Notes on Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

When I wrote about the things I liked and disliked about the Kindle for iPhone app, one thing I hadn’t tried was the Notes function.

It’s the ability to leave a note in the margin, and stick a Post-It Note on the page so that you know where you left the note.

My brief review on Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith is that it’s important for you if you’re trying to use the Internet to advance your business, your career, or your brand. I think the same thing about Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It.

Both have action items, and both will help you – greatly – if you understand how to apply the lessons these folks share to your own situation. These books have action items, but they are not how-to-become-the-next-Chris-Brogan-or-Gary-Vaynerchuk books. If we all tried to be the next Chris Brogan, we’d have a world full of Chris Brogans and nobody to manufacture car parts or make peanut butter.

Lowell D’Souza gives a brief overview of Trust Agents. Go read the section numbered 1-6 (the rest is D’Souza commenting that the book is so-so, but then, he was looking for a how-to), and then come back.

These are the notes I, er, wrote in the margins.

Action item: Build a listening station. This is a step-by-step list on how to keep track of what people are saying about you or your business. This is not just a matter of running an occasional Google search for yourself; Brogan and Smith teach you how to set up a feed reader and get search feeds from various searches sent to you easily.

You don’t have to be born with it. Forget the people who say you have to be born with a talent to be good at something. You get good at something by practice. Sure, chess might come easy to some people, but if the other people work hard at it, they’ll do just as well.

Be good to people. Here’s a direct quote.

In this chapter, we’re talking about taking advantage of systems, not people. People are real, have real feelings, and always deserve respect. Always consider what’s right and wrong when it comes to this stuff.

You Win by Having Goals. This is something that I will be working hard on in 2010. I understand the tools, I just have to set milestones that I want to achieve using the tools.

There’s plenty of room on the Web. You don’t have to directly compete with someone. There is plenty of room out there to work together, or do something similar, or collaborate, but not try to do the exact same thing someone else is doing. Find your niche.

Know which systems are open. Brogan and Smith use Pacman and Ms. Pacman to explain this concept. Pacman is a known system. As boards progress, prizes progress predictably, and a perfect game consists of a set number of points. Ms. Pacman, though, uses a random prize progression – at any given point, you may get a 100-point cherry or a 1,000-point banana (I made up the numbers, don’t trash Brogan and Smith for it if they’re wrong).

In real life, mastering a closed system (Pacman) means you are the best at something. Cal Ripken Jr? Best at playing consecutive baseball games. Barry Bonds? Best at hitting home runs (steroids or not – he has a number to prove it). But who’s best at walking down Main Street in Toledo? It’s an open system. We don’t even know what being the best at walking down Main Street in Toledo looks like – it’s all trial and error, and we’re kind of making the game up as we go along.

Action Item: Affiliate Marketing Brogan and Smith outline some affiliate marketing strategies.

Forge partnerships. I don’t think this needs any expanding. If you want to know what Brogan and Smith have to say, read the book.

Agent zero. We all have our personalities and roles in organizations. Agent Zero is the person who connects the people who need to know each other. I’m glad there’s a name for this.

Maintain relationships. I’m horrible at this. I’ve been getting better, and Brogan and Smith offer good tips (like pay attention to the birthday calendar function in Facebook).

Yes and. I love this concept. The idea is that someone says something, and you not only agree, but build. An improvised story might start with someone saying, “The bear sat on the sofa and read the sports page,” the next person continues by saying, “Yes, and he bemoaned the Giants’ season coming to an end.” The first person picks back up with, “Yes, and…”

And so, too, should go your discussions about collaborative projects. You build on what the other person says, rather than poo-pooing something that you don’t yet see the point of.

Web site and book recommendations. Here are some of the books and sites the authors recommend throughout the book.

• Akoha.com (social media reality game)
• Spinvox.com (voice mail as text)
• Jott.com (speak into your phone, have it transcribed as an email to you)
• Kayak.com (travel help)
• Serious Creativity by Edward de Bono
• How to Be More Interesting by Edward de Bono
• The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

» Chris Brogan on Twitter
» Julien Smith on Twitter

How I use various social media platforms

Or, why I didn’t follow you back or accept your friend request.

Something social media networks can learn from libraries: browsing. When you’re In the same way you might accidentally stumble across a good book while you were looking for another one entirely, you can stumble across interesting people serendipitously.

The great thing about social media is we all get to use it differently. Sure, various social networks have various target uses, and not every network is for everybody. And, as Buckminster Fuller alluded to, we can’t be all things to everyone, and when we try, we end up being very little to pretty much nobody.

For those who are thinking of jumping into a new network – or for those who have jumped and aren’t real comfortable – here is how I use various social networks. The way I use these networks may not be right for you, but at least I can put some ideas in your head.

Twitter. I use Twitter the most of any social network. While I don’t tweet every time I get up for another cup of coffee, I definitely mix the personal and mundane with the professional and awesome. I’ve made good connections with great people, spoken to a couple of groups, made new (real-life) friends, found a massage therapist and more on Twitter.

It can be overwhelming, but so can a river. And I wouldn’t avoid looking at a river just because it’s big and fast moving. If I miss something on Twitter, I miss it. But by and large, I’ve been happy with Twitter. Here’s how I set it up.

I use TweetDeck, which allows me to divide my Twitter stream into columns. On the left, I have the column that shows people responding to me – that way I catch them early, and can talk back. I have other columns for my inner circle of people I want to make sure I catch everything from (or as close as I can get), people who are local to me, people who tweet about social media, and people who tweet about journalism – and then one column with everybody.

As I find another group to break down into, I will create another column (at this rate, it looks like it will be cancer-related topics, since I’m starting to follow people who people might be good to know for the fundraising project I’m working on.

Facebook. I’ve become particular about who I friend on Facebook. If we’re friends in real life (not associates, not co-workers), I will certainly accept a friend request. If it’s possible that we could have a friendship or at least a friendly working relationship, I’ll probably friend you, and if that doesn’t develop, you’ll probably fall off during some purge or other.

Facebook has been great for connecting with people from high school. Thanks anyway. If we weren’t actually friends in high school, and your name kinda sounds vaguely familiar, why would I want to be your cyber-friend now? For some people, Facebook is about how many “friends” they can amass – I tend to keep it to people I don’t mind sharing with, and who I’m interested in hearing from and about.

So don’t be offended if you cold call me and I ignore your Facebook request. Get to know me in real life first.

LinkedIn. I use LinkedIn purely for professional connections. If we are currently colleagues, I absolutely will not connect with you on LinkedIn – you don’t need to know what I’m doing on the job front, and I don’t need to know what you’re doing.

On the other hand, if we’re in the same industry, I’ll accept your LinkedIn connection in hopes that we may be able to someday have a mutually beneficial professional relationship. It’s not a place for me to be social; it’s truly a professional networking space for me.

Flickr. I barely use Flickr. I’ve turned to Twitpic, which integrates with Twitter.

What do you do if someone doesn’t respond to you, doesn’t accept your connection request, or doesn’t follow you?

Nothing. I’m confident in what I’m putting out there. If someone has no interest in what I do, that’s OK. Other people do.

The one rule I do have, though, is if you Direct Message me on Twitter (which you can only do if the party you’re sending the message to is following you), you better be following me back, otherwise, I’m going to unfollow you. Don’t try to reach me through a channel I’m not able to reach you through.