This article by Kaushal Sarda, Chief Evangelist at Kuliza, was published in issue 06 of Social Technology Quarterly. Summary: A look at collaborative consumption, a phenomenon that is challenging current methods of consumption and is defining new ways of living.

1. Kuliza
A look at collaborative consumption, a phenomenon that is challenging current
methods of consumption and is defining new ways of living.
by Kaushal Sarda
Collaborative Consumption
Social networks, location technologies, and rise in mobile
communication are driving a reinvention of activities like sharing,
bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping. These
changes are driving consumption towards peer-peer exchange
amongst people as opposed to ownership. New examples of this
behaviour are popping up every day across the world in various
contexts like unused spaces, goods, skills, money, energy, and
general services.
Understanding Collaborative Consumption
Drivers of Collaborative Consumption
• A renewed belief in the power of communities
• Success of peer-peer social systems and real-time technologies
• Global recession that has challenged the prevalent consumption
driven lifestyle
• Growing concern in relation to unresolved environmental issues
Systems that are powering collaborative consumption
• Product service systems: Systems that allow people to pay for
the benefits of access to a product rather than owning it
• Collaborative lifestyle: Systems that allow people to mutually
benefit by sharing personal resources like skill, space, money,
and power
• Redistribution markets: Market places that help stretch the life of
a product and in turn reduce waist
Trends that support collaborative consumption
• Rise of distributed structures: 16 of the top 100 bestseller books
were self-published and made available via Kindle.This marks the
shift in power from established, controlled structures to distributed
structures such as market places and funding. Kickstarter
is now the largest backer of creative projects on the planet.
• Reputation economy: The rise of identity brokers offers trust or
reputation scores for people on distributed market places. These
trust scores act as the backbone for peer-peer exchanges
Communities
Communities

2. Social Technology Quarterly 06
ZipCar
System: Product Service System
Category: Transport
About: Zipcar is an American membership-based car-sharing
company. Zipcar members have automated access to Zipcars by
using an access card that works with the car’s technology to unlock
the door. It also offers an iPhone and an Android application that allow
members to ‘honk’ in order to locate a Zipcar and unlock its doors.
Share Some Sugar
System: Product Service System
Category: Home, Living
About: An online service that helps one find someone in a
neighbourhood or a group of friends who is willing to lend or rent
something one needs.
Coloft
System: Collaborative Lifestyle
Category: Co-working
About: Coloft is a shared work space in Santa Monica that creates
a sense of community and excitement amongst like-minded people.
It empowers working professionals such as entrepreneurs, start-
ups, freelancers, programmers, and designers by providing space
and office facilities.
Airbnb
System: Collaborative Lifestyle
Category: Travel & Living
About: Airbnb is an online service that matches people seeking
vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations with those
who rent-out rooms. Listings include private rooms, apartments,
castles, boats, manors, tree houses, teepees, igloos, private islands,
and other properties.
Gazelle
System: Redistribution Markets
Category: Electronic Recycling
About: Gazelle is a fast-growing website that has
created a marketplace for people who want an
alternatives to disposing electronic devices that were
once expensive possessions.