A Question of Trust

Attended the eighth annual Edelman Trust Barometer launch this morning (social media release here — hey — put down those pitch­forks, angry bloggers!). I have to say it was a fas­cin­ating piece of research with all kinds of implic­a­tions about how politi­cians, busi­nesses and NGOs might change the way they behave and com­mu­nicate in order to inspire greater trust. Quick hint to the many CEOs of mul­tina­tional organ­isa­tions reading this: socially respons­ible beha­viour — in par­tic­ular, atten­tion to the global warming agenda, listening to employees and treating them fairly — is now one of the key stim­u­lants of trust in Western organisations.

As far as social media is con­cerned, the subject of this blog, there’s not quite as much to say. The bad news is that bloggers come at the bottom of the trust league table according to the report. (click for bigger)

This year, only 6% of people in Western Europe view the blogger as a credible source, down from 10% last year. We’re even lower than a PR, for goodness’ sake! ;) Similar distrust was exhib­ited by US respondents.

That’s not quite the whole story, though, and I think we bloggers might be able to wrestle a sort-​​of victory out of the jaws of defeat. ‘A person like yourself’ is the joint top-​​most trusted source — 45% of us would trust that sort of person — only doctors get the same amount of respect. And so who exactly are the bloggers that you read? OK, probably we all read some blogs that rep­resent the opposite view­point to our own: it’s often inspiring and thought-​​provoking. Just like a Guardian reader might pick up the Daily Mail from time to time. But think about your favour­ites, the ones that make you smile and think ‘well-​​said’. People like yourself, I’d wager.

It all depends on how you frame the question. Do I trust bloggers? As a species, probably not. Do I trust John Smith, who I happen to connect with through his blog? Yes, I do.

Panellists made the same point about the distrust cited towards politi­cians. No, I don’t trust politi­cians (an appalling 16% rating in the survey), but yes, I do trust Tony Benn [insert your own favourite elder statesman, but I recom­mend Benn]. As Hugh MacLeod says in his piece about this event, “Trust has a personality.”

Similarly, perhaps, ordinary employees of com­panies are trusted dra­mat­ic­ally more than their CEOs (28% versus 18%). In that case, who is it that you want spreading the good word about your products and services? The CEO blog is often very inter­esting and gets written about, because CEOs are powerful, mys­ter­ious and weird creatures; but in terms of per­suading people to trust and maybe do business with your company? Supporting Jane in Marketing’s blog (or indeed Jane’s mar­keting blog) and giving her time to work on it may well be a better business move — and maybe those produced by a bunch of other people in the company.

More detailed coverage from David Brain here. But then he had to write a good post — he’s Edelman’s European CEO. Bloggers Stuart Bruce, Iain Dale and Hugh MacLeod (op.cit) were also in attendance.

Technorati: Edelman, events, trust

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