Personal Web of Trust

Kevin O'Keefe who writes the Real Lawyers Have Blogs blog has a fascinating post about the changing landscape of trust and its impact on Martindale-Hubbell.

As a result on the Internet, the 'Average Person Like Me' now ranks as high as academics and physicians as a trusted source of information about a company. This was the finding of the Edelman Trust Barometer 2005 - an annual study of 1500 opinion leaders in eight countries.

Kevin quotes Dick Edelman, president of the only independent PR firm.

Nearly 60% of Americans and a comparable percentage of Brazilians, Brits, Canadians, Chinese, French, Germans and Japanese look to their peers for knowledge and advice, up from 20% only two years ago. What's going on here? Part of this trend must be attributed to lack of trust in traditional figures of authority and institutions, such as business, government and the media. Some of this trust void is being filled by alternative institutions such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). But it is also manifested in a greater reliance on those close to you, who form a personal web of trust that supplements what you read, see or hear in the media, or through official company channels and in advertising. 

The Internet has made it easy to reach out to your friends, family and colleagues at work. But it has also allows those with similar interests anywhere in the world to link up in chat rooms. This type of horizontal communication with like minded souls is powerful.

This study on trust has implications far beyond lawyers.  Companies who sponsor online communities of people in like circumstances, like people at different stages of their lives, will stand to garner considerable benefits.  Not only will they learn what people are concerned about, what their issues and problems are, they will be able to co-create with their customers and clients better products and services.

Richard Edelman concludes:

Business should embrace the "paradox of transparency" (term coined by Shell public affairs executives). Rather than hold back knowledge of a product's benefits and risks, be open with your stakeholders, engage them in conversation and allow them to contribute to the solution. Sure, there is risk of competitive response but is that worse than the consumer outcry that can undermine the eventual acceptance of a product concept? The days of buying consumer approval simply through mass advertising are over. Today the runway for successful brand take off is effective public relations, which provides the strong base of credibility on which advertising can build. The average person like me is demanding a seat at the table, the true democratization of the purchasing process. Smart companies will recognize that ceding control is a central aspect in earning trust.