What kind of schema.org classification should be used for user generated content?

Question

I have a site where users can add their bicycles that they own, and I'm not quite sure how to structure the schema.org data. The bikes are not for sale, only displayed, and there are multiple versions of the same type of bicycle on the site.

This is what I'm thinking so far:

Member details page:

Person
-- name
-- image
-- owns:
   -- ownershipinfo (1 per bicycle)
      -- name
      -- image
      -- url

Bicycle details page:

Thing
-- name
-- image

I thought about using Product on the member page under owns, and also for the bicycle itself instead of Thing, but I'm under the impression that Product is intended for products for sale on an e-commerce site. So should I use Thing, Product, or something else entirely?

Answer 1

Not everything is handled by schema.org and they were thoughtful enough to provide a mechanism for that. Thank you schema.org!

http://schema.org/docs/extension.html

Extensions allow you to define your own schema. However, getting a hold of the concept seems simple until you try and apply it. It is not technically difficult however. I recommend you search Google for schema.org extensions examples and see if there is any help. You will likely extend Thing.

Having said that, do not be confused by the trend. Google recognizes the schema(s) defined and only makes use of some of them in the SERPs. I like the idea of data markup and I want the whole thing to blow-up into something much bigger, but we are not there yet. Do the mark-up. If for no other reason, but to help encourage further use of the mark-up for the future. Go ahead and get a jump on it. Do not be surprised, even if your markup is not used today, it may show up immediately when Google decides markup has more value than they realized. That day is coming. I am doing the same thing. I am using extensions and will be marking up my data for future use. It is often a good idea to be an early adopter especially when the technology is undervalued. You and I will benefit from it and the rest of the world will scramble to catch up. Meanwhile, we will look like search SEO Gods.