Building Community in the Sharing Economy a conversation with panelists   Shelby Clark Founder + Chief Community Officer, RelayRides   Casey Fenton Founder + Chief Inspiration Officer, CouchSurfing   Paolo Parigi + Bogdan State Assistant Professor + Graduate Researcher Department of Sociology, Stanford University Elizabeth Mueller Host + Community Organizer, Airbnb   A new collaborative... [read more]

Building Community in the Sharing Economy a conversation with panelists   Shelby Clark Founder + Chief Community Officer, RelayRides   Casey Fenton Founder + Chief Inspiration Officer, CouchSurfing   Paolo Parigi + Bogdan State Assistant Professor + Graduate Researcher Department of Sociology, Stanford University Elizabeth Mueller Host + Community Organizer, Airbnb   A new collaborative economy is emerging. Rapidly growing peer-to-peer marketplaces leveraging access to underutilized assets hold transformative economic and environmental potential. The material benefits of sharing are compelling for participants, but only represent part of the picture. Community is both a necessary feature of effective sharing marketplaces and the most lasting reward of collaborative consumption exchanges. At scale, sharing-based business models will offer tremendous power to build offline relationships and social capital.  How can community be cultivated online to facilitate peer-to-peer exchange? What social impacts will result from widespread adoption of collaborative consumption?  This panel discussion will explore the role of community in collaborative consumption with perspectives from entrepreneurs, sociologists, and an active user of one such marketplace.   Format:  Reception with light food and drink followed by moderated panel discussion and Q&A.  Collaborative Chats is an ongoing speaker series for the collaborative consumption movement. Events occur monthly in San Francisco. A project of Legit in partnership with Shareable.