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What’s stopping us from unlocking the sharing economy – Executive summary?

People have always shared their possessions but now through the digital and social economy they have an opportunity to share their possessions with strangers across the country through online platforms. The full potential of sharing models is only just starting to become clear and more research is needed to show how local areas can benefit from embracing these models. “The term sharing economy appeared in the mid 2000’s due to new business structures emerging inspired by enabling social technologies and an increasing sense of urgency around global population growth and resource depletion” (Traboulay, 2014).The major change in the last decade has been the advent of technology, which makes it possible to be able to share possessions whether it is a car, house or even a skill with people that you have never met before and that is why these small traditional businesses are becoming big businesses both united kingdom and globally. There are a number of reasons behind the growth of the sharing economy. One of the major macro-economic factors is that there is less consumer trust in the corporate world because of the financial crisis and also there has been a substantial rise in the unemployment sector which has decreased the purchasing power of consumers, and thus people are now looking for ways to potentially earn or save money by any means, which is why consumers are currently more welcoming to the peer to peer business model.
The sharing economy consolidates a wide range of businesses and business models and helps them sell their goods and services from anywhere. Example, include: Etsy which allows individuals to sell their craft ware, companies like City Car Club where individuals can impart access to an auto without having to own their own particular one and time banks like the economy of hours which permits one to swap their skills. “Nesta Has estimated that 25% of the U.K adult population are sharing online in some way and also the new ways of producing and consuming of the collaborative economy bring with them regulatory and policy challenges with some positive moves in evidence to address those challenges and support the collaborative economy“(Stokes, Clarence, 2014). The collaborative economy is an economy based on disseminated systems of connected people and groups versus unified organizations, changing how we can create, consume, finance, and learn. The collaborative consumption system on the other hand helps maximize usage of advantages through effective models of redistribution and shared access. Companies like Air BnB, Lyft, Zip Car and City Car Club are the main competitors in the sharing economy and because of this other regional and local businesses that also play their part in order to keep the movement running get neglected. Due to this “Nesta and Collaborative Lab have chosen to work together in order to underpin research into the collaborative economy in the UK, and Europe, expecting to learn more about how the shared economy is characterized, what other businesses are included, what they are doing, and how they are doing it”(Collaborative Consumption, 2014).

Appendices 1:
(Ignaczak, 2014)

The government have commissioned a review supporting the sharing economy and has also asked everyone to support it. “By backing the sharing economy we’re backing the innovators, the competitors and the agitators and also making sure that Britain is at the forefront of progress and by future proofing our economy we’re helping to protect the next generation” (Wosskow, 2014). This review led by Debbie Wosskow who is the owner of Love Home Swap called for a start-up incubator and innovation lab for British companies in this field, asks that Jobcentre staff promote sharing economy platforms to jobseekers and suggests more carpooling lanes in high congestion areas (Ortiz, 2014).The innovation lab which is supposed to be run by a private sector investment and supported by Nesta aims to provide “targeted financing for sharing economy services, help these services learn from each other and share best practice and also work with cities and local areas to see how sharing economy approaches can help areas to work better together and use resources more efficiently” (Wosskow, 2014).

