Article by Debra Aho Williamson
Source: www.insiderintelligence.com, September 2022
Digital trust is the confidence people have that a platform will protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content. Our sixth annual benchmark survey of US social media users reveals that trust in social media platforms has declined substantially this year in key areas including privacy, safety, and ad relevance.
Privacy
In our online survey, conducted in May-June 2022 among 2,225 US adult social media users ages 18-76, security of data and privacy was the leading factor affecting trust. But all nine platforms in the study—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube—lost ground in this area.
It’s not surprising that Facebook’s long history of privacy infringements continues to affect user perceptions. Just 18% of users agreed or strongly agreed the platform protects their privacy. But other platforms suffered as well; only 31% of LinkedIn users and 30% of Pinterest users agreed or strongly agreed that their privacy and data were protected, with lower percentages for the remaining platforms.
All of these figures were down substantially from last year and also from 2020.
Safety
Feeling connected and safe in an online community is the second most significant factor affecting trust, according to our research. But the percentage of users who agreed that they felt safe participating and posting on social platforms fell markedly this year.
Last year, 44% of users on average across the nine platforms agreed or strongly agreed that they felt safe participating and posting on the social platforms they used. This year, that average sank to 35%.