Why Don’t You Trust Your Friends Anymore?

by Scott Bishop on February 8, 2010

Who Do We Trust?

Who Do We Trust?

Who do we trust?

It’s a valid question, and one that PR giant Edelman recently tried to answer in their continued survey for measuring their “Trust Barometer”.  Their conclusion is…we put no value into our friends or peers opinions anymore.

According to Edelman, you trust your friends and peers WAY less than you did two years ago.  The drop from 45% of people saying their friends were credible sources about companies  in 2008 compared to 25% in 2010 is substantial.  It’s such a dive, that I don’t regret not having any friends and devoting all of my time to this blog.

But for those of you out there with friends and or peers…what happened?  So do you really not trust your friends opinions anymore?

Rather than rely on survey data…I prefer to put my eggs in the basket of common sense.  No one puts complete credibility into their social networks, and everything is relative.  If I’m seeking information about a particular product, obviously I’m going to weigh different answers by the relevancy of who is giving their opinion.  Let’s say you’re a regular reader of this blog…that puts me in your “social network”.  If you ask me about blogging platforms and the best tools to reach the most people…I can give you solid advice.  If you ask me what restaurant you should take your wife for her birthday, my opinion means nothing.

So how can you answer the survey?

The curse of this survey is the choice of wording and lack of follow up questions.

There are no set standard terms for what a “friend or peer” mean?  Were they speaking about Facebook friends, Twitter, LinkedIn, coworkers?  A Facebook “friend” is a title, nothing more.  Being a “friend on Facebook” has no association with being a true friend or valued confidant.  No more than a Twitter “follower” is an actual follower of mine as if I’m leading some rapidly expanding cult.  As they explain in the study the fact that most social networks are becoming more open, may decrease what they’re defining as “trust”.

But is this true.  Search on your Twitter stream and you can count the number of peers seeking answers and opinions left and right.  LinkedIn has an entire portal dedicated to asking strangers for opinions and answering questions.  So how can we devalue our friends opinion so much?

Well, at least it’s not all bad news…although your friends have all turned lousy and become half as trustworthy for information as they once were…CEO’s are climbing back.  And great to see with all of this awesome economic news that financial analysts are booming at 52%.

Here’s the breakdown of the Trust Barometer: (NOTE: I’m only focusing on actual people, not mediums like TV / radio)

  • CEO’s:  26% (increase)
  • Government officials 27% (increase)
  • Financial/industry analyst 52% (increase)
  • NGO representative 44% (increase)
  • Academic experts 64% (increase)
  • Company employees (decrease 28%)
  • Friends / Peer 25% (decrease)

Really? News and information about a company coming from the mouth of a CEO or a Government Official is MORE trustworthy than if it came from a  friend or a peer.  Am I the only one who feels like I’m taking crazy pills?  Forgive my skepticism.

Whether it’s deserved or not, Vince the Sham Wow guy has better credibility than most CEO’s and Government officials these days.

My instinctual response to these results are that they are utter nonsense.  As I wrote in Most Twitter Statistics Are Worthless…I take 90% of social media stats beyond number of users with a grain of salt.  Otherwise every spokesperson should be an Academic Expert.

As easy as these number are to argue, I don’t want to waste valuable reader attention on trashing every aspect of a survey.  The individual numbers may be inaccurate but the overall theme is not.

We’re a skeptical bunch when it comes to products and companies.

Question:  So How To You Get Consumers To Trust You?

Answer:  You Don’t.  Trust is not something you can do…it’s given to you after you earn it.

Very few products have the luxury of a spokesperson that can sell the product no matter what it is (I.E. Michael Jordan in 1992.  I would have bought cardboard shoes as long as “Air Jordan” was on it).  To reach your audience and penetrate this wall of skepticism, you’re going to have to spread a variety of information across multiple avenues.  Hmmm, sounds like a job for social media.

  • Focus on results.  It’s hard to argue with facts.  If your product is good, show some statistics to back them up
  • Always be focused on creating value, with every aspect of your marketing
  • Focus on end results, not features.  What emotions can you connect with?
  • Build communities of enthusiasts.  Rather than trying to cast a wide net, house your cats under one roof with a community they can interact with other customers
  • Rather than posting everything about you, you you…promote some of your customers and how they are succeeding with your products
  • Constantly seek open feedback…and publish how you’re learning and improving
  • Stay consistent.  Speak consistently across social media platforms

Although these numbers should turn marketers on their head, I say be resilient.  My trust barometer with my friends may only be at 25%…but my trust barometer for most social media surveys is around 10%.

This is DAY 8 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Tagged as: Statistics, survey, trust

Article by Scott Bishop

Scott Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and is the Director of Social for an integrated marketing firm. He is an avid blogger and active across the net. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

Scott has written 127 awesome articles for Us.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    Edelman 's surveys are beginning to sound like Nielsen ratings. Sure, they look all factual on the surface, but once you go past that, all bets are off.

    Notice in the survey it mentioned that we need to hear things five times before we trust it. You know how frickin' easy that is? With the flattening of everything thanks to technology, I can find 10-20 decent opinions in less than an hour.

    This is getting ridiculous. It's seriously time to show their work.

  • sbishop

    At this time in our society with all of the political and economic turmoil…you're going to release a survey that puts CEO's & Gov officials trust above peers? Really? If you're going to release those results then at least ask a follow up question like “why”.

    I thought the 5 times things was odd too…where did that number come from? What numbers lead to that conclusion?

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    Five fingers on one hand. Five days in a traditional work week. Four musicians and a roadie in a good band. Five members of Captain Planet.

