“Major brands used to be like a religion, a belief system. They were trusted and deferred to and left unquestioned. Not anymore. The Web gives customers the power to talk back and be heard by other customers like them. The Web strips away authority from the establishment. In fact, the Web is leading a backlash against traditional authority figures.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer:
1. Trust in the Internet as a source of information is growing, while trust in TV is declining.
2. Employees are more trusted as spokespersons for an organization than CEOs.
3. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are more trusted than governments.
4. “A person like me� is more trusted than doctors, academics and other such experts. In the U.S., trust in “a person like me� has shown a dramatic increase from just 20 percent in 2003 to 68 percent today.
“We have reached an important juncture, where the lack of trust in established institutions and figures of authority has motivated people to trust their peers as the best sources of information about a company,� said Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman. “Companies need to move away from sole reliance on top-down messages delivered to elites toward fostering peer-to-peer dialogue among consumers and employees, activating a company’s most credible advocates.�
