Shared economy prevails, how Airbnb and Lyft rebuild trust between people and people

In just 40 minutes, Cindy Manit will drive to the southern part of San Francisco and pick up a brunette to the airport, based on the app guide in his phone. Manit is not a taxi driver, but the passengers who have taken her downwind have surpassed hundreds. Too many people think she trusts people too much, but she doesn't think so.

Manit, a yoga tutor and personal trainer, was registered as a signing driver in August 2012 for a private car share rental service Lyft. Lyft, a start-up company that now has thousands of drivers, has topped 333 million, and is considered one of the popular "shared economy" representatives, as well as Airbnb and Uber.

Share economy prevails

In the past few years, the "shared economy" has gradually matured. Regulators and economists have tried to study its impact. The consumer behavior that these companies have sparked is incredibly crazy five years ago. Lyft, Sidecar, Uber, let us jump into the car of strangers, Airbnb, so that we take the initiative to invite strangers to their homes, DogVacay, Rover let us rest assured that the dog sustenance in the home of strangers; feastly matchmaking, let's go to a stranger's house to eat ...... We began to believe in all sorts of strangers, inviting them into their own lives. And that's why we're entering a new era of intimate Internet.

"Sharing economy" is not only a breakthrough in the economic field, but also a impact on culture; It has complex algorithm system and precise reward and punishment system. EBay is a pioneer in leading the market through face-to-face trading with people, encouraging people to trust others. Lyft also has its own way to ensure that drivers are not the casual passers-by on the road. Each Lyft is required to import Facebook's profile into the account. Therefore, each time they dial a call, their photo will be displayed on the Lyft driver's mobile desktop, the driver will leave a rating for the passengers, the credit-poor user will be automatically ignored, and the passenger must register with the credit card to secure the payment system.

The economy is soaring, trust is on sale

Manit said that his confidence threshold was lower (low trust threshold). In other words, she is more willing to trust others than overprotective.

Skepticism reflects a widespread and deep-rooted mental state, and is deepened by an unreliable case. As a result, the "shared economy" advocates believe that it is not just business that they do, but fundamentally improved relationships between people. The traditional internet helps strangers to build virtual connections online, while modern internet helps people achieve real offline communication. Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University, said, "people actually communicate far less than objective needs." Lyft co-founder John Zimmer said, "sharing the economy" is to gradually fill the gap between the two.

Acquaintance is not easy, trust more difficult. The 2012 American Social Survey data showed that only 32% of the participants were willing to trust others, well below 1972 's 46%. In fact, even manit who have a high degree of trust in others do not open their doors to strangers without security. For example, she does not accept strangers renting their own cars, but if through RelayRides or Getaround Word-of-mouth intermediary company, it is another matter.

In fact, our business environment is full of strangers. Every day, we pass the credit card to a strange cashier, sit in a cab of a stranger driver, eat a dish made by a strange cook in the kitchen next door, live in a strange hotel, and never worry that the waiter with the key will sneak into the room while we are asleep. Fortunately, the legal regulations and safeguards established during the Industrial Revolution have provided strong support for such a large and complex system.

Before that, Americans liked to live in small towns and farm communities, where interpersonal relationships were strong, friendly, and values were similar. Therefore, it is not difficult to do business acquaintances. The situation changed in the middle of the 19th century, when Americans moved from small villages to big cities, small businessmen became big businesses and local markets were hit by multinationals. People from acquaintances become strangers, and people can no longer rely on traditional human communication and cultural norms to secure trade. As Lynne Zucker, a UCLA sociologist, has said, "trust", the key element that has kept the U.S. economy running, is rapidly collapsing. Over the next few years, formal systems are emerging, replacing the disappearing "trust". From 1870 to 1920, laws and regulations have sprung up, and the banks, insurance and law industries have set up new systems. At the same time, government regulations have been promulgated to help standardize new industries. Zucker said, "The normalized system rebuilds the trust of Man and the world, and the economic order is restored." ”

New trust relationship in New era

But with the advent of the new industrial era, the rule system faces new changes. EBay cannot ask everyone who has a small commodity to become a listed shopkeeper after a series of complex legal provisions. So they built their own system of trust. The first is to monitor various transactions within the EBay platform, identify potential problems with buyers and sellers, provide unique payment methods, and ultimately ensure full purchase behavior. Thus, from the original "passive owner" to "active participants", as the banking industry, insurance in the early 20th century changes, the new system once again rebuilt the trust-people and people do not need to fully trust each other, only rely on an intermediary system can protect personal interests.

Airbnb also imitates the process. Initially, co-founder Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nate Blecharczyk just wanted to provide a matching service between the tenant and the homeowner, and the ensuing events were left to the parties themselves. But a few years later, Airbnb expanded the range of services-taking over payments, matching, commenting, and communication platforms. The crisis of "Airbnb homeowners ransacked by tenants", which erupted in June 2011, has also prompted it to improve its institutions and build trust and security.

Airbnb's Trust and Security Department is responsible for mining the data, tracking every order-booking, payment, landlord-tenant communication, and commenting on every aspect of the deal. If the trading parties attempt to bypass Airbnb through a third-party system, the information will be automatically screened by the system. The system can also identify whether the same tenant has repeatedly booked a room, there is no brush high false credit records and other unsafe acts of suspicion.

From a multiple perspective, Airbnb is similar to EBay's system-by machine algorithms to take risks for customers and provide a trusted trading platform. But the problem is that EBay is a two-way platform that you either buy or not buy. For such a system, the intermediary trust system is essential, it helps consumers to eliminate crooks and unscrupulous merchants. and "shared economy" companies are facing loose individuals, even if the intermediary credit system may be able to detect individual bad users, but can not avoid all, for example, accidentally drop the wax to the microphone tenant, love fast driving crazy drivers. Therefore, the need for sharing the economy is more nuanced and stringent provisions.

Short-term private car rental service RelayRides CEO Andre Haddad will "share economy" and parenting style analogy. "You have 3 children, but you can't control them completely, you can only guide them to do the right thing." "If you buy a camera on EBay, you just need to know the identity of the seller is NikonIcon1972." In the mode of shared economy, people are no longer anonymous, but tend to communicate and trade face-to-face. Even without face-to-face communication, both accounts are connected to Facebook, making virtual communication a real identity. RelayRides found that tenants and car owners are more inclined to face docking, Exchange keys. Although RelayRides wanted to explore more convenient and efficient ways to expand business, it was not expected that traditional "face-to-face" transactions would enhance mutual trust and maximize the protection of vehicles.

In a word, we don't mess with people we know. The introduction of people who know each other, can encourage each other to behave more reliable, thereby reducing the company's insurance costs. In the "shared economy", business seems to have retreated to the second, the communication between people, the connection has laid the entire transaction flow. From this perspective, the current trade seems to be back to the industrial revolution-relying on interpersonal relationships and real identity to complete. New, shared-economy companies are more attractive to open-minded, avant-garde early adopters (early adopters). The new system, while refreshing, also brings a more comfortable interpersonal and trading experience.