There has been a massive transformation in how people perceive wealth or prestige. Earlier, owning commodities like cars, books or music albums was considered a hallmark of success, but now the fashion is going minimalistic. People carry enormous bytes of data on their mobile phones, and use ride sharing platforms such as Uber, Lyft or Car Go for travel. People are engaging in activities such as apartment lending, reselling, co-working and talent sharing. One the one hand, lies a disillusionment with consumerism, but what is allowing this sharing or collaborating economy to thrive is Big Data. Uber and Airbnb are the best examples of this sharing economy, but there are others leveraging algorithms to create new business opportunities. Upwork, Task Rabbit and care.com are platforms aiding freelance work patterns. We Work is creating co-working infrastructure across cities worldwide. The Lending Club is facilitating peer-to-peer lending. Then there is Rent the Runway that allows women to don designer gowns for major occasions on rent. These companies are not themselves creating any technology but using the power of business analytics, to fuel businesses.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/10/21/the-sharing-economy-what-it-is-examples-and-how-big-data-platforms-and-algorithms-fuel/#79a1920b671a