Interview with a Trust Agent: Chris Brogan
The term that precedes the topic of reputation in many of today's dialogues is "trust." People and companies build trust in themselves through tried and true methods of showcasing quality, consistency, service and results. They build up 'followers,' and what they say is trusted. So other people listen and they vote with the business they give, and the products they buy. When people and companies earn this trust, and then they use it in strategic ways to help others-which helps themselves-they build a reputation.
Today, trust is being cultivated daily in places where many people and companies have yet to explore, much less dominate. On Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and through blogs, photos and videos. Anyone in business who is interested in actively and intentionally managing their reputations must learn to play-the right way-on these new fields of influence.
There's no better person to learn this from than Chris Brogan. While he is sometimes referred to as the Mayor of Twitter, I have found Chris to be much more of a philosopher on the new communication landscape; a landscape that is beginning to replace the age-old marketing tactics of advertising and PR.
I'd like to say that I 'sat down' with Chris to conduct this interview, but between his numerous speaking engagements following the publishing of his New York Times bestseller Trust Agents, I have to admit I emailed him the questions and he replied back with the answers. But, in true social networking fashion, we will consummate our web-based relationship with a face-to-face meeting on February 3, when Chris comes to the Twin Cities to be the keynote speaker at our first annual Reputations event.
Q. What is a Trust Agent?
>> A trust agent is someone who uses the tools of the web to be human at a distance. It's someone who can portray their genuine humanity using digital tools, and who can translate their online and offline relationships in either direction.
Q. Where do you see the connection between trust and reputation?
>> Reputation comes before trust. You become known for something. Then, with repetition, reputation becomes trust. It's a spectrum.
Q. You pair contradictory concepts in your book: skepticism and truth, technology and humanization, large armies and one-to-one, trivial status reports and deeper relationships, unscripted relationships and 'rules' of engagement. Besides reading your book, what are other ways people can grasp and start working within such dichotomies?
>> Life is packed with such dichotomies. Restaurants are getting off serving fast food in fancy formats for more money. TV is straining to sell more reality TV that is heavily scripted. Without the ability to understand dissonance and resonance, you'll only see what's come before. Creativity and imagination are fueled by seeing things mashed against each other.
Q. Without revealing some of the most poignant points you make near the end of the book, what advice do you give people who are apprehensive to start acting like trust agents, especially when they see online public negativity about their brands and are intimidated by the new tools and new 'rules' of public dialogue? After all, becoming a trust agent isn't something you can delegate to a marketing department or agency-it requires a personal commitment, lots of time and, eventually, a passion to stay connected.
>> If people are throwing stones at you or your brand, you have to step in and take a few. Do you deserve them? Not necessarily you, personally...but, unless you get into the game, you're never going to turn the story around. I met a woman from the U.S. government who was a liaison to the professional farming community. Normally, she has to deliver bad news. Can you imagine that your job is to keep changing many people's businesses for the worse? And yet, she puts a face on it. She even brings fresh baked cookies out to the farms. She listens to what the famers have to say, and she accepts what she can of their words. Then she helps the government understand the impact laws have on these people. Even if you're not listening, they're still hurting. Why not try to help?
