What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption
Shareable contributor Rachel Botsman and co-author Roo Rogers just released a video previewing What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, their new book being released in September about sharing.
One thing I have in common with Rachel is that I've learned that sharing is much bigger than we had thought. In a recent example, I was quite surprised by the growth of bikesharing. According to the video, it's the fastest growing form of transportation. All the major cities in the US has a bikesharing program in development. Who knew?
In addition to quantifying the trend, the video lays out three major categories of sharing reflecting the book's organization:
- Product Service Systems like bikesharing and carsharing
- Redistribution Markets like Freecycle and eBay
- Collaborative Lifestyles like Couchsurfing, and Lending Club
This schema helps make sense of the space. But however you slice it, there's a whole lot of sharing going on. It's in the billions.
It's amazing how many different solutions people, company and organizations are coming up with all with the goal of reducing wasteful spending and consumption of newly produced goods. From bikeshare programs to ZipCar and their app which 100,000 people in the first week to bartering services and gifting economies.... we are just on the cusp of a new mode of consumption.
The interesting thing is that most of these new service based ideas all intrinsically connect people to each other in different ways. If it's meeting a new person when you pick up an item on Freecycle or unlocking a rental bike at a bike sharing rack and meeting someone doing the same thing... peers, people with similar interest are connecting in ways that have not been common in a long time.
It's an exciting time right now and we're exciting to be a part of this socioeconomic shift!
Keara
www.sharesomesugar.com