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Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust Paperback – Illustrated, August 23, 2010

by Chris Brogan (Author), Julien Smith (Author)

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The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller-now in a new, updated paperback edition

Today's online influencers are Web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships, using social media to accrue the influence that builds up or brings down businesses online. In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand's influence, reputation, and, of course, profits.

In this revised paperback version, learn how businesses are using the latest online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can use those networks to positively impact your business. Combining high-level theory and practical actions, this guide delivers actionable steps and case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business.

New edition features specific first moves for entering social media for small businesses, educators, travel and hospitality enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and corporations
Authors both have a major presence on the social Web as well as years of online marketing and new media experience

If you want your business to succeed, don't sit on the sidelines while new markets and channels grow. Instead, use the Web to build trust with your consumers using Trust Agents.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Wiley
Publication date

August 23, 2010
Dimensions

6 x 0.92 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0470635495
ISBN-13

978-0470635490
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The revised and updated edition of the breakthrough bestseller

Trust Agents has been widely acclaimed for its new approach toonline marketing. Now, in this revised and updated edition, social media veterans Chris Broganand Julien Smith show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand'sinfluence, reputation, and profits. Combining high-level theory and practical advice, they deliveractionable strategies and real case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business. Let Trust Agents give you the keys to building customer loyalty online so your business can succeed in new markets and channels today!

Praise for Trust Agents

"Wow! Every once in a while you find a book that is a sit up in your chair, take notes, tell yourfriends, change your life breakthrough. This is that book. No kidding, you can trust me."
—Seth Godin, author of Tribes

"Social media may be a phenomenon, but it's not a fad. It has forever changed the waycompanies communicate with their customers. Trust Agents is the blueprint for doing it right."
—David B. Thomas, Social Media Manager, SAS

From the Back Cover

The revised and updated edition of the breakthrough bestseller

Trust Agents has been widely acclaimed for its new approach toonline marketing. Now, in this revised and updated edition, social media veterans Chris Broganand Julien Smith show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand'sinfluence, reputation, and profits. Combining high-level theory and practical advice, they deliveractionable strategies and real case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business. Let Trust Agents give you the keys to building customer loyalty online so your business can succeed in new markets and channels today!

Praise for Trust Agents

"Wow! Every once in a while you find a book that is a sit up in your chair, take notes, tell yourfriends, change your life breakthrough. This is that book. No kidding, you can trust me."
―Seth Godin, author of Tribes

"Social media may be a phenomenon, but it's not a fad. It has forever changed the waycompanies communicate with their customers. Trust Agents is the blueprint for doing it right."
―David B. Thomas, Social Media Manager, SAS

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; Revised and Updated edition (August 23, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470635495
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470635490
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.92 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,065,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #725 in Social Media for Business
- #1,310 in Social Media Guides
- #3,611 in Web Marketing (Books)

Customer Reviews:
162

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Chris Brogan
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Chris Brogan is the New York Times bestselling author of ten books and counting. He's worked with some of the biggest brands you know, including Disney, Coke, Google, GM, Microsoft, Coldwell Banker, Titleist, Scotts, Humana Health, Cisco, Sony USA, and many more. He’s appeared on the Dr. Phil Show, interviewed Richard Branson for a cover story for Success magazine, and once even presented to a Princess. People like Paulo Coelho, Harvey Mackay, and Steven Pressfield enjoy sharing their projects and best ideas with Chris, because they know he’ll share them with you. Tony Robbins had Chris on his Internet Money Masters series. Forbes listed Chris as one of the Must Follow Marketing Minds years ago.
Swing by http://chrisbrogan.com for more.
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Julien Smith
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Julien Smith is a New York Times bestselling author and speaker who has been involved in organizing online communities for over 15 years, from early BBSes and flashmobs to the social web as we know it today.
See more on the author's page

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162 global ratings

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Una Park

Detailed review on Trust Agents - make your game

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2011

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Every year, Time magazine selects a `person of the year', who remained as the most influential human icon for the year being. Often, they are from diverse field but there is always one common to be found; They are creative.
Chris Brogan from Trust Agents is also a believer in the value of creativity. In his words, the trust agents - who stand out among others with high level of trusts built around them, is required to fulfill seven elements, whist one of them being the ability to `Make Your Own Game' (refer to Chapter2)

