Book Review – Trust Agents

By on October 15th, 2009

I just finished reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know the authors from their wide-spread online presence. If not, check out their blogs, from where you can find more information about them (for Chris’ blog, click here; for Julien’s blog, click here).

I would first like to thank both Chris Brogan and LinkedIn – this book was sent to me as part of winning a contest on Twitter several weeks ago. There were no strings attached to me getting the book. However, I enjoyed reading the book, and so decided to write a review of the book.

In order to understand my perspective on the book, I need to take you back to when I was first introduced to Chris. My friend and colleague Jeremy Lichtman started a friendly competition on his blog on January 1, 2009 (read the post here) to complete Chris’ list of 100 blogging topics, and on January 12, I decided to take him up on the challenge. At this point, I had never heard of Chris Brogan.

Fast forward a few months, and I had become a regular reader of Chris’ blog, and soon signed up for his weekly newsletter. I’ve had a couple of e-mail exchanges with him on various small topics relating to his newsletter. Then the book came out, and I was immediately intrigued by the title, and when he posted the competition in conjunction with LinkedIn, I submitted my entry (click here to see my post), and was pleased to see that I had won.

The way I had won the book in the first place demonstrates how appropriate it is that I read the book. Chris and Julien wrote about establishing trust online, and clearly, I had already been involved with establishing trust with Chris himself. Many of the lessons they wrote about I already knew, but never thought about in a conscious manner. Trust takes time to establish, but can be destroyed in seconds. Most people know this, but don’t think about it.

The book was easy to read and well-written, flowing smoothly between topics. The objectives of the various points were well laid out. If you read Chris’ newsletter (and if you don’t, I recommend you sign up here), then you’ll be familiar with the style.

From a content perspective, the book did not teach me anything new per se, but rather promoted critical thinking about how and why online relationships work. Having completed the book, I do not believe that I am now a trust agent – rather, I understand more about the side effects of the various actions I do online. I understand the power of the masses, and how it can be harnessed for mutually beneficial purposes. I understand the difference between asking a friend for a favor, and getting your friend to offer the favor before you ask.

Most of all, I now understand the path I am on (after all, if you are present in several online communities, you are involved in establishing trust at some level), and what I can do to ensure that I don’t have to learn all the lessons the hard way, and how I can be sure to apply established rules to increase my circles of awareness and acceptance as rapidly and smoothly as possible.

If you blog, or interact in any manner online, I strongly recommend that you read this book. It will explain to you much of what is happening to your relationships as you progress in your online involvement.

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  3. Book Review – Web Startup Success Guide
  4. Business and Social Media – Part 4
  5. How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog
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  • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan…

    Integrated marketing: used to be a gimmick, but if you just live the same way all the way through your business, it feels like maybe we’re walking the talk. : )

    Glad to hear you liked it, and I’m glad for how you won it.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan…

    Integrated marketing: used to be a gimmick, but if you just live the same way all the way through your business, it feels like maybe we’re walking the talk. : )

    Glad to hear you liked it, and I’m glad for how you won it.

  • sol

    I just read this book review and you know what? I have no idea what this book is about, or if I should even care about not knowing.
    Also, who are these people (Chris and Julien) and why should I care about them – nothing personal against them, but you write about them as if I SHOULD know and if I DON’T know, then I need to catch up RIGHT NOW!!!

  • admin

    @Chris Brogan…
    The integrated marketing is not how I try to earn money, but if someone wants to buy a book because of my review, then I would like to help them do so. If someone will pay for that service, why throw it away?

    As you say, if you do something well, do it consistently and you will be well on the road to succeed.

  • admin

    @Chris Brogan…
    The integrated marketing is not how I try to earn money, but if someone wants to buy a book because of my review, then I would like to help them do so. If someone will pay for that service, why throw it away?

    As you say, if you do something well, do it consistently and you will be well on the road to succeed.

  • admin

    @sol
    Chris and Julien are fairly well-known, although I confess that there are many people who do not know who they are, despite their involvement in the online community (yourself as an example).

    The book is about trust and how it works in online communities – the second half of this post does in fact talk about it. No, I didn’t write the book here, but if you want to know how trust online works, how communities online grow, and how to use your online network, then this book is for you.

    If not, you may still enjoy the book, but it may be of little practical use to you.

  • admin

    @sol
    Chris and Julien are fairly well-known, although I confess that there are many people who do not know who they are, despite their involvement in the online community (yourself as an example).

    The book is about trust and how it works in online communities – the second half of this post does in fact talk about it. No, I didn’t write the book here, but if you want to know how trust online works, how communities online grow, and how to use your online network, then this book is for you.

    If not, you may still enjoy the book, but it may be of little practical use to you.

  • http://www.rain-clouds.com/ Software

    Another great post.
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    Keep them comming.

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  • http://www.rain-clouds.com Software

    Another great post.
    Thank you for the information, Its good to see such quality posts.
    Im subscribing to your blog.
    Keep them comming.

    Classified Posting Software

  • admin

    @Software
    Thanks! Any and all feedback is appreciated!

  • admin

    @Software
    Thanks! Any and all feedback is appreciated!

  • http://www.polprav.blogspot.com/ Polprav

    Hello from Russia!
    Can I quote a post “No teme” in your blog with the link to you?

  • http://www.polprav.blogspot.com Polprav

    Hello from Russia!
    Can I quote a post “No teme” in your blog with the link to you?

  • admin

    Absolutely! Thanks for asking.

  • admin

    Absolutely! Thanks for asking.

  • sol

    I just read this book review and you know what? I have no idea what this book is about, or if I should even care about not knowing.
    Also, who are these people (Chris and Julien) and why should I care about them – nothing personal against them, but you write about them as if I SHOULD know and if I DON'T know, then I need to catch up RIGHT NOW!!!