Global Trust Exchange -- What for?.
I ran across a link to the Global Trust Exchange (GTX) on Howard Rheingold's site in an old post. It caught my eye because I've been very interested in how trust works and evolves between people. It's an integral part of what makes eBay work, obviously. And it's critical for effective communities.
Now, granted, the GTX site is in its infancy, and a lot of details haven't been exposed or possibly even worked out. But I have to say that on the surface, this effort seems to be lacking in something very important: a reason for being.
Networks usually evolve around a particular purpose. They don't arise just because they're a good idea. Over the years, I've been particularly fond of pointing out that every town seems to have a Community Center, but people rarely seem to actually go there. The existence of a Community Center doesn't mean that the community is effective, or even what we would consider a "true" community.
Trust is a good idea. Social capital is a good idea. Social capital must exist for a network, or a community, to be effective. But trust doesn't evolve just because everyone agrees it's a necessary part of their lives. Trust has to be established within the context of a relationship or an interaction. It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
So I'm skeptical of this effort as it seems to be currently contemplated. The proposed network lacks a reason for being. Or rather, it seems its reason for being is that it's a good idea for it to exist. Unfortunately, that isn't enough.
Now, if there was a technology that could somehow increase the level of trust in a society, that would truly be a wonderful thing. But the only thing that I've seen come close is a simple economic transaction, repeated in varied ways millions of times a day online, by and between millions of people. Each transaction reinforces the notion that strangers can be trusted to follow through on their commitments. The actual transaction is their reason for being -- the result of their transaction is increased trust in others. (Well, at least most of the times.)
I don't know the people behind the Global Trust Exchange. I assume they are serious about their vision and passionate about it. And I assume they'll do their best to realize the vision. It's a worthwhile effort, despite what I've pointed out. And nothing says they can't eventually discover a true reason for being. I wish them well.[Pierre's Web]
Pierre is talking about EXACTLY what I don't like about Ryze, Intro, Friendster - even Fotolog. They spend all this time introducing everyone to each other and then what? Private email? Message boards? {I added the bold highlights BTW}
Excuse me - that's very 1997ish to me.
It's all about activities - what people DO TOGETHER. Pierre puts in reference to trust, but we see it as activities. Creating a context for how people interact, collaborate, entertain, flirt, mate, help, build, produce, mentor, learn and grow is what we're focusing on. As Director was to multimedia - so will the Community Commons be to on-line communities.
