Chris Brogan author of the highly recommended  Trust Agents, owner of New Marketing Labs and all round nice guy advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.

I was really excited when he agreed (via twitter – @chrisbrogan) do to a short interview for SocialGloo.

I was hoping for some some insights and guess what…I got them!

This is what I asked him:

How long have you been involved in Social Media and what got you involved?

I’ve been blogging for 11 years, since when it was called journalling. If you count things like AOL as social networking, I was doing that in the 80s. I got involved to express myself, to find like-minded people, and to develop ideas beyond my own world.

For those that haven’t read your book yet, can you briefly explain what a Trust Agent is and how you can become one?

A trust agent is someone who knows how to be human at a distance, and who can use these new social software tools to build relationships of value.

Social Media is a relatively new kid on the block. What are your thoughts on it’s future?

What we call social media is new. Telephones are social media and they’ve been around for over a hundred years. In the future, the ability to spread information faster will be matched with the ability to better parse, curate, aggregate, and segregate information. Velvet rope social networks (smaller, private networks of value) are what’s next.

With over 100,000 followers on Twitter can you give our readers any advice on how to create such a following?

Be helpful. It’s how I get my following. That and promote others 12 times as much as you promote your own stuff. People love being seen, and they love it when you recognize the good stuff.

What scares most people in business is the perceived amount of time needed to manage a social media campaign.  How can our readers manage their time more effectively when it comes to blogging, tweeting and posting on various different websites?

The same readers who complain about how much time social media takes also answer email for four hours a day. It’s the same thing. You need time to build human relationships. How you choose which tools is only a matter of whether you want it to go far or whether you want it to stay contained to the boundaries of people who already know you.

Looking at social media for service based businesses, it is a slightly different proposition. The Financial Services industry, for example has been under the spotlight recently for obvious reasons.  How do you feel people working in the industry, such as Financial Advisers can repair their reputation and rebuild the trust?

I think financial advisors could have gone far had they been using social media tools to listen, and had they been having open conversations with their constituents. These tools are the starting point to building awareness, developing a reputation, and earning trust. I believe we’d be in far better standing with regards to the economy had social tools already been in wide use.

I’d love to hear your comments.