I was invited to speak with Professor Arun Sundararajan‘s “Networks, Crowds and Markets” class on the topic of “Trust and the Sharing Economy.” The discussion focused on current trust indicators on collaborative consumption platforms and potential ideas for solving the trust issue currently present.
2. Topics of Interest
• Defining sharing economies
• Current trust indicators
• Solving the trust issue
3. Defining Economies
Commercial economies: “prices are the primary
source of information about, and incentive for,
resource allocation”
Sharing economies: “non-price-based social
relations play those roles.”
- Yochai Benkler, “Sharing Nicely”
4. Lessig’s Hybrid Economy
Hybrid economies: “one that builds upon both the
sharing and commercial economies, one that adds
value to each … either a commercial entity that
aims to leverage value from a sharing economy, or
it is a sharing economy that builds a commercial
entity to better support its sharing aims”
- Lawrence Lessig, “Remix”
5. Three Stages So Far
• Purely digital
– Flickr, YouTube, forums, communities, etc.
• Focused on sharing
– Freecycle, Couchsurfing
• Driven by value
– Airbnb, Skillshare, WhipCar, Spinlister, SnapGoods
6. The Rise of a New Term…
Collaborative consumption: “an economic
model based on
sharing, swapping, bartering, trading or renting
access to products as opposed to ownership”
- Wikipedia
19. TrustCloud: A Reputation System
• Mission: help users understand and leverage
online trust they’ve built in the sharing economy
• Immediately accessible, portable, objective,
transparent, secure
21. What about Influence?
• Klout: standard measurement of influence
– measures network size, posting frequency, amplification
– 1-100 scale
22. The Influence Wars
• Kred enters the area
– Influence: 1-1000 score based on retweets, followers, replies
– Outreach: 1-10 score on generosity; rewards actions, interactions with others
23. Kred Scores are Transparent
• Kred shows users an “Activity Statement”
YochaiBenkler is the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard, and faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Commercial entity: AirbnbSharing economy: Flickr, YouTube, Craigslist“will dominate the architecture for commerce on the Web”PUBLISHED 2008Lawrence Lessig: Stanford professor and lawyer. Focused on digital intellectual property.
Commercial entity: AirbnbSharing economy: Flickr, YouTube, Craigslist“will dominate the architecture for commerce on the Web”PUBLISHED 2008Lawrence Lessig: Stanford professor and lawyer. Focused on digital intellectual property.
QUESTION: Anyone participated in collaborative consumption? If so, what’s your experience?
QUESTION: Altruism versus value? Why did you participate?
Personal story: not being able to decline (b/c search ranking)
QUESTION: Has anyone used a site that integrated social connections to improve trust?
Lloyd’s: specialist insurance market
QUESTION: Has anyone applied for TaskRabbit?
Buyers can request checks OR sitters can add checks to their profiles to improve chances
connector, interactive, influencer, longtimerQUESTION:Has anyone used of TrustCloud?
QUESTION: Who knows their Klout score (roughly)?FOLLOW-UP: Do you try to maintain your Klout score?