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"The Internet-era has made establishing trust an increasingly complicated issue. Our finely tuned ability to read facial expressions does not apply to e-mail, and emoticons are, at best, an imperfect substitute for sarcastic inflection (raise your hand if you\u2019ve ever gotten into trouble for typing something that was meant to be a joke). So, how can we establish trust when our online identities are often little more than an avatar and few lines of text?\nFortunately, some in the scientific community have taken it upon themselves to help us through the confusion. Through both laboratory studies and field observation of people conversing over the Internet, scientists can survey when participants are likely to trust word-of-mouth or stab an absent colleague in the back. I sat down with a leading figure in this field, Professor Judy Olson, to talk about the essentials of building trust with digital communication.\nThe Psychology of Trust\n\nOlson\u2019s findings are based on a pillar of psychological research: People are willing to pass judgment, with or without good information. Where examples of one\u2019s competence or reputation are lacking, people will construct whole profiles of another\u2019s personality from what little information is available. \nFor instance, psychologists have found that when judging our own mistakes, we tend to blame the situation (traffic, a problem at work, an overbearing partner, etc.). When others make a mistake, we tend to blame their personality (they\u2019re selfish, incompetent, uncaring, etc). Why? For ourselves, we have a full plate of information to link any series of situations to the cause of our misbehavior. For others, we see only the mistake itself; constructing a personality in explanation of that mistake is the shortest path from confusion to simplicity.\nThis fact leads Olson to one of her most important findings.\nResponsiveness Is Key for Digital Communication\n\nIn e-mail, Linkedin and Facebook messages, much of the traditional markers of trust, such as voice intonation and body language, are hidden. Olson finds that when only text is available, participants judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond. So, for instance, it is better to respond to a long Facebook message \u201Cacknowledging\u201D that you received the message, rather than to wait until there\u2019s time to send a more thorough first message. Wait too long and you are likely to be labeled \u201Cunhelpful,\" along with a host of other expletive-filled attributions the mind will happily construct. \nPsychologically speaking, responsiveness makes it easier for others to attribute our misdeeds to the situation, rather than our personality. If you find keeping up with multiple inboxes difficult, you might consider having sites such as Linkedin and Facebook send e-mail alerts. Then, only archive the e-mail once the message has been responded to.\nThe same advice holds true for a medium such as Twitter, where one\u2019s identity is represented by little more than a small square avatar and 140 characters of text. Earlier this month, when Southwest and director Kevin Smith went head to head, Southwest\u2019s social media team jumped into the fray immediately with this tweet:\n\n\n\n\nWhile reactions to Southwest\u2019s decision to eject Smith from his flight have been mixed, its immediate response on a Saturday night allowed the company to be perceived as committed to a controversial policy, rather than a much worse alternative: ambivalent to customer concerns.\nThere are also other great examples of responsiveness, for those of us not in charge of a major airline\u2019s public relations. The Veggie Grill, an up-and-coming vegetarian restaurant in Southern California, responded to a customer\u2019s request for a particular dish via Twitter:\n\n\n\n\nVeggie Grill\u2019s responsiveness seems to have paid off: @quarrygirl devoted an entire blog post to reviewing her meal. She sealed the experience with a statement that must have made Veggie Grill quite happy, \u201CPlease take my advice and get out to the veggie grill el segundo location NOW. and if you can\u2019t go now, be sure to go ASAP.\u201D\nThe Hierarchy of Trusted Communication\n\nNot all forms of communication are created equal. For establishing trust, video is better than audio (with no video), and audio is better than a chat window. The logic of this hierarchy seems intuitive: People communicate as much, if not more, with how an idea is conveyed, than with what it said. Shifty eyes and raised shoulders can reveal anxiety; intonation can convey passion. The more non-substantive information the medium can convey, the more data a listener has to decide how trustworthy the speaker is. For instance, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to thank his Twitter followers for sending useful ideas on how to reduce government waste, he went straight to video:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s all too common for politicians to send out a \"thank you\" statement to constituents. Schwarzenegger, with rolled-up sleeves and clearly unscripted message, took a giant leap forward on the scale on authenticity.\nSchwarzenegger is not alone in the video-making department. In 2009, Domino\u2019s Pizza president, Patrick Doyle, twice went in front of a camera to express his frustration, once to apologize for a nauseating employee YouTube prank, and again to pledge to make a tastier pizza. Below is a video of Doyle\u2019s apology overlaid with a graph of user reaction. Notice how the confidence meter spikes and dips along with his inflection.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCuriously enough, the use of video has been absent from many of social media\u2019s biggest crises. Facebook\u2019s privacy blunder and Southwest\u2019s aforementioned tiff with Kevin Smith both sought to redeem shattered trust with a disembodied message. When so much of our trust is based on body language and inflection, why not use video? What do you think, should Facebook and Southwest have used video to respond to critics?\nConclusion\n\nFew, if any, educational institutes teach the art of proper digital communication. Most of us have simply made up an impromptu strategy and crossed our fingers in the hopes that disaster doesn't strike. With a bit of help from our friends in the fields of psychology and information technology, we can apply the age-old intuitions of face-to-face conversation to whatever advances in technology come our way.\nMore social media resources from Mashable:\n\n- 3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology- Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books- Social Media Can Change The World Through Common Ground- 5 Ways Social Media Is Changing Our Daily Lives- How Social Media is Taking the News Local\nImages courtesy of iStockphoto, CHRISsadowski, pavlen"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/02/24/social-media-trust/>