Led by Newsworks insight and research director Denise Turner, the masterclass discussed trust’s role in consumer decision-making and how it has evolved in the digital era
The session offered a sneak-peak into upcoming Newsworks research, to be released later this year, including insights about the role of trust alongside other important dynamics.
The research found that two other factors are equally as important and work in tandem with trust when it came to decision-making: knowledge and literacy, particularly media literacy and news literacy.
Often missing from the wider media narrative when it comes to consumer trust, these dynamics are a crucial factor in understanding trust’s wider context, Turner explained: “We all talk about trust being the only thing that matters, and I don’t think that’s necessarily true.”
In addition, the research found that trust not only works across rational considerations such as reliability and familiarity, but also emotional trust that leans on wider social and ethical purposes.
As well as exploring how trust works, the session demonstrated the power of social media in building and losing trust and the importance of context for consumers’ perceptions of brands, such as what types of content advertising are placed alongside and which platforms are chosen.
Newsworks’ full research into trust and media literacy will be released later this year.
