That Trust Thing

There is different interpretations of what is included under the umbrella of the sharing economy and the relationship between the parties involved.  If we study a whole variety of enterprises and individuals that participate in the sharing models, we will find the relationships are not just about person-to-person (p2p) or business-to-person (b2p) but mostly a p-b-p relationship where one of the p’s is the supplier of goods (either a business or an individual) making their resources available to the intermediary business who in return makes it available to the next person or consumer (also either a business or individual). The intermediary-businesses provide access to the marketplace and some potential type of security for the supplier and consumer to transact with each other. 

We are moving away from putting all our trust into institutions and going towards using the institutions to help us trust each other. Whether you need help trusting your neighbour to borrow a leaf blower or someone across the world to use their couch to sleep on next time you are traveling. 

Businesses providing the technology and as a result access for us and helping us build one-to-one relationship with another person. In some cases, we may  never see or learn about the other person.

Maybe in a few years, we will use a blockchain style technology to keep track of our relationships and trust.