Building Trust Online

Last Thursday evening, the New America Foundation hosted a panel on building trust through technology. They'd put together a fantastic collection of case studies: Stephanie Schierholz of NASA discussed how tweetups had built a community around and among space-watchers, while Deborah Dignam talked about the British Council's experiences building digital campaigns around art exhibitions and events. Danny Harris told the story of how he became a curator of community stories via the People's District blog. I enjoyed hearing about the hybrid online/offline bonds these projects have generated, but I was disappointed to realize during the Q&A that none of the community-builders could really offer a recipe for those successes. While building trust online is difficult, however, it's not entirely mysterious. In my previous life as a graduate student, I explored the academic research on the topic and convinced a few kindly web-oriented nonprofits to let me interview them for a benchmarking study. And while my conclusions were anything but groundbreaking, I've found them to be a useful shorthand for thinking about the things good community-builders instinctively do - including all of last night's speakers.Find points of commonalityThis is easier than it sounds: while @NASA Twitter followers may be a very diverse group, they clearly share a common interest in space research and travel - and in time, this affinity is a connection that can be used to build stronger ties. While NDI works with a wide variety of partners, they all seek more responsive, accountable governance - as do their respective online communities.Structure interactionsDanny described going into DC schools and asking teenagers to map the 10 most important places they'd want a friend just arriving in the District to know about. While a blog sharing stories on life in the city might be widely read, projects like this make it easier for new contributors to share their own experiences in a way that a blank page might never inspire. Similarly, successful political campaigns don't just ask supporters for open-ended feedback - they ask targeted questions that inspire thoughtful responses and trigger conversations among the electorate.Be consistentCommunities are more likely to grow around a trusted host or convener. The British Council plans regular events showcasing the arts worldwide, drawing large audiences. And when an interactive musical experience in Japan asked participants to exchange hugs, many reached out to strangers despite cultural norms. In the lead-up to elections, monitoring groups should plan a schedule of updates and decide questions of format and tone - when a web site or Twitter account is the main way they interact with the public, these markers stand in as cues for reliability and trustworthiness, and they take on new importance. Trust is important, offline as well as on. But when we move to primarily web-based communications, it's critical to think deliberately about how to convey trustworthiness and build better connections - while instilling trust among isn't easy, real online communities aren't accidental (or don't have to be).