Make Your Own Game
According to Chris, there are three methods which trust agents can benefit themselves by observing the pattern of the system. First of all, trust agents shall figure out the structure of the system by `Playing'smart in the given pattern. Then, they shall look for ways of modifying existing structure, which is defined as `Hacking'. Finally, trust agents would create their own rules by `Programming' their own game.
Playing
Playing a game would involve understanding existing rules and discovering perfect situation to maximize productivity. In other words, `playing' is a learning stage for players and it may include simple settings such as stating a goal or discovering the most comfortable space for the game. (e.g. Café instead of office)
Hacking
Unlike the negative nature of the word, `hacking' involves improvement of the game by adjusting the given settings. If you have played SIMS by EA Games while being a member of their online community, you would understand how much more engaging the game could be with millions of items which are created by global users who are not the original developers.
Programming
Once players find themselves familiar enough to the game setting and also skilled enough to modify the settings, it is time to create an ultimate game that has new rules. Though this stage, the player would now be in charge of active role from their existing passive role.

From this chapter, the author used the term, `Player' and `Game'. Nonetheless, you, as a bright reader realize that the Game is only a metaphor for the real world we live in and the smart players are the faces that end up on the front cover of Time magazine.

So what would be the lesson to be learned here?
Unlike `Innovation for Dummies' (if there was such book for Dummy Series), `Trust Agents' by Chris Brogan do not tell readers the final step to success. While being deeply inspirational for its readers by suggesting a rule of successful people, the author also address the importance for readers to be active and thus leaves room for readers to create their own source of success (i.e. a chance to be a trust agent).
In other words, it is the reader who should discover their Gatejumping opportunities in the end and the book does not explicitly mention life-changing opportunities for them. Nevertheless, there is strong lesson to be learned from the book, which also comes from the quote of the Ralph Waldo Emerson. `Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail`.

Who are the real life trust agents? - Relation of concept to the reality
Mark Zuckerberg who marked the front page for the person of the year 2010, is a clear and well known example of a trust agent. From the concept of socialization, he created a virtual networking space and challenged the original setting by successfully inviting users to the whole new concept. Unlike traditional CEOs, he appealed himself as an endorser of the brand, and through the movie `The Social Networking' - which was also highly successful with its appeal to humanity issues over corporate values- he now is truly trusted by 3.6 million fans on Facebook. It is hard to comment if Mark has read the book Trust Agents or not, but the fact is, he is an marketer who has successfully created his own trail and now his trail would be thoroughly monitored with supports from people's trust.
(Disclaimer; within this article, Mark Zuckerburg is described as marketer as I personally believe that marketers can be anyone who understand value of brand and knows how to move strategically)

Question to the author and seven rules feedback
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan was an interesting and also engaging guide on `How to be better-heard by others'. It has identified keys to success and the commons of all time beloved social icons in seven details. However, if I was to apply seven rules to the real world, there are two areas of the concept that shall be questioned to the author; Start-up Connection and Timing issues.
While the book has cleverly answered to the most of the questions to be asked in being active, there has been less attention drawn on selection of right timing and emphasis on influence of start-up connection. For instance, recent increase in engagement towards smart phone was definitely one reason to Facebook's success and Sean Parker's helping hand for Mark Zuckerburg was definitely an asset for Mark to be a trust agent. If I was personally to start building my position as a trust agent, I would be in need of advices for a start-up which the book can be improved for.

Overall, the book was an excellent example of an accelerator to get reader motivated and moving. Through this book, I came to realize how my passive behavior can be improved and therefore I highly recommend this book to risk adverse people who has feared trying newer way of approaching themselves.

2 people found this helpful

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Kenneth Flo

If you are like me, you'll like Trust Agents. But...

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2010

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I'm not new to social networking but I am far from being an expert. With that in mind, I found Trust Agents to be an interesting and helpful read. I like the Action items because they give me some steps to take to try something new (or at least new to me). On the other hand, I can see why others would want more hands on material that might be found in other books like Social Media Marketing An Hour A Day.

Through much of the book, I felt like I was reading a self-help book more so than a book to help me learn more about using Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, etc. I applaud the authors for their approach to how one should interact on the web, as well as in life. I've read lots of self-help and motivational type books; nonetheless, I got some good pointers from Trust Agents.