  • sbishop

    Captain Planet reference, nice! Although the 5th member was “Heart”…lame-o. I'd be so pissed if I was on a superpower alliance and one dude got Fire and I got stuck with Heart.

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  • jakedimare

    I have to emphatically agree with you. CEO's and Government officials are by far the two categories of people I trust the least. ..unless you are asking me to trust they are going to do nothing but look for ways to line their own pockets at the expense of the working class.

  • sbishop

    Well, perception is reality and your thoughts are certainly the perception of what the majority of folks have. I just think the Edelman survey needs a follow up question of “Why”. Reading that gov and CEO's have higher credibility than my friends is skeptical to anyone…to to curb the doubts, they need follow up information explaining how and why the study came to this conclusion.

  • http://twitter.com/AWomansWork Jessica Masterson

    I would actually (somewhat) agree with the study (at least the decrease in peer/friend trust). As the amount of my “peers” I'm linked with through social networking goes up, it dilutes the “instant trust”. Also, connect with a few “peers” on Twitter for instance, that turn out to be full of B.S., and it makes one even more weary. Example: I recently replied to someone asking for feedback/expeirence on XYZ application. He/she tweeted they were using XYZ application to organize / filter all their SM profiles and keep tabs on their Twitter “friends” across their other networks. Their response was (paraphrase) “I actually decided not to use XYZ app, I couldn't handle any more tech after Google Buzz, but check with @so&so, he endorses it.” While I haven't received a reply from Mr. So&So, I'm weary of any recommendation. If I can't trust Friend1's recommendations of applications, why should I trust their recommendation of Mr. So&So? This is just one example of many I've run across. While I've made some meaningful/honest connections via social networking, I can cite just as many disappointments. Does this mean I trust my real world connections/recommendations any less? No. It does mean that just because I have a larger circle of “peers” to crowd source, I don't have the exponential trusted recommendations you would expect in a purely theoretical equation.

  • sbishop

    Hi Jessica. I completely agree with the fact that as our social networks expand, trust of recommendations decrease. But I don't ever consider everyone in my Twitter network a “friend”. I think the language is misleading and it's also hard to throw social networks into one lump. Twitter is much more open for most people than say, Facebook, and I think the level of trust goes up or down depending on the network.

    I think my biggest “beef” is finding that the two biggest mascots that are most known for mistrust and dishonesty in today's society (whether its warranted or not) is government and CEO's. No reports or articles or conversations have lead me to believe that people trust these groups more than friends. Those findings alone make me question the whole study.

    Thanks for joining in on the conversation!

  • http://twitter.com/AWomansWork Jessica Masterson

    Agreed, Scott, on all points. Good post/questions. The language and “behind the stats” is misleading and unclear. Although, there may be something (speculation) in that less CEOS are tweeting/engaging personally in social media, at least compared to the rest of the population. Hopefully, Edelman can give us a little more information behind the study.

  • sbishop

    Excellent point, I wish would make clear if they're talking about CEO's who are active on social networks like Zappo's Tony Hsieh. That would boost the ratings much more than CEO's in general. Best advice, not that they're asking, would be to make everything very crystal clear and leave no room for interpretation.

  • http://twitter.com/AWomansWork Jessica Masterson

    I would actually (somewhat) agree with the study (at least the decrease in peer/friend trust). As the amount of my “peers” I'm linked with through social networking goes up, it dilutes the “instant trust”. Also, connect with a few “peers” on Twitter for instance, that turn out to be full of B.S., and it makes one even more weary. Example: I recently replied to someone asking for feedback/expeirence on XYZ application. He/she tweeted they were using XYZ application to organize / filter all their SM profiles and keep tabs on their Twitter “friends” across their other networks. Their response was (paraphrase) “I actually decided not to use XYZ app, I couldn't handle any more tech after Google Buzz, but check with @so&so, he endorses it.” While I haven't received a reply from Mr. So&So, I'm weary of any recommendation. If I can't trust Friend1's recommendations of applications, why should I trust their recommendation of Mr. So&So? This is just one example of many I've run across. While I've made some meaningful/honest connections via social networking, I can cite just as many disappointments. Does this mean I trust my real world connections/recommendations any less? No. It does mean that just because I have a larger circle of “peers” to crowd source, I don't have the exponential trusted recommendations you would expect in a purely theoretical equation.

  • sbishop

    Hi Jessica. I completely agree with the fact that as our social networks expand, trust of recommendations decrease. But I don't ever consider everyone in my Twitter network a “friend”. I think the language is misleading and it's also hard to throw social networks into one lump. Twitter is much more open for most people than say, Facebook, and I think the level of trust goes up or down depending on the network.

    I think my biggest “beef” is finding that the two biggest mascots that are most known for mistrust and dishonesty in today's society (whether its warranted or not) is government and CEO's. No reports or articles or conversations have lead me to believe that people trust these groups more than friends. Those findings alone make me question the whole study.

    Thanks for joining in on the conversation!

  • http://twitter.com/AWomansWork Jessica Masterson

    Agreed, Scott, on all points. Good post/questions. The language and “behind the stats” is misleading and unclear. Although, there may be something (speculation) in that less CEOS are tweeting/engaging personally in social media, at least compared to the rest of the population. Hopefully, Edelman can give us a little more information behind the study.

  • sbishop

    Excellent point, I wish would make clear if they're talking about CEO's who are active on social networks like Zappo's Tony Hsieh. That would boost the ratings much more than CEO's in general. Best advice, not that they're asking, would be to make everything very crystal clear and leave no room for interpretation.

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