YakShaving

Classic case of business, Microplace, entering the social sphere. Yikes! I wonder if the increased competition will help Kiva, or hurt it?

Here are a few points of differentiation between MicroPlace and Kiva from a user perspective:

Brand independent of eBay, but retains association to legal entity, so consumers may feel safer (has “eBay company at the top”

Slick user interface–I can drill down on a map and see where people have businesses that I can invest in, and the economic demographics of a particular region/country. Wow, can you imagine if VCs had this for startups? Neat.

According to P2P lending news, you’re going to be able to trade loans using MicroPlace, since they’re securitized. I wonder if people will actually do this?

I don’t think either of these features are clinchers. I suspect more people would prefer to stick with Kiva because it feels more socially conscious. They are the incumbent “media darlings¹“. Let’s wait and see!

1 - from P2P lending news