TrustCloud is a company that offers a unique service. It measures – by your online activity – whether people trust you and combines several indicators into a score, to be used in online interactions that are part of the sharing economy. It isn’t quite functional yet, and it may not be to everyone’s liking to see a computer algorithm evaluate their trustworthiness, but it’s certainly something to watch out for…
“Own Your Online Reputation”
From cars, apartments, tools, and tasks, the sharing economy is exploding across the Internet in what Rachel Botsman calls “Collaborative consumption” or more widely, the sharing economy. TrustCloud gives you insight into those trustworthy strangers before you deal with them.
Think of TrustCloud as a credit system for a new economy based on sharing where you get a credit score for good things you do online. People with solid FICO scores get car and home loans easier, and those with solid TrustCloud scores can borrow and lend easier.
Trust is built through virtuous actions—in context, over time.
We help you measure the trustworthy reputation you have earned online, and leverage it by making it easily accessible across the sharing economy. Individuals hardly ever have established brands, and finding references are a hassle. An online trust system would give you a quick impression, a back story, some hint about the neighbor who wants to borrow your power drill. When that drill is returned in one piece, it adds Virtuous Data to the borrowers’ reputation.
“Collaborative Consumption”
The Internet has allowed collaborative consumption to flourish. Dozens of new sites have popped up in the last few years that provide people with access to goods and services unavailable that they we unable to attain before. A handful of different sectors have emerged, many of which are already seeing amazing success.
The sharing economy consists of different platforms for people to share goods. These platforms include peer-to-peer car sharing sites like RelayRides, WhipCar and Getaround, as well as swapping and sharing sites for items like thredUP, NeighborGoods, and Swap.com. Collaborative consumption is also changing lifestyles. Space Room sharing sites like AirBnB, HomeAway, and LooseCubes are revolutionizing the way people travel and work, while sites like SkillShare and TaskRabbit provide people with new ways to share and help one another.