WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:03.510 --> 00:00:04.200 Hey guys! 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:09.760 I'm Bill from GCFLearnFree.org and today I want to talk about the sharing economy. 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:12.960 Now, what do I mean by that exactly? 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:16.660 Well, the sharing economy is a general term that's 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:21.210 applied to a whole bunch of different tools. A really good example of this is eBay. 00:00:21.210 --> 00:00:24.730 eBay allows people to sell items they no longer need and 00:00:24.730 --> 00:00:28.810 makes it easy for other people to buy them. eBay acts as a go-between or 00:00:28.810 --> 00:00:33.780 middleman in this situation. They make it easier for these people to find one another. 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:38.700 The sharing economy is based around this idea and it takes it one step further. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.559 Some really good examples of this include Uber and Lyft. clip 00:00:42.559 --> 00:00:46.319 There are smartphone apps that work basically like a taxi service 00:00:46.319 --> 00:00:50.709 but there are no actual taxi drivers involved. On the one hand you have someone 00:00:50.709 --> 00:00:52.170 who is looking for a ride 00:00:52.170 --> 00:00:56.209 and on the other you have someone with a car who this willing to drive that person 00:00:56.209 --> 00:00:57.789 around for a set price. 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:02.149 Just like eBay, uber and Lyft act as a go-between this situation. 00:01:02.149 --> 00:01:05.479 They make it easy for these two different sides to find each other. 00:01:05.479 --> 00:01:09.079 and they handle all the payment and transaction information, which means there's no 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.329 reason to exchange cash in person. 00:01:11.329 --> 00:01:15.310 Andd they also allow drivers and riders review and rank each other 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:21.000 see you can easily see who's a good driver and who's not.Another really great example is AirBNB. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.659 AirBNB works basically the same way as Uber and Lyft, 00:01:24.659 --> 00:01:29.030 but instead of people looking for a ride, it's people looking for a place to stay. 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:32.140 On the one hand you have someone looking for a place to stay 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:36.090 and on the other you have someone willing to rent out or share their home. 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:39.340 Again, AirBNB acts as the go-between. 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:42.479 They allow people to find each other, leave reviews, 00:01:42.479 --> 00:01:45.499 and they handle all the transaction information. 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:51.120 As these services have become more popular, they've also raised a number of legal and safety issues 00:01:51.190 --> 00:01:55.440 and they're not to be ignored. For a lot of people, I think it's a question of how comfortable 00:01:55.440 --> 00:01:57.560 you are staying in someone else's house 00:01:57.740 --> 00:02:00.140 or riding in someone else's car. 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:03.200 Fundamentally, it's an issue of trust, right? 00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:07.080 Personally, I know I felt the same way before I used a service like this 00:02:07.110 --> 00:02:12.170 and when I first got started I spent a lot of time reading reviews really carefully 00:02:12.250 --> 00:02:15.930 and just trying to get a sense of what to expect. After I'd used them a few times, 00:02:15.930 --> 00:02:20.770 I felt a lot more comfortable, and like I could really use these tools in my everyday life. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.530 I think the Internet is a really powerful tool for connecting people 00:02:24.530 --> 00:02:27.050 and helping them to trust one another. 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.720 And ultimately, that's what the sharing economy is all about: trust. 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:34.720 Anyway, that's all we've got! I really hope this video has been helpful in 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:38.520 explaining what the sharing economy is and how it works.