John Donnelly says, “Not long ago, when you needed a ride in your city, you’d call a cab — completely unaware the market could offer another option. When you were booking a place to stay for an upcoming trip, your mind probably wouldn’t wander beyond the idea of a hotel. Today, however, the sharing economy is so deeply entrenched in major industries and consumers’ lifestyles that it’s almost hard to remember life before Uber and Airbnb.

Multiple factors played a role in this cultural takeover: the reasons why mainstream consumers engage with sharing-economy businesses, how different demographics perceive the trend, and the growing competition between traditional organizations and sharing-economy alternatives. To capitalize on trends and thrive in the modern business landscape, marketers need to understand and accommodate these elements.

Luckily, there’s an in-depth record of the “who, what, when, where and why” factors that drive this economy’s growth: social media data.

Who are the major vendor and consumer players in the sharing economy?

Organizations catering only to a sharing-economy model have steadily increased with the amount of consumers expressing interest in them. However, Airbnb has become the poster child for the trend, generating 70 percent of the social conversations in the last five years, more than any other companies in its space, according to research by my employer, Crimson Hexagon (registration required)”.

5 Ws of the sharing economy: How social data gives marketers a competitive edge

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