How to Build Trust in the Sharing Economy, Cartoon Edition. Sharing reinvented through technology. Watch Rachel's TED Talk.Collaborative Consumption. Mesh - the pulse of the sharing economy. The Sharing Revolution. If you’ve ever bought something off eBay, scored a cheap overseas stay with Airbnb or pledged money to a fledgling art project through Kickstarter, you’re actually part of a huge global movement.
You just mightn’t know it. In fact, until Rachel Botsman started writing and speaking about it, this international phenomenon – of shared, participatory consumerism – didn’t even have a name. That changed when TIME Magazine identified it as one of 10 Ideas That Will Change the World. Now this movement doesn’t just have a name, but the combined energy of a locomotive. Collaborative Gastronomy? Cookening Lets Tourists Dine In A Local’s Own Home. In years to come, when we look back, it’s only then that we’ll know if Collaborative Consumption really is a movement or if history deems it to be the hollow marketing term that it sometimes appears to be.
But in the midst of things, it’s hard not to think that something pretty interesting is happening, specifically relating to the issue of trust. Airbnb and its European rival 9flats, for example, got users used to the idea of inviting strangers into their home. Meanwhile, Housebites enables people to sell home-cooked meals as an alternative to a take-out. Launching today is Cookening, a new French startup co-founded by Cédric Giorgi (previously co-editor of TechCrunch France) that combines elements of both Airbnb and Housebites. Starting with France first, a country known for its gastronomy, it enables locals to be matched with foreigners — tourists in particular — so they can invite them into their homes to experience an authentic, in this case French, home dining experience.