Comments on: Trust Agents 2a – Action Step #1

By: Trust Agents « breaking point

Trust Agents « breaking point — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:26:16 +0000

[...] October 20, 2009 by marybethstockdale I’m really enjoying the book, “Trust Agents: Using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust” by Chris Brogan. Chock-full of information, and practical advice about how to use it. I posted on Chapter 2 – Action Step #1 – Make It Your Game. You can see it and posts along the way on the book here. [...]

By: Adam S

Adam S — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:25:41 +0000

I went to a marriage conference a couple weeks ago. One of the things that I found very helpful was a personality test that helped my wife and I talk about what motivates us. It was clear from the test (and most other things like it: Five Love Languages, etc.) that we treat others as we want to be treated. So we talk to others using words that motivate us, not necessarily the words that motivate others. If we are going to motivate others then we need to alter our motivational ideas to reach out.

So I am all about the playing words, but I rarely play a game to win. I play a game to participate and enjoy the people around me. I know many people are very competitive so I am not trying to discount that as a motivational language. But it is one part of motivation.

By: Paul Steinbrueck

Paul Steinbrueck — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:10:24 +0000

I like competition too, and so the idea of making things into a game is appealing. However, I think it also has several pitfalls.

One problem is when the goal/game is not in alignment with the end goals. For example, getting more visitors to one’s website is a good goal, but more visitors is usually not the end goal. The end goal is usually more sales, more subscribers, more church visitors, etc. I could win the game of bringing more visitors to my website but if they don’t convert, I’m just wasting my time.

It’s even possible to win the battle and lose the war. For example you could post something very controversial or offensive to try to get more links or comments and in the process lose your credibility.

Another pitfall is that when we make it a game we can lose sight of the fact that it’s not really about numbers but about people. This is particularly true for those of us who serve in churches and other Christian ministries.

Remember, Jesus left the 99 to look for the one. Generally speaking, that’s not good game play.

By: srossi

srossi — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:06:52 +0000

I just think the game paradigm is so interesting. It’s probably unhealthy in some way or another, but I’m pretty much constantly thinking of how I can “win” at the newest online craze.

By: Tweets that mention Trust Agents 2a – Action Step #1 « Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com -- Topsy.com

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:03:51 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mary Beth Stockdale and Everett, CaryBranscum. CaryBranscum said: Greatness, Mary Beth..RT @mbstockdale: Just posted on Trust Agents Action Step #1 http://bit.ly/prWYP [...]

By: Phillip Gibb

Phillip Gibb — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:00:59 +0000

What is the point of playing if you don’t intend winning? Well, that’s what I think most of the time – it’s my competitive nature. It is also the reason why I tried to up my game in blogging when a friend go a day of massive hits on his new blog. When he stopped blogging so much, so did I; the game was not fun for me if I was not trying to win. Trying to change that now.
For me, I need to gatejump from WP hosted to self hosted; use my programming experience and buzz the Intraweb, zzzzzzzzzing.
lol
I think a great example in gatejumping and changing the rule is film/video distribution. Anyone can be a filmmaker nowadays with vimeo, youtube, etc. Actually there are a few examples out there in the industry like that Blaire Witch Project and Deep water, etc that show you that you don’t need a couple million bucks worth of film camera to make a movie.

By: Everett Bracken

Everett Bracken — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:46:03 +0000

I like the methods Brogan and Smith provide for measuring performance of your blog/online presence, especially links and comments. Being a new blogger, those two things are important to me, but I need some advice on how to motivate my readers to do that in a gentle way.

I ask questions at the end of the post and ask for comments, but I don’t get very many. I haven’t asked for people to link to my blog very much, but I do have a “share this” button after each post.

Also, I just recorded a “welcome” video which explains the blog a bit and at the end I ask the viewers to comment and link.

What else could/should I be doing?