22 June 2010

Collaborative Consumption

Reposted in full from Australian Policy Online, 11 June 2010

'It's a new socio-economic "big idea" promising a revolution in the way we consume. Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and the latest social media and peer-to-peer online platforms.

After several years of researching this phenomena, Rachel Botsman is on a mission to "make sharing cool", convinced we may be witnessing a shift from the Culture of Me to the Culture of We.

From enormous marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist, to emerging sectors such as social lending (Zopa) and car-sharing (Australia's GoGet), Botsman outlines how Collaborative Consumption is disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not just what we consume but how we consume.

New marketplaces such as Swaptree, Zilok, Bartercard, AirBnb, and thredUP are enabling "peer-to-peer" to become the default way people exchange—whether it's unused space, goods, skills, money, or services — and sites like these are appearing everyday, all over the world.'

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