Online Public Relations Thoughts

The failure of exit polls during the presidential election got me to thinking about trust. We trusted the polls because they are -- well -- polls and they are done right, of course, and they have been accurate in the past. But the exit polls were wrong for a variety of technical reasons, and we should not have trusted them. This incident led to a chain of reasoning about what we trust when we don't have the evidence for belief. This chain led through vast reaches of society. We operate all day long every day on secular faith, and we rarely test beliefs. We don't have time. This paper discusses the nature of trust and its deep impact on communications. As usual, I am happy to know what you think about it.

The new paper also marks a milestone of sorts. There are now 45 white papers and essays on online-pr.com. They are here, and they cover a broad range of interests. All of them are free for the taking. I only request that if you use any of them that you credit online-pr.com as the source.