Who do you trust on social media and why?

I've been thinking about the rise of news influencers on social media, and Pew's study showing that one-in-five Americans regularly get their news this way. We've come a long way from the Walter Cronkite era. And I think the reasons we give our trust to some people and not others continues to evolve, especially now in the Wild West of AI (or maybe the reasons we trust someone haven't changed as much as we think they have?).

So I'm just curious to hear from this group: Who are the social media creators you find yourself trusting? Why do you think you trust them?

Comments

HitxLerr•about 2 months ago•2

Real talk, trust on social media mostly comes down to consistency and transparency now haha. I’ve honestly stopped paying attention to the flashy “lifestyle guru” content because polished cars and vacation photos do not prove someone actually knows what they’re doing fr. The people I trust most are usually the ones willing to share the messy side too—failed campaigns, bad experiments, missed predictions, and the reasoning behind what went wrong lol. That kind of openness feels way more credible than nonstop highlight reels haha. Tbh, consistency over a long period matters way more than one viral win. If someone keeps showing thoughtful insights, real process, and actual lessons without constantly pushing a course every five minutes, that usually says a lot fr.

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itsLeoli•about 2 months ago•1

Honestly, running social media for a business is exhausting. Yeah, AI makes writing captions way easier, but actually connecting with people? That’s gotten harder. Everyone’s pumping out content now, so the bar is higher than ever. So with AI in the mix — is social media getting easier or harder? 🤔

Independent-Ant-7230•about 2 months ago•1

I think people trust creators now less because they’re official authorities and more because they feel consistently human over time.

A lot of trust online comes from pattern recognition: do they admit uncertainty, do they correct mistakes, do they sound emotionally genuine, do incentives feel obvious, do they stay consistent under pressure and do their predictions or interpretations age well over time.

Ironically, in the AI era, small imperfections sometimes increase trust because overly polished communication can start feeling synthetic or strategically optimized.

I also think audiences increasingly trust people who help them think rather than people who constantly try to tell them what to think.

FlashyAverage26•about 2 months ago•1

honestly i trust creators more when they:

- admit uncertainty sometimes

- show sources/process instead of just hot takes

- don’t sound like they’re optimizing every sentence for outrage and engagement

the moment someone sounds like a full-time engagement machine, my trust drops fast

AdMiserable7234•about 2 months ago•1

The creators I trust most are the ones who don’t feel like they’re performing 24/7. The second everything starts sounding optimized for clicks... I get skeptical fast.

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