A three-part Trust test

17 Aug

Posted by: BryanPerson in: Recommendations

So just how do you decide who to trust online?

Photo of Trust Agents co-authors Julien Smith and Chris Brogan

That’s the question Chris Brogan and Julien Smith were asking while roaming the halls of the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer in Scottsdale, Arizona — Flip cams in hand — last fall.

I don’t remember exactly how I responded, except that I was generally incoherent.

But if Chris and Julien were to pose that same question to me today, on the day they begin the big push of their new book, Trust Agents, I’d have a more thoughtful reply.

My three requirements for building online trust

With the people I trust online …

1) … it’s not all about them. That means not trying to sell me something just hours (minutes?) after we’ve connected online, so website-pimping Twitter auto-DMs and an immediate onslaught of Facebook invitations/e-mails to events promoting their junk are big warning signs. Instead, my trust goes out to the folks who, as Chris would say, aim to “be helpful first.”

2) … we share something — or enough — in common. This usually starts at the personal level — we both have young children, are Red Sox fans, or enjoy traveling — and then (sometimes) progresses to more business-y conversations.

3) … they pass the “Breakfast or Beer Test.” This is more of a gut response than anything else, but often flows from points 1 and 2 above. Quite simply, would I want to chat with them over morning coffee or an afternoon/evening brew?

This isn’t a super-complicated formula, but it works for me. And as for how my three-part test jibes with the advice from Chris and Julien in Trust Agents, I guess I’ll found out in a few days. I just placed my Amazon order for the book.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambernaslund/ / CC BY 2.0

5 Responses

dirk shaw
17|Aug|2009 1

Hey Bryan.

I have never actually thought of a classification but “Breakfast or Beer” is a mental exercise i go thru as well.

Thanks..dirk
Bernie Goldbach
25|Aug|2009 2

Interestingly enough, “what you had for breakfast” is a catchphrase in Ireland that means you share a lot of information.
Laura P Thomas
25|Aug|2009 3

I’d seen some tweets about the “breakfast or beer” test when you posted this last week, but didn’t get a chance to read.

Now that I’m in the middle of a family health crisis and have been updating my online networks about it, I wanted to come back to see if your post lined up with something I’ve noticed in the reactions I’m getting.

In addition to coming up with a new criteria you could add — “can you turn to them in a crisis?” (which i guess relates to your first requirement) — I’m seeing a different response in different platforms.

I think this is something I’ll have to flesh out in a post of my own as I process it all and we get beyond the immediate issue at hand.

Thanks for getting me thinking about it!
BryanPerson
25|Aug|2009 4

Laura: Thanks for your comment. This actually isn’t something I’d considered directly (thought it may be included in No. 1, as you note), but I could have. This could extend beyond the personal crisis but a business one as well. When times get tough, who can you turn to?
BryanPerson
25|Aug|2009 5

@Bernie: Ha – sounds about right!