The Daily Juice

October 21st, 2009  |  (0) Comments

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust

I'd like to share with you my impressions of "Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust" by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. And I'd like to do so by attempting to demonstrate some of the key concepts of the book using this review as the vehicle. I'm hoping this approach will encourage you to trust my review and find it helpful. Are you willing to come along for the ride? Great! Here we go:

First, I'm going to try and establish myself as "One of Us" (the title and theme of chapter 3, and the 2nd of 6 characteristics of a Trust Agent). Or in this case, one of you. I'm an occasional reader of OrangeSprocket's blog and web site. I've been a potential customer and an actual customer. I don't work for the book's publisher, sellers or authors. My employer is currently engaged with the OrangeSprocket team. I'm not being compensated in any way for writing this review. Maybe I'll earn some "Social Capital" (chapter 1), but that's not the goal. Bill asked. I like writing, I liked this book and I like Bill, so I said yes. I'm a Frederictonian through and through, and perhaps so are some of you? I'm a technology enthusiast, but not an engineer. I admire creativity in others and wish I had more of that juice in my veins. I'd like to do more, do better and be happier. Every day.

But enough about me! This review is meant to help you determine whether this is a book you should pick up or pass by. Hopefully that background gives you an adequate sense of who I am, at least to continue reading my views on Trust Agents. The footnote of this post includes links to my LinkedIn and Google profiles, Twitter channel, and personal (home reno) blog. These items are some examples of Trust Agent ("TA") tools, and the book provides readers with lots of tips and techniques on using these tools to help achieve your goals on the Web, whatever they may be.

This guest blog post in its entirety is a step in the "One of Us" direction. Bill, Jeff and the OrangeSprocket team have built a community of readers and followers, and this post is one way for me to wade into this group. You could comment on this post, or link to it from your site/Facebook/Delicious page, but you're already One of Us, aren't you?

So how do you go from delivering HR services to programmers to writing a book review? Well, you connect with people and then you build the relationship through attention, touchpoints and seeing opportunities to help and raise up. That's how Bill and I unconsciously went from a customer/provider meeting for a newspaper ad to acquaintances helping out with each others' marketing and design positions to exchanging social tweets to working on this little project together. An Agent Zero-type (chapter 5, characteristic 4) builds and maintains networks all around them, and is open to the opportunities they present while sharing those benefits among the crowd. Agent Zero's put real effort into contact, communication and relationships and so get asked or get "yeses" more often.

Can enlisting a guest writer enhance the OrangeSprocket community and blog? Bill has leveraged his strength in business relationships to help impact his readers' experience. Tomorrow I'll try to leverage my network of online friends to introduce people to OrangeSprocket's blog, specifically people who might benefit from viewing their content and getting familiar with their work. Do you think this might somehow further OrangeSprocket's business? That's the basic principle behind characteristic number 3 - the Archimedes Effect. While it remains to be seen whether we'll execute it properly, simply having a review posted on a blog (then linking to it and tweeting about it) allows the Web to do a lot of the work for us. I'm a big fan of leverage.

The 1st of the 6 characteristics of a TA is tricky to apply to this blog posting concept. "Making Your Own Game" (chapter 2) was harder to stomach than the rest; describing provocative ideas like "Gatejumping" and rule-breaking. For me, subverting the game was difficult to envision in a large, fast moving corporation. But in the spirit of deviation, this post has eschewed a traditional review format and re-defined literary critique! Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, but you won't find a recommendation of whether to buy the book or not here. Instead I'm trying to illustrate what I took away from it. This isn't an author love-fest, or a grammar judgment. My "game" is trying out the book's lessons live and letting you correlate the post's proficiency with Trust Agent's effectiveness. The bet is that doing things differently separates your work from the crowd and the competition, which can help your cause in a number of ways. What do you think?

In order to show the 5th characteristics of TA's, it's time to stop writing. Could you help me demonstrate the concept of the Human Artist (chapter 6)? Here’s the recipe provided by TA: I should watch for your comments and read them. Then comment back to ask a question, thank you, and/or continue the conversation. I've signed my real name below and put myself "out there" for you to inspect in an effort to be transparent, and, like characteristic 2 suggests, human. Behind the scenes, I've edited and edited this post to try and remove the excessive personal focus and increase the tidbits of information that might help you make a decision about Trust Agents, the book. (And while you can't see it, this post was submitted within the promised time estimate. Just barely though, sorry Bill!) Can you point out an example of communication with people that is real and thoughtful? Add a comment and together we can make this particular Trust Agent pillar come to life.

I'm going to deviate from the blog post example a bit to illustrate the final Trust Agent attribute, "Build an Army". I know a few people who do this much better than me. The OrangeSprocket team has built an army of clients, friends and partners who sing their praises, promote their work, and pitch in (ever write a book review, anyone?) at the drop of a hat. All because Bill and the team exhibit many of the qualities described above. They make an effort to connect. They don’t hide behind corporate professionalism, instead they’re human and they prove their professionalism through their commitment to their customers’ goals, the quality of their work and the impact of their personal interactions. They're reliable and transparent. While this post isn't supposed to promote OrangeSprocket, I wouldn't be writing it if I wasn't willing to vouch for their work. I can't tell you whether it was intentional or just a product of them being good people, but I know that they hire with the whole team in mind, and they choose their clients carefully as well. OrangeSprocket builds armies and that contributes to their success – real Trust Agent moves.

So how about I turn it over to you?  Did I give you a sense of what a Trust Agent might be?  If not, that could be my failing or the authors.  If so, has it helped you determine whether you'd like to learn more about these key players in the future of the Web?   If you’ve read the book , give us your opinion!  Know a Trust Agent and want to introduce them to this Sprocket community?  Those considering whether the book Trust Agents is worth their $30 CAD will really benefit from your comments, questions and insights, so we'd love to see them!