Appendices 2:
(Weeson, 2011)
Businesses have also introduced and implemented a peer to peer platform and although it is proved to be a virtuous idea the platform is the focus of controversy about it in the U.K. The toughest obstacle is the lack of trust during online transactions and therefore companies have started looking into ways to increase relationship trusts like identity checks to keep users mind at rest and peer to peer rating systems (Dervojeda et al, 2014). Consumers now buy products in order to gain ownership in traditional markets, through easy accessible based systems. Consumers are progressively paying for makeshift access-rights to an item. Within these accessible business models, there is a trend towards peer-to-peer platforms that allows consumers to access consumer owned properties. Companies tend to encourage peer-to-peer markets for all assets owned by peers. Businesses are also considered to have an accessibility based model for peer-to-peer markets at the point when their worth suggestion comprises of making a match between a peer owning a certain asset and another peer in need of that asset, at the perfect time and against sensible exchange costs.
One of the most vital implications for the sharing economy has been the accessibility of subsidizing sources. Help from both public and private gatherings has been remarkable. Numerous sharing economy start – ups are a piece of an incubator program, which gives them guidance from experienced people and seed capital. (Wosskow, 2014).This is very important as it implies that internationalisation can be an alternate driver for some sharing economy marketplaces. Platforms that are considerably influenced by system externalities can especially profit from advanced to non-domestic markets. Companies in the sharing economy permit consumers to take on responsibilities and assignments that were ordinarily led by businesses. Regulations and measures that are suitable to accommodate and direct Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer exchanges are not generally relevant to the recently made Consumer-to-Consumer market (Dervojeda et al, 2014).
In conclusion the sharing economy still has a considerable measure of developing to do in years to come, as very few businesses are becoming accustomed to the idea and transaction dealings with strangers online. In spite of the fact that this is one of the difficulties it confronts, it is still a fundamental method for changing the substance of how consumers work together by opening shut entryways for normal business visionaries so they can do business with each other. These new marketplaces have turned out to be extremely effective as they are savvy and they figure out how to push the boundaries of innovation. Due to the huge power the sharing economy generates it can possibly guarantee that consumers have access to the best deals. Collaborating administrations, for example, Near Desk give little organizations access to office facilities, without going into immoderate and unsafe long term leases (Wosskow, 2014).

References:
Collaborative Consumption, (2014). NESTA SURVEY: Businesses and Organisations in the Collaborative Economy – Collaborative Consumption. [Online] Available at: http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/2014/05/07/nesta-survey-businesses-and-organisations-in-the-collaborative-economy/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2014].
Dervojeda, K. (2014). [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/business-innovation-observatory/files/case-studies/12-she-accessibility-based-business-models-for-peer-to-peer-markets [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].
Appendices 1: Ignaczak, n. (2014). New Report: 25% of UK Participates in the Collaborative Economy. [Online] Shareable. Available at: http://www.shareable.net/blog/new-report-25-of-uk-participates-in-the-collaborative-economy [Accessed 14 Dec. 2014].
Ortiz, a. (2014). Antonello. [Online] Getprismatic.com. Available at: http://getprismatic.com/profile/antonello [Accessed 12 Dec. 2014].
Stokes, Clarence, k. (2014). Making Sense of the UK Collaborative Economy. [Online] Nesta.org.uk. Available at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/making-sense-uk-collaborative-economy [Accessed 13 Dec. 2014].
Traboulay, N. (2014). The Sharing Economy: Millennial Entrepreneurs’ Re-Invention of Collaboration in a Downturned Economy. [Online] Ncmaoc.org. Available at: http://www.ncmaoc.org/store/products/the-sharing-economy-millennial-entrepreneurs-re-invention-of-collaboration-in-a-downturned-economy/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2014].
Appendices 2: Wesson, D. (2011). David Wesson’s Digital Culture: The New Sharing Economy-The next era of the Social Web. [Online] Davidwesson.typepad.com. Available at: http://davidwesson.typepad.com/david_wessons_digital_cul/2011/04/the-new-sharing-economy-the-next-era-of-the-social-web-.html [Accessed 14 Dec. 2014].
Wosskow, d. (2014). Unlocking the sharing economy: independent review – GOV.UK. [Online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unlocking-the-sharing-economy-independent-review/unlocking-the-sharing-economy-independent-review [Accessed 13 Dec. 2014].

COLD FIRE SHOP

is making really connecting?

In Making is Connecting, David Gauntlett argues that through making things people engage with the world and create connections with each other. Both online and offline, we see that people want to make their mark on the world, and to make connections.During the previous century, the production of culture became dominated by professional elite producers. But today, a vast array of people are making and sharing their own ideas, videos and other creative material online, as well as engaging in real-world crafts, art projects and hands-on experiences. Gauntlett argues that we are seeing a shift from a ‘sit-back-and-be-told culture’ to a ‘making-and-doing culture’. People are rejecting traditional teaching and television, and making their own learning and entertainment instead. Drawing on evidence from psychology, politics, philosophy and economics, he shows how this shift is necessary and essential for the happiness and survival of modern societies. guess we will just never be able to justify this theory, all we can do is chose to believe in Davids experiment or ignore it.Image

MFC4322 online research and generation

2000 word blog on a recommendation for a blogging platform for a small retail and catering business.

