Why Transparency is Important

No.  This article is not about using transparent elements on your website.  It's about being transparent with your clients.

The Story

Last week, Digsby (IM client) got a lot of flak after LifeHacker ran an article about their shady business model.  It went into some detail about the crapware that is loaded during install (optional) as well as how Digsby has partnered up with a research company and actually uses your computer's processing power to perform their research while you are idle.  Information about these practices were buried in the terms and conditions (who reads those anyway).  Immediately after the article ran, masses of users began uninstalling Digsby and replacing it with the competition (Pidgin, Trillian, etc).

The next day, Digsby ran a blog post explaining in detail what they were doing and promised to be more transparent in the future; however, they had already left a bad taste in the mouths of a large portion of their user base.

The Lesson

The lesson of the story is this that transparency with your clients, no matter what your intentions, is essential in building trust.  Trust is one of the most important aspects of running a successful business.