Trust in technology.

How can you trust someone you have never met? Today that question is more important than ever before with relationships built over the net on social and business channels becoming the norm. In the Stone Age, BF before Facebook and BL before LinkedIn, the onus was on individuals to actually meet face to face, check each other out via conversation, friends, colleagues and the occasional police check. If you want to short cut that process today, there are no shortage of ways to find information on people and what they are involved in along with getting a felling of trust and realism.

So does the net make it easier to trust and what is it worth to have the right profile online for business and social standing? Social economists tell us the economy doesn't run on money, it runs on trust and where that used to take time to develop, it seems the next generation doesn't want to wait that long. So will the net become the new arbiter of trust for a new business landscape and will sites built on credibility become the haven for business deals to be done? These sites will need to create a climate of unreserved trust, for without it people are not motivated or willing to share or open up to relationships which will form the new economic models of the future.

Stefan Molyneux the host of Freedomain Radio produces philosophy podcasts with 4 million net views per year, he charges nothing and makes money. He makes money from the honour system, asking listeners to donate what they think the podcast is worth and has so far kept up the delicate balance of sustaining a high level of quality engendering trust in his listeners to come back every week. He proves where there is trust money will follow, “If I didn’t have trust there would be no downloads, no show, and no business". Molyneux has faith in his model based on trust both ways and it has kept everyone absorbed in his philosophical approach.

Japan, South Korea and the US were involved in a research study on supplier relationships and built empirical evidence of the economic value of trust when they found that transaction costs were five times higher for the least trusted suppliers versus the most trusted suppliers. Low trust resulted in the need to spend more time and resources on communication, procurement compliance and negotiation, while also shortening contract periods. High trust was all about sharing, sacrifice and working in alignment with partners. Trust in those relationships was equivalent to money earned and money saved.

The trend to do business and live on the net comes with caveats around acceptance, authenticity, doing the right thing, principled work ethics, all wrapped up in one word. Trust based businesses increase accountability and security, making processes and procedures easier to implement and manage. Technological innovation applied to Stone Age successful practices opens up a world of opportunity for business but you still need to prove yourself, otherwise I won't trust you.