The Impact of Trust on News Selection on Social Media

Finally, Kristin van Damme is back with another ECREA 2014 paper, on the role of trust in news selection through social media. Social media platforms now play a role as news aggregators where users as well as the platforms are sharing the news; Kristin surveyed Flemish news users on their use of news and social media to explore these issues.

In previous surveys, 64% say they consume news daily through social media, but this finding was not supported by the current study. Some 30% of users say they trust their peers to share interesting news on Facebook and Twitter, and see these sites as useful pathways to news sites. Even fewer see social media as news filters. Twitter users score somewhat higher in this.

Further interviews with these news users will shed more light on these attitudes. Some respondents believe that Facebook and Twitter have nothing at all to do with the news; others measure interest by the likes and comments a post has received; while yet others trust in their peers to provide interesting news because they see a homology of shared interests.