Trust and Social Media at Unconferenz 2010
It finally dawned upon me after attending the various social/new media sessions at Unconferenz 2010. New media as well as old or traditional media is about trust, plain and simple. Attendee Todd Ogasawara might have said it too mentioning the term “Trust 2.0,” but it just didn’t sink in at the time. All these “new” social networks and tools are about building trust, and the eventual success of eBay was used a prime example. After adding seller and buyer ratings to increase the trust level of its service did online bidding really flourish. The lesson is the better and faster you can establish trust, the more successful your community (and business) will be.
This same dynamic is at work in many instances knowingly or not. At Hawaii startup, Peer News, owner and eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar, is using his previous experience to incorporate trust relationships in the forthcoming news service. At Unconferenz 2010, Peer News editor, John Temple talked about Peer News and its direction.
Also at the social media sessions was Jared Kuroiwa, formerly of KGMB9 and Hawaii News Now. While he provided great insight and retrospect of his past industry, his presence reminded me of this post, Trusting KGMB9. At the time when the Hawaii television news industry crumbled, KGMB9 stood above the rest in my view. Trust was at the core of this. Through Jared’s social media strategy, I trusted KGMB9 and all its voices. Most of those voices, sadly, have gone silent, and I quietly wonder about the trustworthiness of the new news conglomeration.
Taking a step back, I realize that my reasons for attending Unconferenz were based on trust.
Trusting that Burt Lum and Ryan Ozawa would put together a great event leading to great discussions and trading of ideas for Hawaii tech enthusiasts. Thanks guys!