Exploring User Trust in New Media: A Comprehensive Social Research

This essay delves into social research concerning the trust that everyday users place in new media as a source of news. It examines surveys and studies, including the Digital News Report of the Reuters Institute, to highlight the skepticism surrounding news content on social media. The essay discusses the credibility gap between mainstream media and social media, the impact of fake news, and the factors influencing user trust, such as source credibility and the presence of misleading information. It further analyzes how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are perceived in terms of trustworthiness, noting a general decline in trust due to concerns about personal information and the prevalence of biased or exaggerated news reporting. The research indicates that while social media is a significant source of information, users often rely more on original news sources and established media outlets for credible news.

Running head: SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
1.1.2 Do everyday users trust new media as a news source?
According to a survey conducted by BT the majority of people do not trust social media
and are most the time are suspicious of social media. However, social network platforms are vital
for reporting on the issues of the marginalized communities like the ethnic minorities and the
sexual minorities. The Digital News Report of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
found that there is high skepticism regarding the news content that is present on the social media
and 33 per cent comprising of 70, 000 of the consumers have polled in 36 countries that they
cannot rely on the news source that is available on the social media [1]. It has been found that the
24 per cent of the people are of the view that social media have done an incredible job in
separating fact from fiction as compared to 40 per cent of the people on mainstream media.
Although mainstream media is usually not trusted but it is trusted more when it comes to
separating fact from fiction. Due to the trend of fake news in the world of journalism, this is an
opportunity for the media house to reestablish the brand value of the mainstream media by
focusing on equality. A recent study has demonstrated that the young consumers are ready are
ready to pay online for the news according to an annual study regarding news consumption. The
news further found that people who are under 35 are willing to pay for high-quality news through
the news of social media. There have been accusations against the mainstream established news
media for resorting to fake journalism. For example, Donald Trump has vehemently attacked the
mainstream journalism for being biases, partial and showing distorted reality to the people.
According to scholars, social media is not dwindling away although people are switching to
more convenient options like the news media app. One of the reasons for staying away from
social media is the degree of debates that take place on Twitter and Facebook. However, the
utility of the social media lies in its ability to provide diverse, risqué and controversial news that

2SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
is usually not reported in the print journalism. According to a survey conducted by Reuters, the
trust is a factor that is on a steady decline in case of the Facebook users. The poll found that 2237
adults from USA were of the view that the personal information entered during the access of
news in social media can pose challenges as it might divulge the personal information to the
potential attackers. It has been found that more than Facebook, the users trust Twitter, Pinterest,
Tumbler, Snapchat and Google+. The findings of this survey are consistent with the findings of
the The Verge’s own research that ensued that 30 per cent of the people out of 1520 respondents
in US have great distrust towards social media. Reuters further found that 41 per cent of the users
trust Facebook that is followed by Amazon that is trusted by 66 per cent of the people and 62 per
cent people trust Google [2].
The everyday users of the social media do not tend to have a reliance on the various news
that is circulated among the various social media platforms. This is due to the fact that the
concerned social media news articles tend to mislead the target audience on the actuality of the
facts that are reported within the concerned piece of news. The credibility of the information that
is passed on by the concerned reporters tend to be questionable thereby making the concerned
news article improper to be granted as a proper news article [5]. The huge number of fake
articles that have been circulated in the various social media platforms tend to limit the trust that
the common people might have had on the news over the social media.
The American citizens do claim that they procure much of the daily information over the
various social media platforms that have been active within the country. However, the American
citizens further claim that the news that is displayed or depicted in the various social media
platforms are often fake and might be rumors in the majority of the cases. The reports on the
media suggest that the concerned followers of the news rely more on the original source of the

3SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
report rather than the posts that have been made on the various social media platforms that are
active within the territories of the country [6]. The major source of the information or news for
the people who rely on social media is Facebook.
1.1.3 Are social media platform trusted by readers?
It has been found that the social media marketing is powerful with the consumers.
However, a survey found that the readers do not trust social media. The readers are of the view
that social media has closed the credibility gap. The reason why social media has closed the
credibility gaps can be attributed to the networks being built on the real-life connections and
friendships. There is a wave of inaccurate and incorrect information that is being passed on in the
name of news and moving at a quicker pace to the people. There is an anxiety among the
parental generation regarding the improperly searched news on health, medicine and other
factors that are being passed on to the readers in the name of news. The 2018 Edelman
Barometer that is the largest and the longest study has found that the quarter of the British
population trust social media. According to this research, there is a distrust among the readers
who find that social media firms are triggered by the Britons who find that social media is not
dealing with the issues in a proper manner. It has been found that 70 per cent of the British
readers are of the view social media companies are not paying enough attention to the unethical
practice of unethical journalism that is part of the social media [3]. One problem that has been
identified with the news content on social media platforms are the extremist nature of the news,
shock value crated through sensational images and misleading titles. The paparazzi culture that
has become quite prominent in the phase of the social media has led to the phenomenon of
producing fake news content with misleading titles. These are known as click bait articles and
when the readers would click on these articles, they would find that the content is in

4SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
juxtaposition with the title. On continuously being exposed to such trends, there will emerge
distrust among the users regarding the credibility of the news published on social media. A study
conducted on the Americans found that 66 per cent of the Americans are dependent on computer
for the consumption of news whereas 62 per cent of the Americans are dependent on the smart
phones for the consumption of news [4]. Overall, 46 per cent of the readers are found to be
dependent on social media for news. The digital news consumers or readers have enlisted three
reasons that plays a determining factor in their trust of social media news. Some of these factors
are behavior and placement of the digital the compatibility of the news apps with their respective
devices. On the issue of trust regarding the news on social media, it is dependent on the topic that
has been covered. The readers of social media news do not actually trust the news similar to the
social media users. Consequently, they are dependent on other forms of news mediums that have
credibility. This has been proved through both qualitative and quantitative research conducted on
the issue. For the users charts and visuals increase the credibility of the news on social media.
The trust of the concerned clients depends heavily on the actual publisher of the news.
The concerned people who have been collecting news from the various social media platforms
tend to place more reliance on the news articles that have been derived from the more credible
sources rather than those that have been directly reported on the social media. This is due to the
fact that the credibility of the information that is derived from the various social media platforms
tend to be very low [7]. This might lead to the conditions that involve the circulation of the fake
news articles which might affect the judgement of the concerned person who has been viewing
the news article. The online news articles that have been presented over the social media
platforms generally tend to put forth the concerned articles with a flashy and attractive heading
thereby often exaggerating the actual happenings of the concerned event.

5SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
The huge amount of the exaggeration on the part of the various social media reporters
does affect the credibility and the trustworthiness of the concerned article or the information that
is conveyed through concerned news article. The news circulated over the various social media
platforms tend to be biased and often depends on the view point that is shared by the person who
has been reporting the incident. This leads to the lack of the credibility of the news that is
portrayed through the various social media platforms [8]. The social media platforms might also
depict different portrayals of the same piece of information by different people who have been
reporting the same incident which might lead to the confusion among the various people who
have been reading the news.

6SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
References
1. Shafer and J. Shafer, "Survey: Social media trusted for info", POLITICO, 2018. [Online].
Available: https://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/survey-users-trust-social-media-as-
news-source-086321. [Accessed: 20- May- 2018].
2. Golbeck, "Data We Trust—But What Data?", Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol.
57, no. 3, p. 196, 2018.
3. Oppenheim, "People are starting to trust 'traditional' media over social media, report
finds", The Independent, 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/edelman-trust-barometer-social-
media-trust-declined-a8170816.html. [Accessed: 20- May- 2018].
4. How people decide what to trust on social media and online", American Press Institute,
2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/news-trust-
digital-social-media/. [Accessed: 20- May- 2018].
5. Schrøder KC. News media old and new: Fluctuating audiences, news repertoires and
locations of consumption. Journalism Studies. 2015 Jan 2;16(1):60-78.
6. Schifferes S, Newman N, Thurman N, Corney D, Göker A, Martin C. Identifying and
verifying news through social media: Developing a user-centred tool for professional
journalists. Digital Journalism. 2014 Jul 3;2(3):406-18.
7. Leonardi PM, Huysman M, Steinfield C. Enterprise social media: Definition, history, and
prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication. 2013 Oct 1;19(1):1-9.

7SOCIAL RESEARCH ON NEW MEDIA SOURCE
8. Casler K, Bickel L, Hackett E. Separate but equal? A comparison of participants and data
gathered via Amazon’s MTurk, social media, and face-to-face behavioral testing.
Computers in Human Behavior. 2013 Nov 1;29(6):2156-60.