11.29.09

Are You a Trust Agent?

Posted by Tim Frick in Books, Business, Digital Marketing

Part Psychology textbook, part business manual, part to do list, part philosophical manifesto, and mostly just an overall good read, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents guides you (in six easy steps, no less) toward a better and more enlightened approach to making the social web work for you.

Though there are actionable items throughout, the book really works best as a loose philosophical framework for incorporating etiquette, human understanding and yes, trust into your online endeavors, the result of which (the authors say) will naturally be more opportunities for business, collaboration, and word-of-mouth referrals. Their careers are proof-in-the-pudding that this approach can work. Brogan’s blog is listed as one of the top 100 on Technorati and, among other things, Smith’s early adoption of podcasting has led to countless speaking engagements and appearances on CNN, CBC, CTV, and—as he puts it—“a bunch of others that don’t start with the letter C.”

By focusing less on how to use specific tools for engagement and more on general approaches that have worked for them, Brogan and Smith have effectively created the Miss Manners of online social networking. (That may sound like a trite comparison, but it’s not, considering Judith Martin’s column is carried in over 200 newspapers worldwide and she has over a dozen books to her credit.) Indeed, with chapter after chapter of endless tips on how to build better interpersonal business relationships online, this is the closest thing we have to a roadmap for good behavior in the world of Web 2.0.

Will the book cover every potential situation—business or otherwise—that you may come across when navigating the social web? Probably not. And the authors state as much on several occasions throughout the text. Rather, the book focuses on broad stroke tactics, such as earning your place in communities and the importance of making your own game, hoping readers will fill in the blanks regarding what is specific to them and what isn’t.

Most of the content (for me at least) fell under the ‘common sense’ category of business, but it was refreshing to read it couched in terms of social media and online networking. The rules are still being written for what is and isn’t appropriate on the social web. The fact that unfriend is Oxford’s 2009 Word of the Year shows just how mainstream this stuff has become, so the time for guidelines on etiquette and human understanding (which the authors extol as “the cornerstones for any meaningful life”) is ripe. Plus, their writing is smart and as engaging as the approaches they tout, which makes it a fast and enjoyable read.

Honestly, the book really doesn’t need any more reviews. It’s been a New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal bestseller, Amazon Top 100 list, and on the Amazon Best Books of 2009 list in the business and investment category, so it certainly doesn’t need my help. But there’s a reason for all that praise: it’s a good book full of smart ideas and, if you aspire to be a model social media citizen, you should have it on your shelf.

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