A blog is basically an online journal that helps get the right recognition by targeting the right audience. Blogging is a great way to listen for feedbacks and get information about strengths and weaknesses about the business. The chosen blogging platform has to allow room for comments on posts or pictures or videos. So in a sense the customers or clients get a feel of a actual conversation. This builds credibility and makes the platform appear reliable.

Recommending a blogging platform can tend to be one of the most common problem retailers have, from driving traffic to knowing what blogging platform to use, how to gain followers, keep on top of things and most importantly make sure there is enough content on there so viewers can subscribe to it and share it. Crème de la catering is a small retail and catering business based in the central of Leeds. Their aim is to find a reliable and dynamic blogging platform that would help execute their recipes, kitchenware products, preserves, cupboard foods and also any upcoming events they might have. There is a very good synopsis of the differences between blogging platforms nowadays. They take a lot of time and effort but by choosing the right one that’s most suited to your business whether its retail or catering helps achieve the best results. Marketing is one of the key aspects of any business and without a good blogging platform to support it; it’s basically like building a house without any foundation as there are bound to be problems springing up at some point.

 There are lots of different types of platforms out there and knowing which one is best suited can be the issue, like take Facebook for example. It gives people chances to be able to create a page of their own, add people to the page whether it being friends or family and put whatever content they want on there. Facebook can be perceived to be a good blogging platform as you can share and like information and privately message people which are a good and direct way to connect buyers with their clients or customers. Although crème de la catering is only a small business, word press is the best way platform to showcase their catering knowledge and let potential customers or clients know how catering can help them with their gatherings or personal use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMXX_jl3gjM

Starting up retail or catering business, it’s really crucial to be equipped with the best possible tools word press would be an immediate choice as a number one site as a blogging platform for any kind of retail business.it gives its users two options, one if a wordpress.org and the other is wordpress.com. WordPress.com is a freemium hosted service that wordpress gives to its users in order for them to still be able to make blogs and get to know the platform better although the customization on the domain are limited it still has a lot of quality and well-presented themes. It is the main & current platform for companies, one reason for that might be the fact that it generates about 19 per cent of the internet and has also been downloaded more than 45 million times. Most companies looking to construct a well presentable website, whether it being retail, food, health, sport or office like chose word press because of its creativity, customization and layout. “For me, it always comes back to the blogger, the author, the designer, the developer. You build software for that core individual person, and then smart organisations adopt it and dumb organisations die”- (mullenweg, 2013).

Word press also helps businesses reach their ideal target audience and makes driving traffic to the website easy because of how it broadcast the media on its page. Word press acts as a stand-alone platform which is best suited to the catering business because it helps them showcase their events, recipes, kitchenware, store cupboard foods and also posting relevant photos and videos of previous events. Finding the right blogging platform can be quite hard as there are lots of others out there, like Facebook for example has over 1 billion users each month and it is known to be the world’s largest social networking site.

Facebook is by far the most popular and universal social networking website. In January 2012, Facebook announced that it had over 800 million active users over the world approximately 10% of the world’s population. Recommending Facebook as a blogging platform isn’t a bad idea as it’s easy to create; it also allows its users to make a profile that allows them to store their personal information such as basic and contact information. It differentiates itself from other blogging platform like for example word press allows users to customize and design their layout but Facebook already has its own layout, Facebook also allows businesses to have a presence that’s similar but yet different to what normal users have. It allows them to create a page which is a bit like a user’s profile but different because just like word press it also gives them a chance to customize their page to represent their business. This blogging platform has relevant tools needed to attract customers. It gives companies a chance to be able to interact with their clients or customers which gives them useful numbers so they understand their return on advertising investment. “The world we live in is mostly composed of people and stuff that people need” – (Abram and Pearlman, 2010)

Facebook is set to be bringing out a new advertisement tool where it looks at people’s interests and likes and generates adverts catered towards their online activity which is good for new businesses as it gives them related feeds. There are lots of benefits that come with making Facebook a blogging platform when looking into business developing. Its free of charge for all users so its cost effective on that note and it allows worldwide connection which means anyone from anywhere around the world can get connected and see the business, It can be used as a source of providing potential customers with an accurate source of information about the business, such as an email address, product type, events, it also helps showcase new products, promotion and updates.it also gives people chances to have group chats and private conversations which can be good way for potential clients or customers to communicate directly with the business. The privacy settings & tools allow its users to maximise its visibility, it has a compound setting which can be altered at any time and most importantly it can be used as a bookmarking site to share articles, blog about upcoming events kitchenware products and recipes about the catering business.

