The sharing economy.
What is a sharing economy platform?
The term describes many different kinds of businesses, form hobbit worthy community exchanges to profit seeking global businesses such as Uber. The thing that they have in common is matching supply and demand more efficiently, using technology to reduce the transactions costs involved in acquiring goods or services from the people able to provide them.
Ref: Financial Times.
Or in other words a way to get the right product to the right person as cheaply as possible. This will maximize the use of the product as it goes straight into the right place.
My understanding is that the sharing economy is about getting the right product to the right person as efficiently as possible.
My favorite examples of this would be,
AirBnB for accommodation.
Uber for travel.
Tinder for dating.
Trivago or others sites for holidays.
Spotify for music.
ect...
All of these examples and more have changed how an existing process operates by using technology to make it more efficient and cost effective to do the same task that had previously taken a lot more time and third parties to make happen which increases the cost. Using any of these services reduces the cost compared to traditional methods and with technology takes the effort out of making the transaction.
Tinder for dating
If we are going to look into one in detail then i will use Tinder as a great example since it relates to an existing business here in the west of Ireland.
Matchmaking.
While in most countries you can just ask out a person that you like on a date their is an old tradition in this part of the country for people looking to find a partner to marry. It was called matchmaking and in certain towns there were people who made a career out of matching up suitable people for marriage.
Funnily enough it is a tradition that still goes on today and the most famous of these is Willy Daly who runs a matchmaking festival in Lisdoonvarna, Co.Clare. You might think that it is just a small town bit of fun but it is actually fairly large for a small one street town.
Over the course of the matchmaking festival, the event attracts over 40,000 people to the small town. Using a large ledger of names and details he painstakingly matches up couples for a life together. People actually travel all over the world to take part and he has a surprisingly good record at it.
All I can say is thank god for tinder.
Set your stats.
Set your location.
Get matched straight right form the couch.
The wonders of technology have really added to this ancient business and sharing economy.
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Technology is certainly changing how we do things. The digitization of all this stuff is really kicking things into overdrive. Today, there is an app for that (whatever that is).
We are seeing a lot of industries that are taking it on the lip right now (and will do so going forward.
It will be interesting to see where we are by the end of this decade.
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I wonder if teleporting technology would be made in the future. I kind of just had this thought as I read your comment.
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Physicists claim it is possible in theory.
Hence it is not a physics problem but an engineering one.
Good luck building something like that. I dont think we are close at this point. LOL
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It's like what you have been talking a lot about lately. So many jobs automated, so many industries replaced by new tech. We are witnessing change at such a pace that it will be hard for some people to keep up and there will be a lot of people left behind when it happens.
These are a big 10 years.
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Your post was promoted by @taskmaster4450le
Okay I will want to do this one like ASAP!
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Who knows, he might just open up his big book of names and have the perfect one right there at the top for you. It's actually great fun, since we are local, we've been going since we were 15 just for the fun and nights out.
If you ever get the chance i say to go.
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Hehe I know right....since 15 lol, now that’s some type of fun worth looking forward to....hopefully if I can I def will
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Convenience & efficiency are the two major aspects where technology can contribute to a large extent. These companies, acting as facilitators, are helping consumers to connect with services & products. Thereby, breaking the barrier for everyone to participate in this thriving economy.
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Especially in developing economies we will see a lot more opportunity emerge. Technology will close the gap that we have over those areas and give them a better chance to compete for work and for money.
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Yes, developing economies have a lot of scope for experiments and innovation. I see how tech coupled with our resources, creates more opportunities for everyone.
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Well done here, technology has made it much easier for individuals to lease out their personal property. It is quite a strange thought to think we are more willing to stay at someone's house than a hotel sometimes, I would've never predicted that 10 years ago. The world is really changing.
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It felt weird the first few times that i stayed in one but now we use them all the time. The great thing about technology is that it will allow us to compete as individuals with large corporations and have personal business on our phones.
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Technology has definitely made things way more convenient. The competitive nature of people wanting both the best prices is a great reason why companies like Uber and Lyft have done well. No car? Schedule it on your phone and get a ride.
My only concern would the creation of monopolies. Once there is no competition, they can set prices as they wish and have laws implemented to stifle competition. The current cable companies are a great example since they are gouging us on internet prices.
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You are right on that. While technology will allow us to break a lot of monopolies through the force of numbers, we are at the mercy of the internet providers for now.
I can see that changing in the future as new forms of broadband come online but it could be a serious problem if they are all government controlled or restricted.
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That's what technology is for. People see a problem or a need and they come up with a solution. Don't have time to cook? Buy a frozen meal. Or get meals pre-made shipped to your door. A pandemic keeping people at home? Go to Zoom meetings or Google meetings and conduct business in person without leaving your house. Governments inflating the value of currencies to infinity? Develop an uninflatable digital currency and a defi world around it that actually pays people for allowing them to use your capital.
As long as there are problems that can be identified, technology will continue to come up with solutions. And as that technology grows, new problems will arise and new technologies can be created to address them. Fortunately for all of us, we are at the forefront of this technology in the crypto world. In the years and decades to come, crypto will either be the solution, or the means by which the solutions are funded. Either way, this is the place to be.
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Technology is life changing and coming form a rural background i can see a huge amount of solutions created over the past decade.
hopefully blockchain will be at the forefront of more solutions as we are sitting right at the start line by using it at such an early stage. There is a huge problem with online activity and automation of processes that a system like hive can solve. It would be great for it to happen as we will all be sitting pretty if it takes off.
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