Airbnb is a social website that connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay.
We have gotten pretty used to the disruption that the rise of the social web has created in the media industry, where it has upended traditional business models and allowed creators of content to connect directly with their audience. But that same wave of socially-driven disruption is now moving through the rest of the economy too — particularly in services that can be easily socialized, such as the hotel business, the taxi industry or the education market. As that wave progresses, we’re seeing companies like Airbnb and Uber and Coursera run into more and more regulatory hurdles, but the writing is already on the wall: service businesses that don’t use social features to lower barriers and increase efficiency will likely not survive long.
