ABSTRACT
Understanding how platforms have been able to build trust between participants of their ecosystem is key to understanding their success. Establishing trust between participants is therefore one of the foundational pillars of platforms and critical to their successful scaling. The trust framework can be used as a high-level guide to assess platform governance principles to ensure that new rules do not drain the trust bank. Community management needs to support the scaling stage of the platform by securing user and producer engagement, identifying star customers and producers – as well as troublemakers – moderating content, and shaping the norms and behaviours that support a platform's ethos and brand. Showing participants' activity on the platform can be a good indication of their level of contribution, engagement and proficiency in using the platform. Tools for participants to interact are key, and can take many forms depending on the nature of the platform.
