Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

eMarketer.com reports that the internet has passed the old media in trust. Bill Lawrence -- Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

A survey by the Edelman public relations firm shows that 64 percent of internet users world wide trusted online search engines, up 1 point from the previous year, versus 62 percent who trusted traditional media, down 3 points from last year.

Less than half those surveyed — 48 percent — trusted social media.

Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

2 thoughts on “Internet Passes Old Media In Trust”

  1. We have to be careful, when we read this story and its headline. That is, I think there needs to be a clarification. Here are the relevant parts of the article:

    “The firm’s 2015 report revealed that 64% of internet users worldwide trusted online search engines the most (vs. 63% the prior year) for information. Meanwhile, traditional media saw its response rate fall from 65% to 62% year over year.”

    We can draw a conclusion that people are using online sources more than the traditional media, to get information. This might indicate a lack of trust in the traditional media, but it might also indicate the convenience and ubiquity of digital devices. Just what kind of information are people looking for via the Internet?

    “Hybrid media—which blends traditional and digital formats—sat in third place, holding tight at 53% of respondents. While social media and owned media rounded out the list, both saw decent gains. Nearly half of respondents trusted social media for news and information, compared with 45% the prior year, and the response rate for owned media rose from 44% to 47%.

    “Search engines remained the most popular source that internet users turned to first for business information, cited by 31%, up from 29% the prior year. Just over one-fifth looked to newspapers first, down 4 percentage points, and TVs sat tight, with 22% of internet users choosing these as their first source of business info.”

    This still doesn’t tell us where people look on the Internet, to get their info. I suspect that many are hitting the Huffington Post, as well as the websites of the mainstream media companies, a group which, for me, includes Fox News. And social media need to be taken with a grain of salt, in many cases. Again, I think we need to recognize that convenience is a big factor, and not necessarily content, in the results of this survey.

    I dropped my daily subscription to the Inkwire after I first got an Internet connection, back in ’96. I didn’t see the need to pay $200 a year for a newspaper, when I could go online and read the same content for free. That I didn’t agree with their liberal bias was a secondary consideration.

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