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Uber, Airbnb Lead the Way as Sharing Economy Expands (emarketer.com)
As trust and familiarity with sharing economy services continues to grow, so too will the number of users, estimates marketing research firm eMarketer. From the article: Over a quarter (26.0%) of US adult internet users -- or 56.5 million people -- will use a sharing economy service at least once in 2017. This is a higher figure than previously projected due to stronger-than-expected uptake of both ride- and home-sharing services. This year, 16.9% of US adult internet users are expected to use their Airbnb account at least once, equating to 36.8 million people.
they don't share anything.
their drivers aren't "sharing" their ride. they're GIVING YOU ONE... for a price. like a taxi, but without all those pesky regulations and extra costs getting in the way.
carpools are ride sharing.
slugging is ride sharing.
dial-a-rides are ride sharing.
uber is not.
It's not sharing. It's plain old commercial rental of homes, rental of tools, pre-booked taxi rides, etc. Everything nowadays is called "sharing", recently here a "bike sharing" company came, offering lots of bicycles for rent. Not so long ago this would simply be called "bike rental", as that's really what it is.
AirBnB is not a "home sharing" company, it's a private short-term rentals broker. Uber and Lyft are not "ride sharing" companies, they're taxi service brokers. And so on.
Uber iirc started off on the premise "you're going from A to B, have empty seats in your car, why not fill them up and have the passengers share your cost". That's ride sharing. Very soon though it became people requesting rides from A to B, and then the driver going to A to pick up the passenger, then drive to B, even though the driver has no other reason to go to either A or B. That's when it became a taxi service.
AirBnB never even had such a "sharing" stage, that was designed to enable commercial short-term rentals by individuals of single apartments from the get-go.
Tool libraries and open use maker spaces: sharing economy
Traditional libraries: sharing economy
CopyLeft media, designs etc.: sharing economy
Open/Free software: sharing economy
Commercial taxi services with a phone app: Not SHARING
Short term home rental: Not SHARING
For crying out loud, the criteria is RIGHT there in the FREAKING NAME!