Edelman has released their trust barometer, and boy, are we an untrusting, untrustworthy lot. At least, that’s according to the survey, which shows that our trust in friends has eroded over the last couple years. The number of people who view their friends as trustworthy has gone done by nearly 50% over the last two years, from 45% saying they trusted their friends opinions about companies in 2008 to 25% saying the same thing in 2010.
That decline parallels the rise of social media, and it’s hard not to conclude that the two may somehow be related. That as we broaden the definition of those we call our “Friends” to include perfect strangers who share similar interests on Facebook and Twitter, we view their suggestions with increasing skepticism.
Trust is down on many fronts (television and newspapers, advertising), but surprisingly, trust in companies in general is up, with many people placing stock in the word of an expert. 64% said they thought the word of an academic or expert was reliable, followed at 52% trust in a financial or industry analyst and 45% in an NGO. Even more shockingly, 40% of people said they would take the word of the CEO as credible (up from 31%), and 35% of people would trust a government official, up from 29%.
More tellingly, the question was asked “How important are these factors to corporate reputation?” 83% said that corporate reputation was built on transparency, honest practices andtrustworthyness was important, 79% said quality products and services, and 75% said “communicates frequently”.
How does this affect you, the photographer? Well, if you’ve been putting most of your eggs into the word of mouth basket, you probably need to diversify your marketing. However, one thing the report doesn’t really distinguish is “how do we define friends?” I suspect that for most, there is still a circle of people that they trust, but as the circle of Facebook friends and Twitter friends expands, the trust in those people goes down.
Another takeaway: Be the expert. Become a person that people trust and want to listen to. While trust in media was down in general, articles in magazines gained in trust, especially those written by, you guessed it, experts.
The full report can be seen at the Edelman website.
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1 Comment at "Social Media and the Death of Trust"
I think we’re blurring the lines between ‘friends’ and ‘aquaintances’.
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