Ten sharing economy experts to follow
Whether you call it the sharing economy, the peer-to-peer economy or the collaborative economy, you will have noticed the social and economical innovation that is taking place worldwide. From sharing cars to houses to tools or knowledge, these experts can tell you what’s happening and why it is catching on like wildfire.
If you want to learn more about the sharing economy and stay informed, read their books, watch their TED talks and follow them on social media.
Rachel Botsman
Rachel is the co-author of ‘What’s Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live’ and a popular TED-speaker on the subject of collaborative consumption and sharing. She founded Collaborative Consumption together with Lauren Anderson and is currently teaching the first-ever M.B.A. course on the collaborative economy at Oxford University.
@rachelbotsman | www.rachelbotsman.com
Jeremiah Owyang
Jeremiah is an enthusiastic researcher, blogger, tweeter and speaker on the sharing economy. As a industry analyst with a keen interest in how technology can help organisations to connect with their customers, he quickly stumbled upon the benefits of collaborative consumption. He shares some of his research here for you to enjoy.
@jowyang | www.web-strategist.com
Chelsea Rustrum
Self-pronounced ‘digi-hippie’ Chelsea is co-author of ‘It’s a shareable life’, a practical guide on living a sharing lifestyle. She shares her knowledge with her extensive Twitter following, is a business consultant and a regular speaker. If you live in the San Francisco area, you should check out her new initiative Sharers.co for inspiring conversations on sharing.
@chelsearustrum | www.rustrum.com
Arun Sundarajan
Arun is a business professor at New York University, head of the Social Cities Initiative at NYU’s Center for Urban Science+Progress and author of several academic papers on the sharing economy. You can follow him on his popular Twitter account where he shares more news, media appearances and his op-ed’s for the likes of New York Times, Wired and Harvard Business Review.
@digitalarun | www.digitalarun.org
Lisa Gansky
This experiences entrepreneur and environmentalist is the author of “The Mesh: Why the future of business is sharing” and instigator behind www.meshing.it, an extensive database of sharing initiatives. She explained the concept of ‘The Mesh’ in her popular TedTalk and continues to share her thoughts and insights via her blog and Twitter account.
@instigating | www.instigating.co
“The miracle is this: The more we share the more we have.”
- Leonard Nimoy
Robin Chase
Robin is the (co-)founder of Zippcar, Buzzcar and GoLoco and author of “Peers Inc.: How People and Platforms Are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism”. She is your go-to expert on sharing transportation and her TedTalks are inspiring. She is a popular speaker and was named as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2009.
April Rinne
April is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, where she leads the Sharing Economy Working Group. As a sharing economy consultant she works and advices on a variety of policy issues with policy makers. She has extensive knowledge on creating sharing cities and the effects of the sharing economy on travel and tourism. She has written several articles for Wired and Huffington Post.
@aprilrinne | www.aprilrinne.com
Neal Gorenflo
Neal is the co-founder of Shareable, the popular and award-winning blog on anything to do with sharing. He is a consultant, speaker and writer on the sharing economy and the co-editor of “Share or Die: Voices of The Get Lost Generation in the Age of Crisis“ and “Policies for Shareable Cities“. Neal also advises mayors and co-convenes the Sharing Cities Global Network, a group of grassroots sharing activists.
Benita Matofska
Benita is the driving force behind the Global Sharing Week and the Chief Sharer of Compare and Share, a comparison site for sharing initiatives. She founded The People Who Share, works as a corporate consultant and is a popular speaker and writer. More recently, she launched the world’s first sharing economy trustmark: Sharetrade. She is said to be the first person to use the hashtag #sharingeconomy.
@benitamatofska | www.compareandshare.com
Pieter van de Glind
Pieter is co-founder of ShareNL, the Dutch knowledge and network platform for the collaborative economy, and co-initiator of Amsterdam Sharing City. His Master research on the potential of the sharing economy has been consulted by researchers from all over the world. Together with ShareNL co-founder Harmen van Sprang he is currently writing their first book ‘Share’.
“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.”
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Do you know of any other must-follow experts on collaborative consumption, the sharing economy or peer-to-peer marketplaces? Please leave your additions in the comments!