this is CG more for watchmojo.com today
we’re going to be talking to Julian
Smith co-author of the New York Times
bestselling book trust agents so tell me
Julian what exactly is a trust agent
with every change in media there was a
change in the way people communicate it
we still trust for the same reasons we
still trust this for the same reasons
that we trusted 300 400 and more years
ago but the way that we communicate that
trust is different with newspapers it’s
different with television is different
with every kind of media that we have
and the big difference is now that we
have something where the channel is less
expensive it’s easier to get a channel
you don’t need something like a radio
tower you don’t need a printing press so
more and more power and influence is
coming into the hands of single
individuals in a lot of cases people
that run very powerful blogs or people
that have popular Twitter streams or
lots of friends on Facebook or whatever
it is so that’s why you called them
trust agents because they’re individuals
often they represent companies but often
they just represent themselves they get
a great deal of influence through the
web and never before has that really
been possible with such a small budget
and so few tools do you still think that
there’s something to be said for the
trust that the mainstream media enjoys
because so much investment goes into
their content certainly I think that you
know the big deal is is that when we
have something like a lot of investment
going to something it looks really
professional they have the newscasters
or whatever it happens to be we’re in a
situation where we kind of give them the
benefit of the doubt at first but if we
don’t get the authenticity that we want
out of these people if we feel like
we’re missing part of the story then
we’re going to go to the channels where
people are being authentic we’re going
to go where people are giving you the
raw information and that’s what’s
happening more and more because we’re
not getting coverage that we want we’re
not getting the news that we want and so
that’s why all these alternative
channels are getting more and more
popular amongst other reasons so for
companies and brands looking to leverage
these channels to build trust do you
think they’re limited in the trust they
can build with consumers I think if you
start off and you start off with a
company the potential is still there but
it’s all about the way in which you
decide to communicate
the more you are the mouthpiece for a
company the less effective you are so
the more self-interested you seem to be
the more it’s going to take time for
people to trust you and the cases of
people that you know work with companies
obviously there is a certain amount of
self-interest so there is a limitation
to how effective they can be but I also
think that they can transcend it and
we’ve seen a lot of cases of that on the
web all running on a personal level who
are you more likely to trust an
individual blogger an established
journalist or does a big campaign still
have an effect on the way you see things
the more that we go into the into the
sort of the back channels the more we
see the journalists when they’re in
their off time the more that we see what
the big campaigns are built around if we
know the people that make the media if
we know the people that are the
journalists and we know the people that
are doing the big multi-million dollar
campaigns we start to realize that these
people are not special anymore they’re
just regular people they’re not smarter
than us they’re just the same way that
we are except they have this extra gate
that they’ve been through and for that
reason i prefer the person who’s up
front and who just tells it to me like a
regular person in the first place all
right well thanks for your time Julian
thanks for having me
we’re going to be talking to Julian
Smith co-author of the New York Times
bestselling book trust agents so tell me
Julian what exactly is a trust agent
with every change in media there was a
change in the way people communicate it
we still trust for the same reasons we
still trust this for the same reasons
that we trusted 300 400 and more years
ago but the way that we communicate that
trust is different with newspapers it’s
different with television is different
with every kind of media that we have
and the big difference is now that we
have something where the channel is less
expensive it’s easier to get a channel
you don’t need something like a radio
tower you don’t need a printing press so
more and more power and influence is
coming into the hands of single
individuals in a lot of cases people
that run very powerful blogs or people
that have popular Twitter streams or
lots of friends on Facebook or whatever
it is so that’s why you called them
trust agents because they’re individuals
often they represent companies but often
they just represent themselves they get
a great deal of influence through the
web and never before has that really
been possible with such a small budget
and so few tools do you still think that
there’s something to be said for the
trust that the mainstream media enjoys
because so much investment goes into
their content certainly I think that you
know the big deal is is that when we
have something like a lot of investment
going to something it looks really
professional they have the newscasters
or whatever it happens to be we’re in a
situation where we kind of give them the
benefit of the doubt at first but if we
don’t get the authenticity that we want
out of these people if we feel like
we’re missing part of the story then
we’re going to go to the channels where
people are being authentic we’re going
to go where people are giving you the
raw information and that’s what’s
happening more and more because we’re
not getting coverage that we want we’re
not getting the news that we want and so
that’s why all these alternative
channels are getting more and more
popular amongst other reasons so for
companies and brands looking to leverage
these channels to build trust do you
think they’re limited in the trust they
can build with consumers I think if you
start off and you start off with a
company the potential is still there but
it’s all about the way in which you
decide to communicate
the more you are the mouthpiece for a
company the less effective you are so
the more self-interested you seem to be
the more it’s going to take time for
people to trust you and the cases of
people that you know work with companies
obviously there is a certain amount of
self-interest so there is a limitation
to how effective they can be but I also
think that they can transcend it and
we’ve seen a lot of cases of that on the
web all running on a personal level who
are you more likely to trust an
individual blogger an established
journalist or does a big campaign still
have an effect on the way you see things
the more that we go into the into the
sort of the back channels the more we
see the journalists when they’re in
their off time the more that we see what
the big campaigns are built around if we
know the people that make the media if
we know the people that are the
journalists and we know the people that
are doing the big multi-million dollar
campaigns we start to realize that these
people are not special anymore they’re
just regular people they’re not smarter
than us they’re just the same way that
we are except they have this extra gate
that they’ve been through and for that
reason i prefer the person who’s up
front and who just tells it to me like a
regular person in the first place all
right well thanks for your time Julian
thanks for having me
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