eBay To Use More User Generated Video, Amazon.com and Others Need To Follow Suit

Thanks to Rod Bacon over at Media Publisher for giving me the heads up about eBay making an announcement last week about their planned use for expanding user-generated video functionality on their website. In conjunction with an announcement by Onstream Media, eBay sellers now have the ability to easily place their own embedded videos in any listing on every category of eBay. Options include a "Show and Tell" feature which is a talking image gallery for use on all eBay listings and an "About Me" video feature which enables sellers to create a short, :30 to :60 second spot about themselves which eBay hopes will further establish trust and credibility. In addition, eBay is also running some user-generated video submission contests tying into the Transformers movie premiere in July.

I always felt sites like eBay, Monster.com, Amazon.com and others are behind the curve when it comes to video. Why can’t I see a video of an item on eBay instead of just a picture? Why can’t I see a video resume on Monster.com instead of reading a word document? (Only Monster’s India website has the option, announced two days ago) And why doesn’t Amazon.com allow companies to upload videos of the product they are selling, so we can see how it actually works before we buy it.

As much as we talk about video having mass-market adoption, some of the biggest sites on the web, that generate the most revenue, hardly use video at all.