Why I love the Sharing Economy

Wikipedia defines the sharing economy as the “economic and social systems that enable shared access to goods, services, data and talent. These systems take a variety of forms but all leverage information technology to empower individuals, corporations, non-profits and government with information that enables distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services. A common premise is that when information about goods is shared, the value of those goods increases, for the business, for individuals, and for the community. ”

Most of us have heard of AirBnB and other hotel alternatives, enabling users to rent a room or an entire apartment. The sharing economy extends to vehicles (options range from finding available spots on car rides to borrowing cars from neighbours. In the retail sector, websites like WishWantWear, Rent the Runway, and Bag, Borrow or Steal rent out designer clothes and accessories for special occasions. Sites like Frents go beyond a particular sector and let users lend and borrow items from DVDs to board games. A great directory for the sharing economy is Plopp.us. (Full disclosure: This is a Global Shapers Community project from the Amsterdam Hub.)

What interests me most about this paradigm is the way it changes our behaviour: it maintains the experience of having the things we like to use (from a Missoni cocktail dress to the occasional game of Scrabble) without the cost, physical space, or materials to own these items and only use them once in a while. There is a social element as well: If I’m borrowing items from people nearby, I have a new way to get to know my neighbours. We develop a shared sense of responsibility and identity. It’s a digital way to create a community feeling in neighbourhoods, particularly in big cities where these kinds of opportunities have been lacking.

Changing our behaviour changes the way we think, and ultimately, our values. The use of social media spread the idea that everyone has a voice and enabled young people to demand democratic ideals from their governments. If the sharing economy becomes mainstream, then what will it do for sustainability, community, and the future of consumption? I hope to see the shared economy help us adapt a more sustainable and collaborative lifestyle.

Privacy is the New Currency

Amazing things happen when we share information online:  Wikipedia is as accurate as the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Facebook lets us connect with friends and family around the world. Google Maps guide us in new cities. Twitter lets us share news that is censored by the media, as we see now in the case of Turkey. And these platforms are available to anyone, regardless of socio-economic status, because they are free.

We are paying for these platforms with a new kind of currency: our privacy. Big data lets companies (and governments) mine information for correlations, connections, and patterns, which compares individual behaviour with similar individuals and similar patterns. The results could be as innocuous as Amazon’s Kindle recommendations engine or Facebook’s suggestions for friends. They could be used to predict and prevent public health outbreaks, as seen with Google’s flu trends predictor.

The US government claims that big data is preventing terrorist attacks. This information is used to place individuals on “no fly” lists, banning certain people from travelling without telling them why or providing them the means to contest the decision. Credit card companies use big data to predict the probabability that customers will pay their cards on time. It’s been said that they know you’re getting divorced before you do. Target discovered a teenager was pregnant before her father did. With all the information we put out there, it’s easy to piece together our preferences, daily routines, and the most personal aspects of our lives.

I love the benefits of our hyperconnected world. Facebook and Whatsapp are the easiest ways for me to keep up with my friends and family, who are scattered all around the world. I often find out about news through social media first and then check news sites to get more details. And I wish that my Kindle recommendation engine could be even more accurate and useful.

I do not want the government to put people on no-fly lists without any due process. And I’m not sure if I want my Facebook likes impacting my credit rating. How do we create boundaries that are sensible and acceptable? Or is privacy already dead? Am I being naïve in saying that I don’t want the government to track my day-to-day movements? They’ve probably been doing it for quite some time, even before the Internet existed. (London has enough CC TV cameras to get a sense of anyone’s daily routine. The US has been surveilling phone calls for decades.)

Are we making it easier or are we making it harder? With the new tools available, we’re certainly putting more information out there for the government to track. And we’re also making it easier to fight back: I can post this blog, we can have a global debate, and if social media could top dictatorial governments, then we could certainly use our voices to create sensible policies around privacy.

Silicon Summer: How Social Media is Revolutionising the Private Sector

Social media have revolutionised the way we communicate. They have changed the amount of content creation, sharing, and information exchange that takes place every day. Anyone with an Internet connection can create or access content in ways that were unimaginable only a few decades ago. This has shifted the potential to mass communicate from large media corporations to individuals. In the era of social media, anyone can become a publisher with the potential to reach a mass audience. When looking at this phenomenon through the lens of network theory, this enabled society to move from a centralised model of communication to a distributed one, where individual nodes (people) can share information freely to other nodes without having to go through an intermediary (traditional mass media.)

