Social Media Makes Gains As A Trusted Source, But It’s Still Behind Traditional Media

Consumers around the world are gaining trust in social media as a source of business information, but it still lags behind other sources such as corporate websites and traditional media.

The findings come from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, a global survey that’s now in its 12th year. The survey includes feedback from more than 30,000 people in 25 countries, with an emphasis on what’s called “Informed Publics” — these are college-educated people between 25-64 years old that are among the top earners in their countries and describe themselves as heavy consumers of media information.

In this year’s survey, 14 percent of people said social media is a trusted source of company information — up from just eight percent a year ago. But it’s still getting the lowest trust score of the four options shown below.

Information on corporate websites is seen as trustworthy by 16 percent of respondents, while traditional media is trusted by 32 percent of those surveyed.

In a separate question, respondents were asked how much they trust businesses in certain industries “to do what is right.” Just as in 2011, businesses in the Technology industry are trusted the most — 79 percent in this year’s report, compared to 80 percent a year ago. Trust in technology companies is highest in India, China and the United States. It was much lower in the UK, France and Germany.

You can view the full Edelman report on Slideshare.net.