Trust and the Sharing Economy

Topics of Interest

• Defining sharing economies• Current trust indicators• Solving the trust issue

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”

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”

Three Stages So Far

• Purely digital– Flickr, YouTube, forums, communities, etc.

• Focused on sharing– Freecycle, Couchsurfing

• Driven by value– Airbnb, Skillshare, WhipCar, Spinlister, SnapGoods

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

What Can You Share?

Altruism vs. Value

When Trust Fails

Airbnb Aims To Fix It

• $50,000 Host Guarantee• Address verification• 24/7 hotline• Social verification dashboard• And a whole lot more…

Transparent Profiles

Integrating the Social Graph

Airbnb’s Social Connections

Bespoke Insurance

• Insurance for unusual items• Love Home Swap is working with Lloyd’s to

develop insurance for housing swaps

TaskRabbit: An Intense Application

• Essays• Video Interview (OVIA screening platform)• Criminal background check– SSN, name, address– National, state, local levels

Sittercity: Many Profile Checks

TaskRabbit: Leaderboards

Done.com: Credit Card Verification

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

TrustCloud’s Methodology• Data vapor: transparency, consistency, longevity– Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+

• Virtuous data: credible, reliable, helpful– Yelp, TripAdvisor, Quora

What about Influence?• Klout: standard measurement of influence

– measures network size, posting frequency, amplification– 1-100 scale

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

Kred Scores are Transparent• Kred shows users an “Activity Statement”

Online Meets Offline• Kred lets users pull in “Offline Kred”

Influence vs. Reputation

• Doesn’t account for negative feedback– 400 negative @mentions = 400 positive @mentions

• Quantity over quality– Network size– Posting frequency– Responses

Solving the Trust Issue

• Incorporating transparent profiles• Integrating the social graph• Developing bespoke insurance• Implementing screening processes• Ranking users on a leaderboard• Verifying buyer credibility• Creating a reputation system• Pulling in offline credibility

How can wesolve the trust

problem?