These interactions are not only changing our personal lives but also redefining civic engagement. Much research has been conducted on Barak Obama’s campaigns, which generated a grassroots movement with social media as the primary tool of engagement. With the Arab Spring, the sweep of protests across the region proved that young, leaderless activists using primarily online and mobile tools could topple dictatorial regimes. 

There is a quieter but equally powerful revolution is taking place in the private sector. The dynamics witnessed in the Arab Spring between citizens and their governments can also be witnessed amongst consumers and corporations. “Citizen consumers” are using social media to redefine corporate norms and create a new set of expectations regarding corporate transparency and social responsibility.  Today’s consumers, particulary the younger generation, expect corporations to go beyond shareholder value and create value for society as well. The triple bottom line is a mainstream concept for Gen Y and social media is a key tool for this generation to push corporates in that direction.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which protested against the financial services sector’s perceived corruption and undue influence on the government, used social media to organise protests, recruit supporters, and raise awareness. Thousands of users expressed outrage on Nestle’s Facebook page over the company’s unsustainable sourcing of palm oil for its Kit Kat bars. The telecoms provider Sprint improved its policies to better protect victims of domestic violence after a Change.org petition obtained 175,000 signatures.
“Greenwashing” is a common complaint of citizen consumers, meaning companies market themselves as committed to corporate social responsibility but without any actual CSR activities or policies. Through the “wisdom of the crowds” and instantaneous access to information, citizen consumers are well informed and frequently expose companies that attempt to ride the CSR trend through marketing alone. 
But there is an opportunity here as well. Social media can work through positive reinforcement and an Edelman survey revealed that 53% of millenials would promote a socially responsible brand on Facebook. Corporations who integrate sound CSR policies and implement them effectively will find themselves rewarded. 

It is clear that a shift is taking place. Social media provides individuals with the unprecedented opportunity to speak for themselves. By combining their voice (through social media) and their purchasing power, citizen consumers are changing the expectations placed on the private sector. 

Exceptional Female Entrepreneurs Wanted for Astia's European Programme

The premier venture accelerator for women-led high- growth companies, is calling for applications from UK and European start-ups to join Astia and participate in its prestigious Entrepreneur Programme, to be held in London in March 2011. Technology, Life Science and Clean Technology companies are encouraged to apply. Founded in Silicon Valley and held annually in Silicon Valley, New York, and London, Astia’s Entrepreneur Programme is transformative - providing entrepreneurs with access to a broad range of resources and experts that ensure access to capital as well as the successful growth of their businesses.


A handpicked group of just 255 companies across the globe have been invited to become part of the Astia programme since 2003.  Invitations are extended only to those companies that pass Astia’s robust screening and qualification process. Since 2003, more than 60% of the companies showcased at Astia Investor Forums have secured funding or an exit within one year, totalling more than $750 million raised and 21 exits including two IPOs.


“The programme has produced exceptional results over the years – our funding success rate is unmatched in the market,” commented Sharon Vosmek, CEO, Astia. “We are excited to see the growth and adoption of the Astia model in Europe,”


Participants in the European Programme in London will spend five days, 14-18 March 2011, in a series of workshops, one on one sessions and discussions with investors, entrepreneurs and business professionals designed to provide a blueprint for successful fundraising and growth strategies. This is followed by an eight week advisory period which includes investors, CEOs and business professionals from the Astia community of over 1000 men and women. Select companies will then present to the investment community at the Astia Investor Forum on 12^th May 2011. Prior Forum attendees include Accel, Octopus Ventures, Index Ventures, Atomico, and the Technology Strategy Board.


Simone Brummelhuis, Vice President, Europe, Astia, said, “I am delighted to be rolling out Astia’s programme in Europe for 2011.  The UK and Europe are bursting with entrepreneurial ventures, many of which are led by superbly talented women.  We want to provide these women with access to the rich network and expertise that Astia has to offer. I encourage all ambitious female entrepreneurs to apply.”


The deadline to apply is 7^th February 2011.  Apply via www.astia.org. Online screening will be done by investors, CEOs and business professionals until February 18^th, followed by in-person screening on February 24^th. 


