What is it?
Who do you trust, and how do you know you trust them?
Who do you turn to for facts, information or advice?
Has this changed in the past decade?
Our models of trust are experiencing a radical shift, from traditional authorities to new voices, platforms and sources. Gone are the days of institutions like the government, Aunty Beeb, and our parents being our only source of information and 'fact'.
The internet has given almost all of us unprecedented access to unmoderated, real-time information, and with this wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, the way we’re finding facts and processing them has changed. How could they not? We’ve been given access to a constant livestream of facts and information, as well as everyone’s opinion, 24/7.
We’re looking for more authenticity and connection in our interactions, and those connections come with an expectation of trust.
At the same time, we’re living in the time of Truth Decay, where the fundamental concept of 'truth' is being challenged in a polarised society. Coming out of the pandemic, we’re now seeing a post-truth and post-trust world. Less than 60% of people worldwide still trust in mainstream institutions of government, media, business and NGOs to do what’s right. There’s growing disagreement about facts, blurred lines between opinion and fact, increasing influence of opinion over fact, and declining trust in previously respected sources of information.
Now, at a time when growing numbers of people (especially Gen Z) don’t trust political institutions or mainstream media, the question arises: who do we trust?
The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world.
George Orwell
Why should I care?
This shift in how we think about information and influence impacts everything: from media, to government, to science, to health and social care.
In the wake of the Olive Cooke scandals, trust in charities slumped to an all-time low. Whilst this measure is starting to recover, it’s still not reached the historic highs seen before 2014. Even more worryingly, public trust is still coupled with an overwhelming scepticism from the British public about how charities spend their money and how they behave.
We need to rebuild public trust with the sector as a whole, and with individual organisations and causes. Trust is essential to the survival of the third sector.
The Internet and Access to News
News and current affairs have historically shaped our understanding of the world - Knowing what’s going on is how we decide what’s important, what’s not, and what we believe in.
Turn back the clock by fifty years, and our access to news was entirely different to the rolling 24/7 coverage we have today. Major mainstream news organisations operated mostly through daily newspapers and scheduled tv and radio bulletins, plus additional commentary programming and editorials. The idea that news could be accessible 24/7 only really came about thirty years ago.
Now, trust in mainstream media outlets is collapsing to new lows, and news is delivered round the clock, unfiltered and sometimes unedited, by both major media outlets and citizen journalists. We have Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and all types of democratised, independent news outlets in our pockets at all times.
News is no longer limited to institutions or experts - we are all citizen journalists. For example, during the London Bridge attacks, videos of the events were available on Twitter long before they were reported on by mainstream media, advising people to steer clear of the area.
The positives: people were aware of the situation, could take action to protect themselves, and share updates on their whereabouts with loved ones. The negatives: misinformation, rumour and uncensored images circulating on social media meant that the confusion impacted the response of the emergency services.
With the Ukraine War (also dubbed the first TikTok War), people have turned to social media, where there’s more in-depth, real-time information available about the reality of the war, especially as the conflict moves in and out of the news cycle. Great in some ways, but with disinformation and propaganda running rampant and a lack of fact-checking, filtering through can be difficult.
Polarisation and Access to News
Increased polarisation of our political landscape is, in turn, leading to demand for (and supply of) increasingly polarised news outlets. ‘Neutral’ reporting is becoming harder to find, with political biases of the media beginning to shine through as the stakes rise.
From The Young Turks, a left-wing political commentary show in the US; to Byline (who spoke at the future of community safari), which prints news beyond what the papers say; and the Free Press, who are amplifying new voices, and more.
We’re looking for authentic connection even in the way we consume news. We’re craving validation and recognition from our news outlets, and are hoping to see our own opinions reflected back at us.
Case in point: the launch of GB News in 2021. Within 10 weeks, GB News had the highest watch time of any UK news channel, almost a billion hits online, and reached millions of Brits (mostly living outside of London). GB News is playing into the need for polarised opinions, and representing large parts of the UK population that felt previously unrepresented. People are looking for belonging, and in this case they’re finding it in something that has previously been neutral ground.
Fact and Information
Beyond news, the way we’re getting our information and facts is also changing. Where previously the government or other bodies of authority were the first port of call for fact and information, the dawn of the internet quickly shifted that dial.
For the last decade, Google has been our go-to when it comes to most types of information. Most of us can’t imagine the internet existing without Google. However even the mighty Google is now being replaced. Gen Z are turning to TikTok over Google as their search engine of choice. And it’s not just TikTok, YouTube is quickly becoming the go-to for long-form information.
