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eBay is set to launch a new section of the site this fall, called Neighborhoods. The idea behind Neighborhoods is to create "micro-communities" where the members can discuss things that they are interested in, which may induce them to buy related products. Neighborhoods will also integrate snapshots of related products within the discussion area to make buying those products that much easier. From what it appears, each community will be narrowly focused to allow for a high level of interaction and interest similarity between members.

According to eBay's blog, Neighborhoods are "groups of people centered around a shared passion for particular products or activities." Features will include discussion boards, snapshot views of related products, and related reviews, guides and blog posts. Members of neighborhoods will be able to see each other and share pictures and vote on them.

The blog post announcing the eBay Neighborhoods feature includes a video interview with Nathan Sacco of eBay's Buyer Experience team. Sacco said the Neighborhoods are a "place where the community can come together and discuss topics and products that they are passionate about with other eBay members" and said it expands the groups concepts.

There doesn't seem to be much difference between the new Neighborhoods area of eBay and a themed forum, with the exception of the snapshots of products, but it's probably too early to tell. eBay already has a Groups area, but the groups are not really targeted toward products and can be created by users, something that may not be possible in Neighborhoods. eBay also has its My World area, which is eBay's take on social networking. eBay is definitely riding the web 2.0 wave, but is it creating too many similar products to get users to come to the site for reasons other than the auctions?