What is trust?

When you and I use a product, there's an inherent element of trust. We trust it will straight up work as advertised, we trust that the product won't put us at risk, and we trust that the product will improve my life in some way.

It's a human connection to something that's often very inhuman. At best, most people ignore or gloss over the inherent nature of trust in product/user relationship. At worst, they exploit it.

But, I can't recall a single moment where someone outright aknowleged it.

Thinking about the products I use on a daily basis, every use or habit is rooted in an aspect of trust:

• Gmail shoud be up and working at all times, and they shouldn't leak my email to the world.
• Zendesk delivers my support responses immediately, and processes replies directly to me.
• GitHub keeps my code, serves my site, and syncs up with branches as I push them.
• My macbook saves things, has a long battery life, and doesn't impede my workflow.
• Dropbox syncs my stuff and serves as a simple backup.
• The internet works. Like magic.

Lo and behold, despite human beings operating these things, they work. The more I use these services, the more trust I place in them. They all will apologize for incidents that break this trust (downtime, security incidents, etc.), but no one addresses the core emotion.

Why is trust a third rail?

It doesn't have to be, and it shouldn't. When a person builds a personal relationship with something you make, don't ignore it. It's a chance to build a meaningful connection for a once.