eBay, The Community, Meg, and the Webbys

  You might have heard of the The Webby Awards – it’s an annual award ceremony honoring the best of the Internet. Or to take it directly from their website: “Established in 1996 during the Web's infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities. Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Internet as a tool for business and everyday lives, the 11th Annual Webby Awards expands the mission of the Webby by honoring excellence in over 100+ Website, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile categories.” It’s quite the cast of people on the panel, ranging from internet pioneer Vint Cerf to Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson to The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.  Check out the details here.

So what does this have to do with eBay? Well, this year they’re going to be giving a Lifetime Achievement Award to the eBay Community! Meg Whitman (our CEO) will accept the award on behalf of the Community on June 5th in New York.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about what this means to me personally. Most you know that I’ve been here since the beginning, and I sometimes just look around and marvel at how this place has grown. When I found it, eBay was a unique, interesting place with a small group of passionate members and built on admirable principles, and I loved it from the start. But you never knew what would happen – no one had any idea how long it would last, although we all hoped it would be forever. And now here we are. Years later, eBay is still a unique, interesting place, the founding principles haven’t changed, and it now has millions and millions and millions of passionate members around the globe. It’s truly been life-changing for me, and tons of buyers/sellers everywhere. I’m extremely proud to have been a part of it. This award is a testament to this cool little idea called eBay that we all helped get off the ground, and is a special recognition of your personal accomplishments and especially your contributions - as the world's most vibrant community - to this amazing website so many of us call our online home.

But there is one piece of intrigue still left. It’s Webby tradition that acceptance speeches are limited to 5 words. Brevity is not always our strongest suit, so I’m curious what Meg will decide on. I’m just glad it’s not me – I’d be the first Webby recipient to get the Oscar treatment and get “played off” by the music.

Congratulations to the entire eBay Community!