The impact of online reputation on collaborative platforms

A strong online reputation lets collaborative platforms more easily connect people who don’t know each other. Strengthened by the arrival of the internet, collaborative businesses actually broaden the traditional models of solidarity (family and friends) to link people together.

These start-ups, which quickly multiplied, have moved into every area of the economy: from lodging (Airbnb.com, Couchsurfing.com…) to transportation (Buzzcar.com, Ouicar.com…), by way of dining (Eatwith.com, Cookening.com…).

Their model relies on optimizing natural and material resources. Why? “There are two things: the internet is a genuine accelerator, and the drop in purchasing power means that people have to consume differently,” says Serge Duriavig, CEO of Nightswapping, contacted by Semji.

For now, the market is thriving. But as membership grows, collaborative platforms must be doubly vigilant to manage their online reputation, and users need to know how to showcase their profile and carefully choose those of other members.

Online reputation, the glue of collaborative communities

Good online reputation management helps to reassure and build trust between people who don’t know each other. It also allows collaborative platforms to attract new members won over by this disruptive system.

A user can monitor their online reputation on a platform like Famust. It brings together in a single profile all the comments and ratings they have received online. Users can share a public link to their Famust profile to post or respond to a listing on a site.

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The Spanish company Traity recently raised 4.7 million dollars in funding. Its ambition is to become a standard for online reputation on collaborative platforms. Users have to list their various profiles on social networks and social media. They are rewarded with a medal made of a different metal depending on the state of their reputation.

Online reputation of collaborative platforms: impacts on members and the brand

While for now the vast majority of members have a good online reputation, new practices and competition from traditional players can dent the brand image of collaborative businesses.

The impact of online reputation can be internal, when a user gets a poor rating and sees both their own reputation and that of the collaborative business affected. For example, when a community member offers their home on the accommodation rental site Airbnb and gets a poor rating from the community, their listing can be removed from the platform. That’s a loss of money for them, but also for Airbnb, which earns a commission every time someone hosts a guest.

Screenshot of a reviews page on Airbnb

The impact of online reputation can also occur when a brand’s community damages it in the eyes of the public. Certain actions by members (homes trashed on Airbnb, thefts on Couchsurfing…) go widely viral online. They can create a lack of trust in the platform among potential users.

The reason lies in the growth of these communities. But not only that. With the great fluidity promoted by the collaborative economic model, the safeguards represented by laws, standards and regulations can take hard hits in the face of the tidal wave that digital technology represents.

“On the internet, the community is where collective values are created, and for its participants there’s no doubt that these values acquire an ethical superiority over the legal norms that might be imposed on them from outside, even in the name of the general interest”, argues Dominique Cardon in his preface to Fred Turner’s book “Aux sources de l’utopie numérique” (1).

Collaborative businesses also see their brand image dented in the face of “traditional” competition. Lodging, transportation, dining… In some cases the government is considering putting in place a new legislative framework to address what some call “unfair competition” from certain collaborative platforms. In Paris, a City team is tasked with tracking down offenders who don’t declare their activity on Airbnb. Since November 2014, an amendment requires Airbnb to collect a tourist tax from its users. The resulting actions and questions are well represented online, particularly on the first page of Google.

Results on the first page of Google for the query “Airbnb”

Some also consider that a player like Airbnb isn’t part of the sharing economy, because, for them, nothing is really shared with this type of company.

For collaborative businesses, the lost earnings due to a poor online reputation can be considerable. Having as many members as possible often helps improve their service. In the case of Blablacar, new members make routes more precise. A Paris–Nantes trip, for example, will be better served.

Setting up online reputation on collaborative platforms

The notion of trust is therefore essential for these collaborative platforms. “Without trust, nothing can work”, explains Serge Duriavig.

Peer rating systems, comments, reviews, certified phone numbers… Users have to inspire trust and are encouraged to “behave” well. The stakes, especially economic ones, are very high.

To that end, detailed profiles have replaced anonymous profiles on most platforms. And other tools are emerging. For example, the carpooling site Blablacar has set up Trustman, a certification and rating system for carpoolers. It’s an approach that could be adopted in couch surfing or peer-to-peer lending

Screenshot of Blablacar’s Trustman site

Sources:

F. Turner (2013). Aux sources de l’utopie numérique : De la contre-culture à la cyberculture. Paperback.