The Sharing Economy

Liz Cable, Senior Lecturer Social MediaLeeds Trinity University

“Wealth is not what you own, it’s what you have access to.”

“Web 2.0 is not just a technology, or a business model. It is an ethos, and a mindset”

What is social capital?

• Social energy• Community spirit / good neighbourliness• Social bonds• Civic virtue• Community networks• Social ozone / Social glue• Social resources• Informal & formal networks• Community capacity building• Resilience.

What is social capital?Hard to say - often defined by its outcomes:

• Lower crime rates• Better health and improved longevity• Better educational achievement• Greater income equality• Enhanced economic achievement.

Social Capital

“Just as a supply of money can enable you to do things that you otherwise could not do, a stock of relationships will make it easier to do things that otherwise you could not.”

David Gauntlet, Making is Connecting.

Social Capital

Community

Co-operation+ Trust+ Reciprocity+ Good-will= “Nice” society

No Community

No Communication+ Isolation/Depression+ Selfishness/Crime+ Distrust= Society falls apart

Robert Putnam’s 4 reasons for decline of community“Bowling Alone” (1995)

1. Generational Change – no common cause to unite us

2. Television – privatising leisure time

Americans alone watch about 200bn hours of television a year: that represents, about 2,000 times the total human hours that have gone so far into creating Wikipedia. (Shirky)

3. Urbanisation, Commuting & Sprawl

4. Everyday Pressures – no “spare” time.

It’s not all bad

• For the first time in history, the amount of television being watched by a younger generation is decreasing rather than increasing annually. (Shirky)

Putnam’s 3 benefits of Social Capital

1. It enables citizens to resolve problems more easily.

2. It helps communities advance as people rely on each other.

3. It encourages empathy, tolerance and hopefulness.

“Tribes” – Seth Godin (2008)• All it takes to turn people into a tribe is:• A shared interest• A way of communicating

• The Communication can be one of four kinds• Leader to tribe• Tribe to leader• Tribe member to tribe member• Tribe member to outsider

The drivers for the sharing economy

Trends in Social Commerce

Audience Advertising

Community Monetisation

Social Shopping

Collaborative Consumption

Pay per ClickBanner AdsAffiliate LinksWebsites

AffiliationsSocial AdvertisingSponsored StoriesBlogsForumsCrowdsourcingPOS recommendations

Refer a FriendShare the DealGeo-based recommendationsCheck-in apps GamificationGeo-based offer alertsShopping CommunitiesGroup shopping sites

Service FeeFlat membershipMembership plus UsageFreemiumTiered Subscription PlansOn-SellingWhite Labelling

Collaborative Consumption

Direct Involvement of Staff & Residents In New Ways

A visualisation of Clay Shirky’s“Cognitive Surplus”

DoingNothing

Co Creation of Society

LolCatz

InterestBlogging

CivicHacking

ParticipationEconomy

MARKETING our services . . .

Fromm, J., Lindell, C. and Decker, L. 2014. American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation. [e-book] http://barkley.s3.amazonaws.com/barkleyus/AmericanMillennials.pdf [Accessed: 27 Feb 2014].

Even more bluntly . . .

http://www.v3im.com/2013/06/marketing-to-millennials-welcome-to-the-participation-economy

Some Examples . . .

• Landshare.net• Fixmystreet.com• Borrowmydoggy.com

And it gets better . . .

Seagulls is an environmental social enterprise working to promote and develop a community resource centre in Leeds.

Our Aim. . .to encourage people to reuse with a focus on promoting community participation through the renovation and reuse of waste materials, applying creative means to provide the sustainable use of resources whilst offering training , support, volunteering and job opportunities for local people.

Achievements so far . . (since 2001)• Saved and reused over 500 tonnes of paint -

that's about 360,000 litres• 50 tonnes of paint pots and tins, emptied, bagged

or crushed, to go to be recycled• Serving 10,000 customers a year …promote access

to those on lower incomes, but open to all• Now work with 11 Household Waste Sorting Sites.• Just opened second distribution site.• Skills, training, and valued volunteers.

'Being part of Seagulls and the mosaic team has allowed me to develop new skills and get my confidence back, all this whilst I was trying to start a life in a foreign country. In Seagulls I have found friends and a home, they have been key for me having a job I am very proud of and I thoroughly enjoy. Today I have the chance to work with people on the peripheries of society and throughout this journey I have gained a new insight into my life. What a fantastic turn of events! To everyone in Seagulls: thanks a lot!'Angela'I have been with Seagulls since 6 months. I drive the pink van and collect paint from five different household waste sites. The working atmosphere is very friendly and supportive. When I was told by Vicky form Canopy that Seagulls needed a volunteer to drive their van, I was quite hesitant but when I met people in there and worked with them, I really been relieved and now I am thoroughly enjoying working here.‘Ansari

Pay As You Feel café, Armley, Leeds

• Volunteers collect unwanted food and turn it into their own meals - which vary each day but normally include a meat and vegetarian option, sandwiches and sometimes a dessert.

• Customers pay what they want for the food.

• The cafe was founded by chef Adam Smith - who opened the cafe in December.

• Since then, he has been joined by five more directors plus an army of volunteers, with 50 signing up in one week alone

Pay As You Feel café, Armley, Leeds

• All food salvaged – or intercepted – before it can be thrown away by markets, restaurants and supermarkets, and before it has gone off. • The café now caters for dozens of

people a day, sometimes hundreds.• Instead of paying in cash, people

can wash up, tidy up, do a stint as a waiter, clean the windows or help in a host of other ways.

Pay As You Feel café, Armley, Leeds

Pay As You Feel café, Armley, Leeds

https://www.facebook.com/PAYFcafe

“rate my landlord” . . .

http://www.civichack.org.uk

A visualisation of Clay Shirky’s“Cognitive Surplus”

DoingNothing

Co Creation of Society

LolCatz

InterestBlogging

CivicHacking

ParticipationEconomy

Relevance to Digital Housing• Social Landlords have ready made communities• Can broker within the community - providing

bonding social capital:• Removal of the “service fee” element of the business

models• Lessens the risks of “trust between strangers”

• Can broker with other agencies – providing bridging social capital.• Don’t underestimate the connection between online

networks driving offline events, communities, and revolutions.

@lizcable #HMdigital

Any questions?

Any collaborations?