A friend of mine offered to edit my blog. He tells me he reads my blog to get caught up on the latest trends in marketing. He also tells me my grammar is horrendous and I need an editor. He has begun to send me edited versions of my blog posts. The fact that he is a professional writer does lend credence to his claim regarding my grammar. In my defense, I review my blog posts at least twice before sending and my grammar mistakes still get through.

In my day job, I always have editorial reviews for that reason. If I can get a software developer, even better. They are known for their grammar skills. I guess bug fixing at 3AM will sharpen your syntax and grammar skills….

My friend also needs help on one of his projects. We swap services; though full disclosure, there is no monetary value placed on either of these services. But, I think that there is a lot more of the “swapping of services” with the rise of social media.

When I was in grad school over a decade ago, my paper was on first mover advantages over the web. I wrote a paper on the challenges that near zero distribution costs would have on entry barriers for software companies.

Now, I am seeing the impact that near zero distribution costs are having on services. The barter economy preceeds the money economy by thousands of years. So, believe me when I am telling you that; I am not running into the room telling you that I realized that I just figured out why apples fall from trees. (Mark, good luck fixing this sentence)

I think the rise of social media is lowering the costs for matching the buyers and sellers of services. Part of the challenge has been in finding good information to identity and determine the quality of the service providers. Hence the need for an intermediary who played the role of market maker who could validate the quality for the buyer. Recruiters were a good example of this trend. Your neighbor who recommended a tree service was another.

Now, we are seeing the rise of online service provider rating services who allow users to directly access the reviews by past customers. We are seeing notices for assistance directly on social media sites; i.e. I saw a linkedin question to find a technical support specialist for a specific engagement. Social media lowers the communications costs associated with matching buyers and sellers. This is not a new trend, but we are seeing the extent that it is becoming more mainstream.

Hence, my professional writing buddy, who trades editing for a professional review of his marketing website. The ability to hit your rolodex (now virtual rolodex) for a subject matter expert is becoming more extensive and extendible. Additionally, the ability to find reviews of those providers at the same time is making services transactions easier to conduct. With paypal, neither party needs to even leave their homes… or change out of their pajamas. Very scary thought….