I gave the book four stars: not 5, because I wanted more hands on ideas; not lower than 4 because I have a lot to learn about social media, and Trust Agents was helpful, plus I did like the social skills ideas. You will want to measure where you are and what you want out of the book before deciding if it is for you or not. I bought the book because I knew someone who bought it and found it valuable. After you read some more of the reviews, you may find it valuable to buy Trust Agents. Overall, I recommend it!

Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day

One person found this helpful

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Marylene Delbourg-Delphis

Social Media -- "Business, it feels, is becoming an art"

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2009

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"Do you see yourself as a Trust Agent?" I asked an entrepreneur. "Kind of," he responded somewhat coquettishly, immediately mentioning that he had thousands of followers on Twitter for his company. He "had a reputation," and he had "earned it." As if any reputation were a "good" one by default (the internet version of "any publicity is good publicity")! As if a "good" reputation at any given time entitled anybody or any company to be trusted in perpetuity. Madoff was a "Trust Agent" in his field, and remained so for a long time mainly because people are so scared at the idea of trusting people that they are even more scared at the idea of questioning the trust they have placed in them... All of this to say that this book addresses anybody: the perpetweeters who feel like inductees into the Web-pantheon -- yet could be dismantled as easily as any statues - and, of course, those who wonder how to expand their influence.

The book is structured around the six main features of a Trust Agent:
1. They make they own game. Nothing to do with ego packaging. They are the people who set new rules and provide a novel or interesting perspective on things.
2. They are "one of us." The expression "social media" maybe somewhat redundant, except that the Web can also be the playing ground of antisocial nerds and weirdos. Trust Agents are people we can relate to and care about others.
3. They understand the principle of the lever - or the Archimedes effect ("Give me a place on which to stand, and I will move the earth") and empower others.
4. They are marvel-ous connectors -- they have the power of an "Agent Zero." "No matter where they go, trust agents have a desire to connect good people together." They are not mere networkers and are more like relationship facilitators.
5. They are human artists. On the Web, we are deprived on 93 percent of all the human signals (38 percent vocal tones and 55 percent body movement), which exposes anybody to a number of blunders. They understand the subtle aesthetics and the etiquette of communication.
6. They know how to "build an army." You can't do it alone. But how can you best convince thousands of ronin and lone rangers to join in and follow? The loyalty of people is first and foremost your loyalty, as a Trust Agent, to them. The Kmart incident let the authors realize that "there are agreements, often implicit, between people and that these social contracts need to be clear and understood at all times."

The chapter "Build an Army" ends with an interesting statement: "Most of the meat of the business isn't in using these [social media] tools, but rather in how they are applied uniquely to your organization." The how requires a new type of skill, and tellingly enough, the conclusion of the book starts with an interesting statement: "Business, it feels, is becoming an art," the art of humanizing people that you may never see, and at looking at a random collection of people as real human beings emotionally connected by what the authors often call a "social contract." Push marketers are doomed to belong to another age, and social media marketing, still kind of a sidekick in marketing organizations, will be the cornerstone of the next marketing age - one governed by a completely new understanding of the value of customer service.

I like this book for many reasons. It's pragmatic and offers actionable advice to individuals and business leaders. I like the underlying assumption of a good-natured, transparence-driven popular sovereignty of digital natives that trust agents must respect to remain trust agents - and not turn into a body of traders controlling the social media business. I was interested by the fact that it is written by two authors who end up complementing each other as they express the complexity of a social media scene, the strange confluence of behaviors that we have caught from living on the Internet for the last 15 years, playing computer and video games (from the first SimCity to MMO games), reading American comic-books while still breathing in the real world.

11 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Flippercast

GREAT BOOK

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

Build your reputation and influence with this remarkable book. Many things to help you along with being a TRUST Agent.

Genstein

If you know Social Media, there's no need to buy this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2010

Verified Purchase

Chris and Julien wrote this, as they told me personally, to introduce people into the trust economy. If you're already doing a lot of Social Media, and reading blogs everyday, you know this stuff. Don't buy it.

But if you don't read blogs, and aren't in the Social Media world, then this book will provide a create introduction to one of the foundation concepts of the emerging social world, namely the idea of trust. With examples, a few models, plenty of calls to action, and even ways to engage with the book and the community, it's a great way to get started.

3 people found this helpful

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