Me, I’m keeping my power washer to myself. I just have too much fun with it, hosing down the patio and the driveway and mumbling in Tim-Allenesque grunts, “More power!” Other consumers aren’t so attached to such tools, and happily share them with neighbors and friends – especially if the group goes in together to pay for them. That’s a practice that’s been called “collaborative consumption” or “the sharing economy.”
And there’s a social media component as well (what COLLOQUY calls “the I-Network”), which I wrote about earlier this week, in relation to a Citi ThankYou Rewards Point-Sharing app, and to study conducted by ad agency Campbell Mithun in partnership with Carbonview Research. The report notes “not only did 60% of overall respondents find the concept of sharing appealing, but a full 71% of those who have used shareable products expect to continue.” More on that in the previous blog.
But the study also noted some unusual things that survey respondents reported that they would share, reported here for some light Friday survey consumption.
From the release: Consumers report “weirdest items shared”:
* socks (36%)
* toothbrush (19%)
* underwear (15%)
* mate (8%)
For the record, all these things fall into the power-washer category for me: this power-washer guy isn’t about to share any of those, either.
