#bdf2014

Last night we hosted a meet-up as part of the Brighton Digital Festival to discuss how to develop a sense of trust online. When making transactions online, whether financial, emotional or practical, a sense of trust in the person you're transacting with is essential, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the transaction.

At Macmillan we offer a wide variety of services online, with varying levels of verification and moderation. Why do people trust the experiences that they're having on our sites, and how do we encourage that and create safe spaces?

Firstly, our brand is very strong - people can easily recognise a Macmillan service online due to our distinctive visual identity. But our brand isn't just the way we look, it's the way we make people feel and we create those feelings by applying our values to everything we do.

This series of 30 second videos explain our values

But how do we create this sense of trust online? With Team Up we followed Rachel Botsman's four step model:

However building trust on the online community is very different to a site like Team Up, which identifies and verifies its users. Publicly, all users post under an anonymous username – real full names and other identifying details are not allowed. There are advantages to anonymity:

Many forum members find anonymity is essential for helping them open up about sensitive and personal topics

We can provide a public, searchable site, which is a great resource of information and support, without compromising anyone’s privacy

All we request is an email address and a first and last name (privately held).

We don’t perform any other checks on members – we don’t have the resources, and we don’t want to create barriers to people getting support. Our main tips for building trust in online communities are:

Have clear guidelines

Encourage people to report issues

Take action on rule-breaking

Signpost to more support

Set the tone

Reward and recognise your most active members

Know what to do if someone’s at risk

Know when to stay out of it!

Similarly on our social media channels, we create a sense of trust by being authentic. We sign our names, we identify ourselves and we keep private things confidential by encouraging people to message us privately.

All of our staff are trained to use social media and supported in their activities. We also treat all complaints or comments which arrive to us via Facebook or Twitter in accordance with our complaints procedure, so people will receive a consistent level of service wherever they access us. Consistency and authenticity help to foster a sense of trust, whatever the medium.