The Trust Economy

Today I read a blog entry by Chris Brogan on communities and marketing, and he wrote:

I believe in the Trust Economy: that we are in a mode where we want to hear about things that matter to us from people we trust.

That really struck a chord with me, not just with relationship building in the various online communities, but to every aspect of business.

Can people trust what we say and do? If we’re talking about something a lot are people informed as to the difference between simply being a fan, or because we’re paid to do that?

Trust involves a two-way interaction. Is the relationship in the community a two-thing, because if all I’m doing is talking about something, then all I’m doing is marketing that, where if it’s a two-way thing I’m going to be just as interested and involved in what the others interests are.

The “Trust Economy”. Food for thought.

New version of Jaiku mobile client released

Jaiku have released their latest version of the Symbian mobile client (0.80) at the Jaiku mobile page. I’ve been privileged to be on the beta testing program, and have been using this version continuously on my phone for a while now, and it’s great! I have it on the "battery saving" mode, and it really does that. I love the way that Jaiku can be accessed in so many ways, for example:

• Web
• Mobile Web
• SMS
• IM using IMified

Having all of these access methods means that it’s possible to stay in touch with my Jaiku friends and post comments throughout the day, wherever you are.

Leaving on a jet plane…

I probably won’t get to update this blog over the next month, as I travel around Europe. I’ll get back in touch with the tech world then!

The trip will be blogged at http://www.koalabear.ws (when I can get to an internet connection!).

New CCLI site launched

CCLI has launched a new site for the Asia-Pacific region, with the aim of making the information easier to find, and adding new features.  Visit http://www.ccli.com.au

One of the new features is a blog at http://www.ccli.com.au/blog.

Relational revolution

In playing around with Twitter and Jaiku, I can’t help but think that there’s a relational revolution going on.  People are craving relationship and finding new ways of connecting with people, even building community with people they’ve never met. 

There are so many ways of doing that: on MySpace connecting with people, on Twitter keeping in touch with what people we know are up to, and likewise on Jaiku and Groovr.  Then there’s blogs like WordPress and LiveJournal and Tumblr where we can put out ideas and stimulate dicussion and connection.  And then there’s so many comunity building tools, from connecting with people about books at LibraryThing, or comparing notes on restaurants at Menuism or comparing travel notes at TravelPod or TripAdvisor.

That’s the technology world, impacting relationships and developing communities around the world.

And then there’s relational impacts in the art world.  There’s a whole area of art called "relational aesthetics" where art (sculpture, drama, music, and anything else artistic) is developing to involve participation by people who would be considered observers in traditional art.

It’s all about connecting with people, a relational revolution.