In Zuck We Trust? A Quasi-Natural Experiment to Study Trust in Social Media

• In Event: 3267 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Institutions & Media

Abstract

The integrity of netizens has been tested recently. In tandem with uncovering a significant data breach by Cambridge Analytica, the European Union provided individuals more control over their online privacy by the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation. Simultaneously, social media were subjected to criticism for facilitating the spread of ‘fake news’. Did this controversy impact individual trust in social media? The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed study of trust in social media, contributing to three distinct theoretical debates. First, studies on institutional trust are split over the question whether people evaluate institutions distinctly. Second, the extent to which trust in institutions reflects an evaluation of the performance in such institutions or whether its explanations should be found elsewhere is not resolved by empirical research. Third, who changes opinion in response to turmoil, in this case on data breach that are directly intertwined with social media? In our study, we rely on an innovative panel study as part of the Dutch wave of the European Values Study 2017, with a representative sample of the Dutch population questioned before and after the controversy over Cambridge Analytica and GDPR about their trust in social media. The analysis shows that trust in social media is distinct from other types of institutional trust; nevertheless, trust in politics spills over into trust in social media. We further find that approximately 65 percent does not change trust in social media after the data breach turmoil. The changers are equally split in decreased and increased over-time trust. Because of little explanations for these changes, we conclude our paper with implications for the concept of trust, and its study.

Authors

• Angelica Maria Maineri, Tilburg University

• Tim Reeskens, Tilburg University