Is "Social Consumption" a New Trend

You might call it a new "green awareness," a perhaps-permanent change in consumption patterns or something else, but there might be a new trend towards renting, or sharing, physical goods that are infrequently required.

ZipCar is one obvious example, and rental goods of all sorts have always been popular in some contexts. People rent hotel rooms, cars, heavy equipment and all sorts of other products they use infrequently, or situationally, rather than buying them.

What might be new is use of new social networks to arrange the transactions.

Ping - Renting Out Home Belongings Over the Internet - NYTimes.com