The sharing economy, collaborative consumption, the Commons, the mesh, and myriad related tangents are slowly and surely becoming part of the mainstream lexicon. In part, that infiltration is partly due to Shareable's efforts toward bringing the message of sharing to a wider audience (our mission as a nonprofit) at events such as the South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals for the past two years.

Now, Shareable has an opportunity to make it three-in-a-row. For SXSW 2013, Shareable has proposed a panel on trust and sharing, but we need your help to get it on the official schedule. The panel, moderated by Shareable's Neal Gorenflo, would include Xin Chung (TrustCloud), Jeremy Barton (Legit), and Jeff Stewart (Lenddo).

Together, they will examine the biggest problem currently facing the new sharing economy: "In an economy driven by transactions between strangers, who do we trust? This is a key question when we’re sharing cars, houses, and our livelihoods with strangers. … With new technologies come questions. Can you use social media to measure trust? Will a single trust score work across multiple platforms? Aren’t the reputation systems found within platforms enough? Is there a business model here?"

Can you please take two minutes to vote for and share our SXSW panel proposal?

Step 1: Register to Vote (super-short form).

Step 2: Click on the 'Thumbs Up' icon in the top-left corner of this page.

Step 3: Post a message like this to Facebook and Twitter:
Please vote for Shareable's #SXSW panel, The Sharing Economy Trust Throwdown (A Debate About Trust): https://ow.ly/cWyRN 

Voting ends on August 30, so hurry on over and cast your ballot! And help a nonprofit out.