When it comes to comparing Facebook to other blogging platforms like word press, the debate can last for ever, there are lots of factors that play a big part in this like for example Facebook doesn’t control the ad inventory on its page but word press does, Facebook also allows its web developers to use AdSense while word press doesn’t, also their target audience is very different as Facebook is generally for young adults and teenagers while word press is more suited to business and companies just like pinterest and LinkedIn. Facebook and word press are both very similar as they are both in a similar field as the idea of their creation is to simply make people on the web whether being a business or just a regular user engage with each other and they also both grow in a similar trajectory. Both platforms are all about their users integrated experience, Facebook focuses mainly on people that just want to connect to hang out or find out what their friends or colleagues are up to while word press is mainly targeted at savvy people with ideas and are looking for richer content. http://faq.wordpress.com/2005/ blogging these days is mainly about networking and journalism with feedback. Facebook’s engagement metrics beats word press’s one and its competitive moat is much wider. It’s about the time spent on the site, frequency per visit and how often someone stays on a page.

Pinterest Is one of the fastest growing networking sites in history, it’s great for sharing media contents like photos, videos, etc. it allows its users to create boards and pins of whatever they want. The whole idea of pinterest is to collect and organise things that you want. Everything on pinterest starts with an image or a video. Spending quality time to create a good looking visual will help in making an interesting content on Pinterest. It would be a good platform to recommend to the catering business crème de la catering as they can pin images about their products. Unlike Facebook pinterest allows its users to create as many boards as they want and it also makes it possible for them to invite people to their board.it even has a blog which can be useful when it comes writing and sharing articles about the business. It’s not hard to get customers or people interested when using pinterest as it links in with other social network accounts like youtube.com and instagram which is good for increasing blog traffic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78JOsK4A8c.

Howwwl is also a new blogging platform that can be recommended as it’s a simple and another way to blog conventionally. It combined with some vital features of other blogging platform such as pinterest, reddit and tumblr. It’s described to be an open blogging platform which means its users don’t really have to maintain a blog or regular content to have their information published online. It’s would be good for the catering business because all they have to do is share articles or post relevant source on it which draws traffic and visitors to read it and also follow them. The platform gives people its members chance to have their own profile and gave their own profile pages which showcases everything they have shared which in some ways can be seemed to be similar with the competitive platform pinterest. its layout is also quite similar to the one of pinterest and it uses the following and liking functionality of tumblr.

Another reason why it’s a good option for crème de la catering is because they wouldn’t have to bother with themes or building up readership as they’re only a small business. Although others might struggle to see the reason behind reading such random scraps of content when key to a successful blog often comes from the things that Howwwl’s lacking

Especially as howwwl is still a new platform, people that use it as their blogging platform wouldn’t really expect to create a business form their posts as the whole idea is to share contents when feeling lazy. Every successful blogging platform used when creating a business always has a combination of quality essence that makes it stand out like the theme used, images, videos, content size, written content, content name and chances of sharing, categorising and also tagging.

In conclusion word press would still be the best choice for crème de la catering as it showcases all the relevant keys and tools needed. Its strongest point would be allowing users to have lots of choices of themes in order for them to customize their layout and theme but the weakness word press has is sometimes not being up to date and being and also the plugins as it’s almost impossible to know whether the plugins are  being coded appropriately.

                                                    BIBLIOGRAPHY.

  • Abram, C. and Pearlman, L.

Facebook for dummies

Bibliography: Abram, C. and Pearlman, L. 2010. Facebook for dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

  • A VC: The Difference Between WordPress and Facebook

Bibliography: Avc.blogs.com. 2008. A VC: The Difference Between WordPress and Facebook. [online] Available at: http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/04/the-difference.html [Accessed: 16 Dec 2013].

Ed., M.

