It has become the norm: People using online sites to share what they have – in the tangible world – with strangers.
Power tools, baby clothes for a special occasion, a personal loan – even a dog for those who want to test pet ownership. No longer does one need to buy these items, clogging up storage.
Nor is this a quaint notion: Person-to-person transactions, popularized by early innovative sites such as Craigslist.org, has exploded into a $26 billion-a-year industry.
Chief among sharers are the “super sharers,” including Rob Gonzalez, who makes a living renting out a room in his Brooklyn condo via airbnb.com and teaching a class he calls “How to live rent-free in New York City.” He posts the class on the website Skill Share.
Gonzalez, a 35-year-old actor who was once a real estate agent, uses Relay Rides to find individuals renting their cars.
"I share my home and I share my knowledge, but there's a lot of stuff I don't have, so while I share a lot of stuff, people also share with me," Gonzalez said.
April Rinne, Chief Strategy Officer at Collaborative Lab, a company based in San Francisco and Australia that specializes in collaborative consumption, summed up the growing phenomena: "We can trade, swap, barter, rent, lend, share, etc., but doing so in a way that mimics what we've been doing throughout history but is relevant in today's Facebook age."