Recently I saw this article on Treehugger entitled “Facebook App Saves PC Energy…Maybe”.  This Facebook application makes recommendations for configuring your PC for lower energy usage.  You can then invite friends to join and see who wins a “Green Your PC” challenge.

This is a good way to get others involved through a social networking site.  I am a big fan of Peer Review and Ratings for building reputation.  If you can trust the opinion of many others then we can greatly reduce the fear of strangers.  This is a key point in helping establish an organized paid ride sharing system like Pay4Rides.

How else can we use social networking and twitter to bring people together to make new “friends”?

To celebrate President’s Day, here is a classic video from Animaniacs.  It amazes me that they can fit 42 Presidents in a 3 minute song.  This video stops with President Clinton, but maybe someday it will updated to add Bush and Obama.

My absolute favorite magazine is Fast Company.  I consistently find inspiration every month in one or more articles.  In their current issue, there is good story about the increasing use of reviews and ratings online.  They detail how everyone on the internet knows when you are a dog.

You can see the spread of reviews and ratings from Amazon and eBay to Target and Office Depot. There are also a growing number of opinion-based sites, such as:

• Yelp – Real People, Real Reviews
• TripAdvisor – get the truth, then go
• City Search – Live like an insider
• Urbanspoon - reviews from critics, food bloggers and friends
• Zagat – Eat, Drink, Stay, Play
• Angie’s List – Looking for the best service?

When I am looking for a book, the first thing I do is go to Amazon and read the reviews and ratings.  I find them incredibly helpful and they lead me to a good purchasing decision.

Most of these opinion-based sites are for travel and dining, but Angie’s List is interesting since they rate and review contractors, service companies and health care providers.  Good service will yield high ratings, while poor service will result in a tarnished reputation.

I think similar ratings of drivers and riders would remove some of the uncertainty.  Can you give me any more examples of reviews and ratings that you find helpful?

photo credit: joeltelling

In our current financial crisis, loaning money to complete “strangers” is an emerging market.

Prosper.com is an online auction website where individuals can buy loans and request to borrow money.  This microlending concept verifies selected borrowers’ identity and personal data before funding loans.  Prosper assigns a “credit grade” for each borrower based on several factors.  Lenders then have the option to bid on requested loans. 

Lending Club is a social lending network that lets borrower members borrow money through personal loans, and lenders fund these loans by investing in Notes. Each Note corresponds to a portion of a borrower loan.

This concept of lending money to strangers may seem scary at first, but all lenders are rated and the loans are guaranteed.  This idea is growing dramatically every year and would seem to confirm that “strangers”  can be trusted when peer review is part of the process.

Craigslist was started when it’s founder observed people helping one another in a friendly, social and trusting community way on the internet and decided to create something similar for local events.  The site has since established itself in approximately 450 cities and 50 countries with over nine billion page views per month and over thirty million unique visitors.  The founder Craig Newmark says that

Craiglist works because it gives people a voice, a sense of community trust and even intimacy.

If you are familiar with Craigslist, then you know that it provides an incredible service mostly for free.  If you are not familiar with it, then get the DVD 24 Hours on Craigslist.  It highlights people from all walks of life working together with complete strangers for common good.

Why couldn’t similar results be found in Passenger Energy?

An excellant example of peer review can be found on commercial vehicles and the “How’s my Driving” sign on the back of many of them.  If you see someone driving erratic, you can call a number and report the offending driver.  The drivers know this, so they police themselves and are much more considerate to the other drivers. 

This could easily be applied to all drivers with a system that uses the same sort of feedback algorithms to establish a reputation tracking system.  Now before you accept a ride with a complete “stranger”, you could first see what others think of this individual.  Now millions of American drivers would be watching their fellow drivers and report anyone who is behaving badly.

Remember when you made that first eBay purchase?  The uncertainty of the seller and if they would really send the correct product.  Then you make a few more purchases and realized that the sellers are all rated and actually stand behind the products they are offering.  Gradually you grow more comfortable with the individual sellers and learn to trust their online reputations.

There is a very interesting idea attributed to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar in the story of eBay:

He quite simply believes that the human race is basically good. At the beginning, many prophesied that it could not work – complete strangers dealing with complete strangers. But it is now obvious that it does.

I believe the same can be true with Pay4Rides.

photo credit: Ryan Fanshaw Photography

In order for Pay4Rides to be a viable solution, there would have to be additional incentive for individuals to change their current transportation habits.  What if people were willing to pay for a ride?  Passengers could save money on their commutes while drivers could reduce their own costs by charging for rides.  A simple exchange of cash could make the idea of ride sharing much more attractive.

What would it take for you (driver) to stop and pick up a passenger(s)?  

1. the potential to earn cash for every ride you provide
2. safety would be a major concern
3. contributing to a cleaner world
4. reduce traffic

What would it take for you (rider) to accept a ride? 

1. safety, convenience and comfort
2. saving money
3. contributing to a cleaner world
4. getting things done while someone else drives
5. extending the life of your own vehicle

There are so many benefits for all of us.  Don’t you think this idea is worth exploring?

photo credit: quaziefoto