Christian Web Trends Blog

Chris Brogan is among the most respected social media gurus around. Yesterday he experienced a worship service at LifeChurch.tv’s internet campus and blogged about it. What can his post teach us about online church and social media?

We’ve reached the end of the Trust Agents book. However, this is not the end, but just the beginning. It’s time to begin putting into practice the things we’ve learned. Here are my biggest take-aways from Trust Agents and what I’m going to do with them. What are you going to do?

This “Yes, and” mentality ensures that the Trust Agent is always open to the possibility. Think, Dream, Build, Leverage, Connect… How do you successfully do those things?

Brogan starts his final chapter with the distilled essence of the entire book: “Business … is becoming an art…” I find adding a personal example from my own life to be helpful when illustrating an abstract concept like “trust.”

In the second half of chapter 7 of Trust Agents, Brogan and Smith further develop the importance of building an army through the unique abilities afforded us by the Web.

Because of the information access and the ease of further distribution, a group of people on the Web is more powerful than a group of equal size anywhere else. The significant difference being that we now all have access as well as distribution which was, in the past, a more significant hurdle.

This ease of spreading information must be leveraged, but is not without flaws…

In addition to joining a group, creating one (and filling it with the smartest people you know) is the true path to influence online… The web makes it possible for people with a common interest to join together in groups… The power of a groups is immense…

In social media, human is the new black… Part of becoming a Trust Agent is understanding how to maintain a human-shaped network. Here’s a few suggestions that I think could help us go a long way in adding value to our online [and offline] relationships.

Who remembers the movie Jerry Maguire? Jerry, a Sports Agent, has an encounter with his conscience which results in a life altering mission statement. He arrives at the conclusion that more personal attention is required – that it is more about the people they represent than the money that that can get from them. On the web it may be a bit more difficult to maintain a personal touch because you can’t always look each other in the eye and watch for non verbal cues. Yet, more than ever before, the Web is far more ‘humanized’ – we are able to express ourselves better and engage better and it is only going to improve.

In order to be an affective ‘Agent Zero’ we must follow 5 simple, yet very important steps. Many Agent Zeros will naturally do these steps without realizing it. That’s what makes them so good at what they do. As you read through my explanations of these steps think about your own position within your church and make a list of how you apply each step to your specific area of ministry.

“No matter where they go, trust agents have a desire to connect good people together. We refer to this as being Agent Zero; being in the center of a network and being able to spread ideas.”