In what probably comes as a surprise to a very absolute few of us out there, a recent poll found that most people don’t trust social media outlets like Instagram and TikTok.
Again, we’re not surprised by that, but this conclusion has to be somewhat concerning for the owners of these platforms who hope to transform them into the eCommerce portals of tomorrow.
After all, it doesn’t matter how compelling an influencer may be, if consumers don’t trust your service, they’re unlikely to spend big bucks on it – or so this thinking goes.
The poll was conducted by the Washington Post-Schar School and the findings about social media are generalized across age groups and even across political lines. For example, 64% of those polled believe that social media needs government regulation in some fashion. These numbers are the result of a poll surveying 1,122 people in November. The poll found that Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp evinced the most skepticism from the public with three of the four of those platforms being part of the newly christened Meta.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the most trustworthy services were Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft respectively. Overall, the poll honed in on social media and found that, by and large, they were the least trusted services with one huge contributing factor being targeted advertising and the “invasiveness” of such an approach.
You can read all about the poll here at the Washington Post.
Do you trust Instagram or any other form of social media? Let us know your thoughts on this survey’s results in the comments below if you like.
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