Those of us who worked for tech companies trying to make “Uber for X” really accelerated this. Having an app for everything makes life a series of impersonal transactions.
During the early days of the “sharing economy” trend, there was actually plenty focus on connecting people.
But at some point you need money to pay people working on these things. So you look at something that doesn’t replace the core social connection, but augments the experience. Like selling additional services such as insurance.
But it’s not easy to cover costs, especially in western countries where employees are expensive.
These days (I haven’t been part of it for a long time) I’ve noticed there are also subscriptions to be part some community, which works but of course also makes it harder to grow.
And investors who are looking for return on investment are also difficult in something that’s so sensitive to good will from users.
> During the early days of the “sharing economy” trend, there was actually plenty focus on connecting people.
You're describing the initial couchsurfing concept and the old couchsurfing.com. Everything after that has been about monetizing the shit out of these interactions.
