Conference organizer, trend analyst discuss online influencers

Posted by Elena del Valle on September 25, 2009

Trust Agents book cover

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith believe the Internet has changed the nature of business relationships. While researching information is faster and more efficient with the advent of the Internet, unreliable websites, spam, blam and other suspect communication tools make it hard to trust online and related sources. Reaching out to strangers or responding to their outreach efforts in the virtual world is challenging, they say. Winning over customers who are increasingly unwilling to respond to traditional media strategies and often are suspicious of expert claims requires a new approach, according to them.

They outline their thoughts on these issues in their newly published 271-page book, Trust Agents Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (Wiley, $24.95). In the hardcover book Brogan and Smith discuss how the they think the web has become more humanized. Brogan indicates that “the people who succeed in understanding this and using the web to build businesses are called trust agents.”

In the book, an introduction and eight chapters focus on six characteristics and skill sets: standing out, belonging, having leverage, developing access, understanding, and establishing a network of contacts and relationships. The two co-authors discuss how readers can become trust agents, and make software, resources and tool recommendations. The chapter are titles as follows: Trust, Social Capital and Media; Make Your Own Game; One of Us; Archimedes Effect; Agent Zero; Human Artist; Build an Army; and The Trust Agent.

Julien Smith, co-author, Trust Agents

Brogan, who has been blogging since 1998, is co-founder of Podcamp, a new media conference series on the use of social media to build business and personal relationships. Smith, a trend analyst, has run web communities for 10 years. A resident of Montreal, Canada and he has been podcasting since 2004.