Matt Mullenweg on how open source is democratising the web | memeburn

Bibliography: Ed., M. 2013. Matt Mullenweg on how open source is democratising the web | memeburn. [online] Available at: http://memeburn.com/2013/05/matt-mullenweg-on-how-open-source-is-democratising-the-web/ [Accessed: 10 Dec 2013].

  • How to get your WordPress blog posts to auto-feed into your Facebook fan page

Bibliography: YouTube. 2013. How to get your WordPress blog posts to auto-feed into your Facebook fan page. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMXX_jl3gjM [Accessed: 16 Dec 2013].

  • How to Use Pinterest to Increase Blog Traffic #learntoblog

Bibliography: YouTube. 2013. How to Use Pinterest to Increase Blog Traffic #learntoblog. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78JOsK4A8c [Accessed: 16 Dec 2013].

  • Shinyshiny.tv.

Howwwl: An open-blogging platform a bit like Pinterest and a lot like Tumblr : Shiny Shiny

Bibliography: Shinyshiny.tv. 2013. Howwwl: An open-blogging platform a bit like Pinterest and a lot like Tumblr : Shiny Shiny. [online] Available at: http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2012/12/howwwl-open-blogging-platform.html [Accessed: 16 Dec 2013].

Cardio or Weight training for weight loss??

if you’re looking to lose weight, you might be wondering: Should I focus on doing cardio or should I weight train? The answer, for those of you not interested in hanging around for the “why” part of the answer, is both. What matters most is the way you train, the system you train under, and your lifestyle.These days, most workout programs incorporate both, often during the same workout. Most “cardio” work has an element of resistance training, either in the form of added weight or plyometric movements, while most “weight lifting” work has a cardio element because it’s done in circuits.There are two myths inherent in this age-old question. The first is that weight training will make you bulky. The second is that cardio doesn’t build muscle. Let’s dispel these once and for all, it seems to be a catch 22 because the dilemma is that if you do cardio you won’t gain muscle and if you weight tran then you wont lose weight! personally i find that if you want to see rapid changes and lose weight you’ll need to do both and spread them out in different days.

PINTEREST, ANALYTICS AND ROI

Pinterest has rapidly emerged as the third largest visual and social content delivery network – driving more traffic than Yahoo! and Bing combined – creating an average order value of $169 in e-commerce traffic. Leading brands and retailers have taken note of the rapid growth in Pinterest activity, which has resulted in marketers quickly revising social media initiatives to leverage Pinterest for sparking viral brand awareness, website traffic and increasing conversions. However, sales conversions are difficult to track, visualize and act upon because your engagement data is locked away in Pinterest. Although the tools on this list are primarily concerned with those considerations, it is also helpful to understand how those considerations can branch off into SEO and even CRO. Through the use of these tools you can discover what types of content are popular, look for opportunities in expanding your social reach, track conversions, measure the ROI available on Pinterest and unearth new audiences. Pinalytics isn’t just limited to activity within Pinterest. Because Pinalytics is able to track the original content source, it can also provide details of how a particular piece of content has performed outside of Pinterest. It can trace the spread of pins through a number of social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and google+.  Although Pinalytics has a wider range of capabilities when it comes to the matter of tracking original content, it operates in a completely different manner than Pinterest Web Analytics. Pinalytics works by running searches on pins, boards and users (think back to the key metrics data list in the introduction of this article) – which reveals data on those subjects with the option of running analytics (for members) through an integration with Google Analytics.

Have a Look!

Martin Luther King Jr. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” – Edgy Arts

Joe Edge Social Media Tools

Martin Luther King Jr’s inspiring words. 19 layer stencil and acrylic spray cans. Hidden behind the image of Dr King is his killer, James Earl Ray. This draws contrast between the two figures and the juxtoposition of the background, which is built up out of headlines from the day King was shot dead.

Like this? Find more at

http://www.edgyarts.co.uk

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pinterest

pinterest-logoI’ve just classed Pinterest as social networking, but to be strictly accurate it’s a social bookmarking site. Bear with me. Such sites, like Reddit and Stumbleupon, are well-established, enabling like-minded people to discover new websites in areas that interest them. Pinterest came along in 2010 and the clue to its philosophy lies in the name. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard – a platform for sharing pictures and videos. Its uniqueness, its appeal, and the key to its success, lie in the way it showcases these categories.