Word of mouth, cronyism, fake news and community trust

Today I got a call from an unknown number.

Last night in a post about supporting people who are investing into the platform I mentioned 'Word of Mouth', a term that is almost antiquated in the world of digital branding but, is this actually the case?

In regards to online advertising and guerrilla marketing techniques, word of mouth is the driving force of the internet, especially that of social media where likes, followers, stars, thumbs up and hearts are the makers and breakers of the Kings and Queens of internet infamy. It comes through the shares, tumbles, retweets, reviews, commentary and all of the little interactions between users that make up a massive global network for each piece that started from the humble beginnings of a, Post.

Discovery chains

When it comes to what we want to watch, listen to, where we want to go, what to eat, new products, a book to read and what car to buy, we like to think that we are the ones who discover it but, most of the time these days, we discover someone else's discovery who likely just happened to write something about a discovery they themselves heard about.

The chain of discovery that takes garage band to global sensation is very long indeed and, nearly all through word of mouth recommendations. To be an overnight success takes years of work learning and training to consistently be able to produce well above average results.

“I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year, it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.” ― Lionel Messi

To get to where the stars actually play is not a solo effort, no matter the massive individual investments made. It is a group effort that has a chain of discovery where each link offers the support to move onto the next. Yes, personal drive is an absolute must but, so to is community willingness to drive the driver, to invest their own time and energy for the success of another. This is community.

Trust in word of mouth

People complain a lot about the 'it's who you know' world and cronyism is something that should change but, the negatives of it are often enhanced and the positives go unconsidered. Word of mouth is all about who you know but, it is based upon performance over time which means, a track record good enough that someone will put their stamp of approval, their reputation and their responsibility behind someone they know, to push them on to someone else they know who can enhance their position.

To be in a position where people are either willing to advance you or, willing to trust your recommendations about people they do not know themselves takes the trust of a relationship and in most cases, a personal relationship. If you can't consistently demonstrate trust, having the trust required for someone to stake their reputation on you is very difficult, if not impossible. When it comes to trust, consistency matters and, it is easily lost.

Endorsing history down the chain

Imagine you have a male acquaintance that you know has consistently cheated on his previous partners and treated them relatively poorly over all. Do you set him up on a date with your sister? What about if you only suspect that he has consistently cheated on his partners and treated them poorly, do you set him up on a date with your sister?

This is word of mouth, this is responsibility of the endorser, the one who pushes information down the line and says, 'I back this message.' This is why it is so damaging when ~60% _source of people don't read what they share on social media. They don't actually know what it contains yet, they endorse the message based on a title or a picture. This is part of the reason why Fakenews got more shares than the "real" news on social media during the last US presidential election.

When people are sharing messages to their friends without understanding the message, they are still endorsing it and, word of mouth has much more power than any marketing campaign. The damage down by the shills that were endorsing Bitconnect to further their own agenda is unforgivable, do not let them push their next agenda down the chain.

On/Off topic observation

Chain of discovery is an interesting term to use here isn't it, considering we are on a blockchain that is all about chain of trust. To verify the integrity of the information and then move it to the next for verification again. The problem of course is that it only checks the integrity of information from the seed and looks for changes, not in the seed itself. This means that the weakness comes in the form of poor information being considered good and being pushed along. Humans. People are people. But, this is an off-track observation. Kind of.

This article has progressed, still on some track but, it has changed somewhat from where it started with the word of mouth trust between people, to the trust of the blockchain transactions of that word of mouth.

On my reputation

The thing is that it is still all about trust and the level of interaction between human nodes, even though it is the code that is ensuring that trust at some points. A community is entirely about 'who you know' as it encapsulates every bit of information required to make sure that the right people are doing the right tasks at the right time. If I need a mechanic for my car, I need to know *who is a mechanic and I will ask from people I know to find out who they know. When they recommend they are putting their trust in that mechanic that they aren't going to break my trust in them. It is a chain of social trust.

And if you don't have social trust but are looking to be supported by a community, you are in for a very rough ride as it is unlikely that the support you require to be pushed along the social chains will come because people will be unwilling to recommend a person who could potentially break the trust of someone who trusts them.

Back to the call

The reason of the call was because one of my clients used me as a reference for a job he is looking to fill. The unknown number was the HR manager of a very large company asking me if this person is suitable and whether I am willing to endorse them for the position. I trust my client and this is part of the progression we have been working toward for several years and is only the next step on the chain.

Besides his actual skills, the major thing that is working in his favor to get this position that on paper looks like a large leap from his current role is, his strength of network and the trust he has of people that have influence in the system. This isn't because they are just friends, this is because he has a proven track record of his actions and, his attitude towards his work and they are more than willing to put their reputations on the line for him. It is about trust, not cronyism yet, it is still about who he knows.

He has a community to support him. Do you?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]