Trust is other people

A renewed interest in the concept of sharing emerges from a community that drifts apart and lives next to each other instead of with each other. Technology offers interesting possibilities to support sharing activities not only in small neighbourhoods, but also in highly populated areas. However, the Internet is often experienced as a place of anonymity, and people are scared of the ’figurative creep’ lurking behind every dark corner. This view on online environments can be a reason for potential sharers not to use sharing platforms. To explore how people view such issues, we conducted an open-ended survey asking for perceived risks of using sharing technology. The findings point to very general risks concerning the quality of things being shared, technical issues with the sharing service, and unexpected costs arising through sharing. However, the main area of risks that was identified was risks concerning the interaction with strangers through the platform. Putting trust in an online sharing community seems to be the biggest obstacle that influences whether people draw away rather than move closer together and start collaborating in the sharing community. Here, we report on the main issues involving other participants in the hope to find appropriate ways to create trustful sharing environments that reassure potential participants rather than play into their fears.