Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

I was really worried about reading and reviewing Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust . I was concerned that if I didn't like it, armies of Chris Brogan's devoted followers would hunt me down, even if there are maybe five readers of this blog at the moment.

While I'm a little paranoid, that's kind of the point behind this book - your reputation on the Web is valuable, and there are lots of things you should be doing there. If that sounds facile, I will say that I think everyone can walk away from this book with at least three solid suggestions on things their business can be doing better in the realm of social media.

As for the stuff you already know - be helpful to people in your social network, be a connector, don't be a troll - it's worth repeating. Yes, you may think you know this, but you also know how to use e-mail. Yet so many of us do incredibly stupid things with e-mail, hence the wonderful and practical Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better, Revised Edition .

But I digress. Pick up or at least skim the book, go read Chris Brogran's blog posts, follow him on Twitter. My only regret is that I probably should have invested in Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust so I could pass it around the office, rather than get it from the library.