Disclosure: I sit on Astia's European Advisory Board

Shopmate: Shopping List iPhone App

The makers of Babymate have launched a new iPhone application, Shopmate, that helps users compile their shopping lists. Although a number of competitors exist, the makers of Shopmate claim that the majority are either too simplistic or require users to add in cumbersome information, like quantities or supermarket aisle.

I've been testing out Shopmate and it is quite straightforward to use while having enough features to make it useful. (Some existing shopping list apps look a bit too similar to the Notes app that comes with the iPhone, which makes me question their added value.) With Shopmate, the list of items was robust but not too long, avoided brand names or quantities, and adding in esoteric items, like miso paste, was easy.

While in store, I could add in my location via Foursquare, cross off the individual items as I found them, and associate items with bookmarks. I liked the "finally found it" one, as I went to three different stores to find a particular brand of chai. Post-trip, Shopmate offers statistics on purchases, including top items purchased (individually and by category), purchased versus planned ratio, and popular stores. The statistics were simple, straightforward, and useful.

For more information on Shopmate, check out the demo below.

Social Network for Women Hosts Soiree in New York

Although this blog is primarily dedicated to online and mobile social networking for women, at times the work done by non-profits for women is so valuable that it is worthy of mention. Step Up Women’s Network is a US-based, national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to connecting and advancing women and girls. By bridging communities of professional women and underserved teen girls through mentorship, networking and advancement, they ensure women and girls have the opportunities they need to create a better future.

Step Up's most dedicated leaders are hosting Soirees this fall, as a grassroots fundraising effort to support Step Up's programming to bridge communities of professional women and underserved girls through mentoring, networking and advancement opportunities.

        

The New York chapter of Step Up will be hosting a Soiree tomorrow night, October 5th at The Bubble Lounge. Buy tickets or for click here for more information on events nationwide. 

Questions for Einat Naveh of Be Happy NYC

Einat Naveh is a blogger based in New York City. Her mission is to find  things (mostly food) that make her smile. Check out her blog, Be Happy NYC.










Why did you decide to start blogging?  
I decided to begin blogging after I returned from my honeymoon July 2009 and realized I had so much extra free time in the evenings now that I had finished planning our wedding. I had also found myself in a place with nothing to "look forward to" on the horizon. I started my blog with the premise of finding what it is that makes me smile on a daily basis. Looking for the extraordinary out of the ordinary. 


Your focus is often on food- both cooking and dining out. What is on your 'must eat' list for NYC? 
It really depends on the cuisine and the occasion. A few of my favorites:


An ideal place for a 'fancy' brunch buffet is Brasserie 8 1/2

For fresh pasta, I like Po in the West Village or I Coppi in the East Village

The best pizza ever is Keste, and yes it IS worth the wait

The lobster roll at Pearl Oyster Bar is fantastic

If you're looking for  a steak dinner, Striphouse beats Peter Luger in my book

What else makes you happy? Any recommendations for readers? 

I obviously really enjoy trying new foods and indulging in old favorites. I also love to cook for friends and loved ones. Lately, I have gotten pure happiness from riding my new bike and from going back to doing yoga. I would tell anyone to keep trying different things and stick to what puts them in a "childlike" state of mind. There is nothing better than calming down the to-do list in your head with sautéing onions or biking up the west side highway.

How have you been promoting your blog? What kinds of social media tools do you use? 

I have a Facebook page that links to my Twitter account. I make sure every blog post I write I also share on Facebook. About 60% of my "fans" are my own friends. I played with Facebook ads in the beginning just to see how it worked and was pretty impressed with the results. I would highly recommend to any business to use the facebook ads as they are so targeted and I was seeing great conversion rates from clicks to fans (now "likes").

Your parents recently started an e-commerce jewelry site, which you've been helping them market. How does marketing a web store differ from the blog, and what have you been doing differently? 

I am so proud of my parents! They took their idea and made it a reality. Inspired by the book Eat, Pray, Love my parents went off on their own Bali adventure and curated an assortment of unique silver jewelry pieces that they now sell on Muse Bazaar. I wrote about them on my blog and they are starting to use Google Adwords. They are also thinking of starting a blog of their own on the site. The key to any site's success is obviously traffic. I helped them create a Facebook page and hope to get them using the Facebook ads soon!