Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Chapter 7. Build an Army

You Can't Do It Alone

An individual can gain a lot of influence by acting alone, but doing so is missing half the picture. In addition to joining a group, creating one (and filling it with the smartest people you know) is the true path to influence online. If the social Web gives businesses the opportunity to rehumanize, it's at the risk of overwhelming those within a company entrusted with that role, because one person can't scale beyond certain limits. The answer is the subject of our sixth concept for trust agents: Build an Army.

When we think army, we think "Together, we can make a difference." The main job of an army is to have a huge impact, something that can't be done by one person or even a few really powerful ones. The goal can't be uniformly yours—or theirs. Both sides must want something out of it or it can't succeed.

Once you have established yourself as a trust agent, reaching the next level means building and dispersing armies around projects and opportunities rapidly and with a very loose command and control structure. Learn how to build an army, and not only will you master tomorrow's radios, you'll have strength in numbers and diversity.

A Quick Note about the "Army" Analogy

The United States was considered one of the world's top military powers through the 1990s. Up to that point, having the best armed forces meant having huge battleships, aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, Bradley tanks, and other large vehicles.

At the turn of the century, ...