eBay Execs Start Social Network for Life Stories

Tokoni, is social network started last year by former Skype President Alex Kazim and former eBay execs including Mary Lou Song and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. It’s also backed by eBay. The site has been picking up content, building up to a formal launch this week.

The social network gathers people’s stories. Tokoni is a Tongan word for “help,” and the founders hope that reading other people’s life will help enhance your life. There are 19 categories and you can add a photo or video to your story. You can comment on stories, link to them, and even reward people for their stories.

The site has added new features (from Tokoni):

• Collections – like a personal “play list”, members can create a collection of their favorite Tokoni stories, grouping “life episode” stories together (e.g., wedding stories, pet stories or travel stories). This would be great for families to tell stories about a beloved relative or to share memories about people in your family.

• Bubble Browser – a visual search tool that enables community members to view the multiple ways in which stories, users and categories are interconnected within the Tokoni Universe. Each time a user “connects” a story, a new link is created in the story web. Users can serendipitously explore new topics and stories by following where each link leads

• Fan Pages – to follow story postings of favorite community members, users can become members of their fan club. You can get an email when your favorite author posts a new story.

• Tokens – are emotional responses that you can send to an author. They are pre-selected, such as “Thanks for sharing” or “One of my favorites”

Tokoni has partnered with WomenCount.org, the non-profit arm of the organization’s PAC, and is working with them on their new “I’m a woman. I have issues.” campaign. The campaign encourages women to share their opinions on the political issues that matter most to them at http://womencount.tokoni.com.

WomenCount plans to collect the individual stories shared on the site and deliver those messages to the McCain and Obama campaigns, the media and party leaders.

NPR has collected stories – interviews on specific pieces of people’s lives – through interviews at Story Corps.  I’d love to see them partner with Tokoni to add the community piece to what they’re doing.