploaded by unperfectwolf.

Where should you watch the World Cup in San Francisco? If you're an anglo-phile, a Brit ex-pat or just married to one, there's no better place to get into the game than Mad Dog's in the Lower Haight. World Cup quadrennial excitement turns palpable here. For example? Watched a v. fun match on Thursday, England v. Trinidad & Tobago. Fans watching the game were friendly and weren't shy about a 9AM pint. (afterall the sun is shining after 12noon somewhere in the commonwealth)

Most of the excitement was saved up for when Rooney #9 was subbed in late in the second half. (He had an injury that made him questionable for the game). After he came on (along with Lennon), the England offense came alive and went up 2-nil in short order. He may not look like Becks or wee Michael Owen (cute, cute, cute), but he sure knows how to get the crowd involved.

T&T are the smallest country (pop. 1.1 Mil) ever to qualify for the World Cup. They made the most of their shots on goal and were fun to watch. Except for Yorke and the water bottle down the pants action. What was up with that?

Lively Mad Dog crowd went back and forth between the "Come on, England" and "Rooooooney" chants. If they win their pool on Tuesday v. Sweden, they won't have to play Germany in the second round. Group B has been very kind so far.

happy anniversary to grep le miette

grep le miette is one year old.

I began as a reluctant enthusiast in June 2005. It's not yet the middle of June 2006, and so far I've blogged:

• as a guest author on the new eBay Chatter blog (launched earlier this month)
• in my own eBay Blog (officially launched yesterday)
• on the eBay DevCon event blog in Vegas
• my usual eBay Developers Program beat
• and then again in grep le miette

(did i just write a blog post about blogging?) holy meta. someone cut me off.

Power of Three in Vegas

I spent the last 4 days straight blogging with Laurel and Curtis, so check out the Developers Program blog for in depth coverage of DevCon 2006 in Vegas, including with photos and streaming audio interviews of our Star Developer Award winners.

Social media played a big part in DevCon coverage this year, including

• photos of on flickr
• interviews of developers on Evoca (a Skype developer)
• video clips hosted by YouTube
• tagging with ebaydevcon

With apologies to Julie Andrews, here are just a few of my favorite DevCon things...

Friday night: arriving in 106 degree weather, fun cab with Laura to Mandalay Bay, orientation, meeting developers at House of Blues, learning the proper pronunciation of "Texas"

Saturday: impressive Cirque du Soleil-style keynote opening, lego lunch, Web 2.0 Community panel, RatPack crooners, recording interviews with Star Developers, AC in Press Room makes it 40 below, Lotus of Siam team dinner (the wait was worth it, Adam)

Sunday: blogging through more sub-zero temperatures in press room, Christoph's mceAuction demo, Scott Cook, Foundation Room patio, Red Square, shattering my 24/7 image of Vegas at 11:03 PM when all eateries with edible food apparently shut down

Monday: Unconference!, makeshift press room on the floor (where it's warm), Mandalay Bay pool, waiting in McLaren airport for 3 hours for my flight to show up, hugging David and Blythe when I get home.

Most of all, it's about getting to re-connect with developers we work with all year. Sure was fun - don't wait another year. And subscribe to the DevProgram blog already, wouldja?