Considering the number of people participating in the sharing economy, it’s a wonder it’s not growing any quicker. With the increased popularity in sharing and collaborating, I believe we are currently watching sharing “go viral”. At first it’s a few organizations building a few websites to participate, now it seems like collaborating is the new hot thing. I’ve been following collaborating in the news for the last few years and recently I’ve seen a massive influx in all things “sharing”.
The UK Consumer Earnings from Sharing 2012 is an earnings report done specifically for Global Sharing Day to outline the number of people already working within the sharing economy and the advantages therein. When you look at the numbers, collaboration is only gathering more and more evidence as the next innovation revolution. Collapsing tiers and hierarchies and business sectors seems to be an ideal solution and inevitable response to this increased “need for sharing”.
When you look at who is collaborating, and how, you realize that it’s not just one business that changes because of collaboration – it changes all business. We’re seeing companies collapse silos into one collaborative entity; projects that were one person’s idea turning into global movements; entire secondary and tertiary economies developing – collaborating is literally revolutionizing business from within.
It started with a general interest in efficiency, and has become a global project. “Sharing”, “collaborating” – whatever you want to call it – has turned from a way to minimize cost and maximize value into what will become the only way to do business. The numbers are only going one way, and as far as I can tell, they’re speeding up. As more and more people seek to join the sharing economy, there will be fewer and fewer that will do business with so-called “non-collaborators” or “loners” – if these people keep resisting change, they’ll be left behind.
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