Five years ago, we would’ve Googled “flu vaccine” and been directed to a government website with verified information about the jab, where to get it, and why it’s important. Come Covid-19 and people were sidestepping government advice in favour of online communities on TikTok, Parler (right-wing social media), Discord (chat platform for streamers), and more, to ask these same questions (with massively dubious responses). Though to be fair, when previous sources of trust (like the President of the USA) advocating bleach and untested drugs as methods to combat Covid, you can’t blame the general public for being a little sceptical about the the facts and information they were being provided with by other previously reputable sources, like the NHS.
Instead of tuning in to hear Matt Hancock or Dr Fauci speak about the benefits of the COVID jab, they’re listening to Becky on TikTok, who they’ve been following for months and trust because she feels like their older sister, tell them about her special lemon water that cures COVID.
And that is where one of the big problems with this changing trust lies. Information might be authentic, but there’s no fact-checking, and in today’s day and age anyone can be a social media personality. On TikTok, one in five videos contain misinformation, but strong bonds of trust are leading people to accept these as truth.
The other major problem is that algorithm-based information could lock users in an echo chamber. Only receiving information from these trusted sources within a community, who’ll likely have the same views and opinions as the user, reinforces the user’s own biases. And the more they interact with these videos, the more they’ll be fed information with the same biases.
On YouTube, watching a video about what’s in the COVID vaccine (a legitimate question) will quickly lead you to a video about graphene in the vaccine, which brings you to tracking chip-vaccine conspiracies, to Bill Gates made COVID in a lab - which locks you in the rabbit hole. Within twenty minutes, the algorithm will start showing you ‘Bill Clinton did 9/11’, ‘JFK’s empty hearse’, and ‘PizzaGate’.
Without neutral media, it’s difficult to break out of these echo chambers, but neutral media doesn’t have the same trust connection.
Peer to Peer & Recommendation
Who we trust for recommendations is also changing. Again, we used to turn to Lonely Planet and TimeOut guidebooks, then started to Google “best restaurant in London,” maybe scan TripAdvisor rankings briefly, and book a table. Now, people are listening to the recommendations from the influencers they follow, and the communities they belong to.
In a time of searching for community, the text-based broad algorithmic information that Google serves up, even if it is reliable, doesn’t carry the trust that accompanies information from members of your community.
Recommendation is where social media thrives. Trust in online communities has become so strong that going onto, say, TikTok or YouTube to find the next product or service you should be paying for (or charity to donate to) is almost similar to asking a sibling or friend. Standard outlets like Google can’t have the same reach anymore, because their experience is so much less personalised and doesn’t build community or trust in the same way. It doesn’t matter if a product has a million five-star reviews on Google, identity outranks fact.
So What?
When you’re trying to get your message across and get people to care about a cause, the ways in which you’re doing this need to change. At the end of the day, support follows trust, and trust is built in communities.
1. CREATE - BUILD A COMMUNITY
Communities build trust. Do you have your own community that will trust you’re supporting your cause in the right way? Can you tap into any existing communities and build a relationship with them? For more about how to tap into niche communities, read last week’s trend article here
2. BRANCH OUT - TRY DIFFERENT PLATFORMS
Trust doesn’t live in the places we’ve come to recognise. Big chunks of audiences have moved away from cable TV and newspapers and are now living on more authentic, unmoderated platforms. Can you build community in those places?
3. CHALLENGE - STAND YOUR GROUND
With misinformation rampant, there’s a constant risk of your organisation getting caught up in this.
Last year, we saw Nigel Farage twist the facts to accuse the RNLI of running a “migrant taxi service.” The RNLI hit back saying they were “very proud” of their humanitarian work, and would continue to do their duties under international maritime law. In the words of their chief executive: “Our role in this is incredibly important: simply respond to a need to save lives.” Accordingly, donations to the charity shot up by 3000% in response.
If you’ve built up a community of trust, and your supporters believe in your work, standing your ground can be the most effective way to deal with misinformation. Trust in your community and their devotion to your values.
4. INNOVATE - THINK CREATIVELY
How are you getting your information out there? How do you make sure it doesn’t fall prey to misinformation campaigns, or lands in a place where there’s no trust?
St John’s Ambulance recently partnered with Tesco to print baby CPR information inside baby grows. Although they faced criticism about the steps being on the inside of the grows, think about how often parents are seeing this lifesaving information on a day-to-day basis.
Can you ingrain your message in a similar way? Think creatively about different information streams that are accessible to you.
5. ENGAGE - KEY AUDIENCES
Think about how to become a trusted platform for the communities you’re engaging. Is there a specific community you’re helping?
Versus Arthritis recently launched their venture arthr.com, a website where they sell trusted products to help people living with arthritis. Their profits are reinvested back into developing better products.
If you’ve already got a community to tap into, can you build a platform that provides peer-reviewed products to ease a struggle? How are you engaging with different ways of trusted recommendations?