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"To share" means "to use or enjoy something jointly or in turns" (source: http://thefreedictionary.com/share http://thefreedictionary.com/share). I hear Starbuc

by avz 12y ago

"To share" means "to use or enjoy something jointly or in turns" (source: http://thefreedictionary.com/share http://thefreedictionary.com/share). I hear Starbucks customers generally receive their own coffee each. Note also that sharing does not imply "for free". It simply implies more than one person using a given resource.

Wilya 12y ago
That doesn't explain why Uber is more about sharing than taxi companies, nor why Airbnb is more about sharing than the old way of renting your flat.
- avz 12y ago
  Taxi service doesn't allow you to easily share your car and hotels don't allow you to easily share your flat. Traditional renting of an apartment is a long-term proposition which again inhibits sharing.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Taxi service doesn't allow you to easily share your car and hotels don't allow you to easily share your flat. Sharing your car or home (whether the latter is rented or owned) is very easy without apps and people have been doing it for just about as long as cars and homes have existed. What the apps facilitate is making money from arms-length rentals to strangers. This may be a form of sharing, but even if so its a fairly specific one with its own name, its just that using an accurate and specific label rather than a misleadingly general one doesn't make as good marketing copy -- "sharing" sounds warm and friendly and positive, "rental" not so much.
    - avz 12y ago
      Sharing your car or home involves a substantial risk and requires trust so people have traditionally been doing it mostly within their private networks of friends and family. What Uber, Airbnb and the like have achieved is the application of technology, reviews and rating schemes to build and scale these trust networks up to sizes that are more practical for a society.
dougmccune 12y ago
OK, then by that rationale every time I stay at a normal hotel I'm "sharing" it with the other guests who have stayed there before? It's a misuse of the word, plain and simple, popularized by well-financed corporations that want to be seen as altruistic populist movements as they skirt the current laws/regulations. I get that there's a real distinction between these new companies that facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. But I'd much prefer a term like "peer economy" than "sharing".

by avz 12y ago

Wilya 12y ago

That doesn't explain why Uber is more about sharing than taxi companies, nor why Airbnb is more about sharing than the old way of renting your flat.

avz 12y ago
Taxi service doesn't allow you to easily share your car and hotels don't allow you to easily share your flat. Traditional renting of an apartment is a long-term proposition which again inhibits sharing.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Taxi service doesn't allow you to easily share your car and hotels don't allow you to easily share your flat. Sharing your car or home (whether the latter is rented or owned) is very easy without apps and people have been doing it for just about as long as cars and homes have existed. What the apps facilitate is making money from arms-length rentals to strangers. This may be a form of sharing, but even if so its a fairly specific one with its own name, its just that using an accurate and specific label rather than a misleadingly general one doesn't make as good marketing copy -- "sharing" sounds warm and friendly and positive, "rental" not so much.
  - avz 12y ago
    Sharing your car or home involves a substantial risk and requires trust so people have traditionally been doing it mostly within their private networks of friends and family. What Uber, Airbnb and the like have achieved is the application of technology, reviews and rating schemes to build and scale these trust networks up to sizes that are more practical for a society.

dougmccune 12y ago

OK, then by that rationale every time I stay at a normal hotel I'm "sharing" it with the other guests who have stayed there before? It's a misuse of the word, plain and simple, popularized by well-financed corporations that want to be seen as altruistic populist movements as they skirt the current laws/regulations. I get that there's a real distinction between these new companies that facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. But I'd much prefer a term like "peer economy" than "sharing".