Digital platforms are often praised for their “frictionless” design, making it easy for users to access services with minimal effort. Yet, as researchers Mikko Laamanen and Karolina Mikołajewska-Zając reveal, this frictionless ideal doesn’t always align with ethical goals. Fairbnb, a smaller alternative to the dominant Airbnb, illustrates the tension between running a fair, community-focused platform and navigating the demands of the platform economy.
Both are platforms that allow property owners to rent out homes or rooms for short-term stays. Fairbnb is different because it organized as a cooperative, and it shares booking fees with local community projects, supporting sustainability and fostering fairness. But these principles also introduce what the researchers call ecosystemic frictions. Especially, these are obstacles or slowdowns that arise when platforms prioritize ethical values over efficiency. These frictions reflect deeper systemic issues in the digital economy, which favours rapid growth and profit-driven models over value-driven approaches.
The researchers identify three key types of friction:
- First, individual frictions arise at the user level. Users and hosts may hesitate to engage with Fairbnb due to its smaller size and lower visibility compared to larger, more established platforms like Airbnb. This hesitation can slow adoption and limit the platform’s ability to grow its user base.
- Second, collective frictions are experienced by local organizers who act as “ambassadors” for Fairbnb and connect different stakeholders, including hosts, municipalities, and travellers. These individuals often invest significant time and resources into promoting the platform. However, the nature of these efforts can result in slow progress, and they grow frustrated with the more systemic problems of the platform coop they aren’t able to solve themselves.
- Finally, growth friction makes it difficult for Fairbnb to expand and compete with bigger platforms like Airbnb, because growing fast often means giving up some ethical values. At the same time, the cooperative sees the need to grow, to generate revenues to convince more hosts to join.
Together, these dynamics show how well-intentioned platforms struggle to compete against larger corporations. This highlights a deeper issue: ethical platforms face systemic barriers in a digital economy that prioritizes rapid scaling over values. To support alternatives, we need broader changes, such as policies, funding, and governance structures that allow platforms to thrive without compromising their principles and without transferring the (financial) risks of joining a nascent platform to its participants.
Read the full article here: Ecologies of friction in digital platform investment