What is a Trust Community and Why Should You Care?

A conversation simply about Twitter and Facebook is the wrong one to have when discussing social media, even though it’s the one most people are having.

Social media has revolutionized how people connect and communicate. It is now a normal, everyday activity to connect with virtual strangers in real time via the social web – much in the same way you may connect with personal friends and family via the phone or by email. Social media can effectively reach thousands of people through a single action – such as a blog post, activity update on Facebook or Twitter “tweet.”

If you connect online with a group of people who share your interests, such as gardening, motorcycles, football, reading, music or underwater basket weaving, then you are participating in a Trust Community – wherepeople having a common interest interact with one another specifically to discuss and share information on the shared topic.

Usually, in a Trust Community, an Influencer – sort of like the community mayor, may serve one or more roles, such as recruiting new members, holding members to an ethical and courtesy standard, or disseminating the largest volume of information to other members. There may also be more that one Influencer in a Trust Community where roles are shared.

With the latest advances in social networking technologies, people are naturally searching out and finding others within their interest tribes.  In absence of the geographical and time constraints that we experienced before the Internet, it is now possible to instantly connect with people on other continents, build reciprocal personal and business relationships and share information and ideas with thousands of people having the same passions and interests.

Real-time search has changed the communication game forever.  The Internet is becoming exponentially more socialized every day.  Since humans are psychologically driven to connect and be validated by other people, social media tools are primarily being used to communicate and relate in more effective ways.  We are connecting, creating content and consuming content like there’s no tomorrow!

Greater use of social media and has generated a seismic shift in power from the limited number of perceived experts and authorities, who we used to trust, to an unlimited number of Influencers we follow because we like and trust them. 

These Influencers have proven themselves by sharing interesting and valuable content in blogs, videos, podcasts and throughout the social web.  They don’t require a degree or a professional title to be influential, because online influence derives from a meritocracy. 

In fact, we are more likely to trust regular people who have a passion and prove to be legitimate long before we may believe those “experts” put forth by authoritative sources that may have private agendas.  These regular people, in their functions as Influencers, are the tent poles around whom the Trust Communities are staked.

Do you remember when your only choice to get an expert medical opinion was to visit your doctor?  Let’s face it; we know that doctors are mere mortals.  They have limited knowledge, sometimes make mistakes and are often heavily lobbied by pharmaceutical companies to push some drugs and treatments versus others. Consumers and patients wanted access to more medical information than was available to the general public. Then in 1999 WebMD.com made its entrance onto the Web.

Soon, regular people could locate the same medical information once only accessible to doctors. Among its searchable articles, online education, and other medical information, WebMD created public forums for the over 20 million people who visit WebMD each month seeking medical and pharmaceutical information and advice. Naturally, this led to the development of Trust Communities –as people found their tribes within the larger tent of the WebMD community.

In addition to utilizing WebMD as a resource, a person seeking health information can search medical articles via Google or send a message on Twitter that may draw real-time answers from doctors and regular people who have already done the research.  With tools like Google Side Wiki, and other new web interface technologies, it’s only going to make building Trust Communities and connecting interest tribes easier.

Making medical information available online doesn’t change that doctors are still the medical experts; but now consumers have the resources to obtain multiple other opinions when making important medical decisions. They can find groups led by professionals as well as laypeople who have become trusted Influencers within Trust Communities who can provide them with the information, support and resources they seek.

If you have a child with autism you’ll likely be joining one or more Trust Communities focused on autism.  If you are a writer you may join a Trust Community with other writers.  You may even be in both of these communities, depending on your interests and needs. Either way, you’ll be participating as a community member.  

Real participation among members develops a bond of trust, which grows as members get to know one another and learn who shares the best information, has integrity and is responsive to community needs – just as in any other community. People belonging to Trust Communities benefit from membership through information and resource sharing, opportunities for leadership, community support and sometimes creating friendships.

In the coming years there will emerge a measurable difference between those people having membership in thriving Trust Communities where dynamic information is shared, dissected and discussed and those continuing to only receive the broadcast of static information from traditional, authoritarian sources. 

The conversation about Trust Communities is the right one to have when discussing social media and networking, because it is where we are all heading.