Blog Post #2: "Etsy- An Artist's Dream"

2005 was the year when two of the largest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce sites originated. According to class lecture, Craigslist and eBay were both founded in the same year, 2005, by two different innovators. Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, originally just wanted to send out an e-mail newsletter to friends about local events that eventually expanded into a list of “online classifieds.” C2C e-commerce includes: peer-to-peer sharing, cottage industry, and centralized online-seller websites. Today websites such as Etsy, (www.etsy.com), allow for users of the site, which are usually designers and artists, to exchange and sell their creations. Etsy is considered a cottage industry web site, meaning it is run by an individual that uses it as a secondary source of income. As Professor Mahood stated in class, it is like an online garage sale. That is exactly what Etsy is and it has allowed for artists, musicians, and designers of many trades to get their work out to a greater public that otherwise would have been much more difficult without the use of the world wide web.

            In an article titled, “Wikinomics and its discontents: a critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos,” the authors state that “both the active involvement of the people-formerly-known-as-customers and the formation of communities are celebrated as the best thing since the establishment of worker’s comp and a woman’s right to vote – the long awaited emancipation of the digital citizen who wants to create their own products and be in charge of their own distribution.” I have to agree completely that the Internet offers a platform for each individual to express himself or herself freely and they are even able to make a profit off of that freedom. What more could you ask for? I have friends in Austin and a friend in California who call me up, or should I say text me, and let me know they’ve posted something new and that I need to check it out and spread the word. One is a jewelry designer and the other a pottery artist. It doesn’t satisfy me more than to see one of my very creative friends actually selling something to someone somewhere out there in the world! Both friends are full time students, with jobs, but on the side their passion is art and with Etsy they are able to share their creations with the world- just one of the many positives that the Internet has to offer amongst many negatives that tends to steal the spotlight. I encourage everyone to check out Etsy and other online communities where you can buy original things instead of hitting up a big box store. I only hope this form of e-commerce remains pertinent in the future of our online society.

 APA Citation:

 Dijick, J.V. & Nieborg, D. (2009). Wikinomics and its discontents: A critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos. New Media & Society, 11, 861-864.