Reputation
To understand the growing influence of reputation in a globalized market—one built on a range of technological tools for communication and sharing—we recall Rachel Botsman’s presentation on this topic. The presentation draws a connection between this factor, the trust placed in an organization when it provides services, and its online presence in an era in which reputation has become an organization’s most important asset.
Online sales platforms and professional social media networks have democratized the market and established technology as a tool for building trust between strangers—between organizations or service/product providers and consumers. This is a reality that is clearly evident in online buying and selling platforms—take Amazon, for example, and the reviews posted by users.
What the presentation suggests is the spillover of a broader trend from social media into the “real world.” The growing volume of information about the relationships between online users creates a “reputational residue” that will begin to have a greater influence on how we conduct our business.
This is evident in the emergence of reputation aggregation platforms across a wide range of services, serving as a single point of contact for the goods we produce and the services we provide. Reputation Capital is gaining ground: its value, understood as intentions, capabilities, and values within different communities and markets.
The good news about reputation is that it can be shaped through consistent actions and well-planned communication strategies. At a time when trust extends its influence beyond the community in which it is earned, it is essential to understand how we can leverage this factor to our advantage, thereby enhancing our ability to stand out from the competition.