KicBac in the Sharing Economy

In a recent post, I discussed the rising trend of the internet of value. The shift we see rising is a growing awareness of the value consumers themselves are pumping into online platforms — be it social, retail or otherwise. As consumers become more aware of this value, their expectations for being recognized for their contributions should rightly grow. But this trend is related to a much larger trend, the sharing economy, and they both have to do with latent potential and peer-to-peer relationships.
You know about the sharing economy, even if you haven’t read any scholarly articles about it. AirBnB, Uber, Lyft are all examples of the sharing economy. Put simply, it is those areas of our life where technology has enabled us, as individuals, to do business together and to share stuff. To boil it down, the companies that have created platforms to enable the sharing economy have all done one simple task: they have matched individuals who can provide a service or share cool stuff with other individuals that need it. That service or stuff heretofore was simply latent potential.
Think about it; you have two or three hours free and a car sitting in your driveway. That is latent potential that would otherwise be lost. Instead, you sign up as a driver for Uber, and now you can unlock that value. A person needs a ride, you provide it. Uber has matched you in an appropriate way — you are available, have a clean car, and you are nearby. Your passenger needs a ride, needs a car of a certain size and suddenly you have a match.
We could go on a tangent here and talk about the value the sharing economy platforms provide around social proof (ratings and reviews), fair and transparent pricing, and secure transactions. This should not be diminished as it is really the secret sauce, along with the person to person match. But let’s save that for a future article.
Instead, lets focus on why this is so important, what impact it is having today and what the big picture is for the future. First let’s put some perspective on the potential size of the sharing economy. According to a Brookings report, the size of the sharing economy in 2014 was $14 billion dollars. By 2025 it is projected to be $335 billion dollars! While the number is impressive, the implied impact is more interesting culturally. That exponential increase implies that, culturally, the sharing economy will be so commonplace as to be assumed throughout our lives. In fact, according to a Pew Research report, even back in 2016, 72% of Americans used the shared economy in some form. Extrapolate that to 2025 and you can see how ubiquitous the sharing economy will be in our lives.
So how does this tie into the KicBac and the Internet of Value? I see two corollaries that interest us. First is the concept of latent potential I spoke about earlier and secondly the peer-to-peer nature inherent in both.
First, KicBac hopes to unlock the hidden value, i.e. the latent potential, inherent in online social communities. As community members add value, and are more obviously rewarded for those contributions through KicBacs, they will be more inclined to more holistically engage with others in the community. One of the themes we speak about is the ability to use KicBac to simply say ‘Hey, thanks for that’. It’s really as simple as that.
Further, it is not only a way for a platform to say ‘Hey, thanks’, but also a way to pass on a KicBac from individual to individual — or in the internet world peer-to-peer. In this way, one person could simply send a KicBac to another as a form of gratitude for helping on a tricky issue in a forum, sharing a video, or just making them smile at just the right moment.
Unlocking hidden value and peer-to-peer sharing are the key characteristics of the rapidly expanding sharing economy. They are also a key part of a cultural shift that I believe will be healthy and more equitable. Fortunately, our mission at KicBac dovetails nicely with this trend and we surely hope to contribute to the positive impact this will have in our society.

KicBac is focused on universal rewards for online social contributions from everyday users, recognizing them for the value they are adding to their communities.
