Are Search Engines More Trustworthy than Social Media?

The rise in conversations about Search and how Search is evolving are growing. The debate focuses on whether Google will be superseded by Facebook and will Social Search take over from traditional search?

The core argument for me is, are searchers more likely to trust a faceless search engine or is your average searcher more likely to trust their social graph, i.e. family, friends and colleagues?

Some empirical insight into this question comes from the recently published Digital Influence Index June 2010. The report found that…

Internet users tend to look at many sources when seeking information, not relying on one source, apparently believing the truth is something average to the information  found on those outlets

The report goes onto say…

While most Internet users look to individuals and their experiences in online conversations and Internet postings, they do not trust everything they read. In fact, they tend to reply more on information from government or company sources than on what is posted by other users

What can be taken from this insight? I guess the first question to ask is where do people find our about new things today? Do they search for new products/services by asking their social graph or do they do the digging themselves?

As the quote above indicates people use several different sources. This question of ’sources’ and the impact a source has on an individuals decision was further investigated in the Digital Influence Index report. The graph below shows how sources of information have an influence on consumers making decision.

Information Sources - Social Search vc Search Engines

In 7 out of 9 categories, a search engine was the most trusted source of information.

Look at the numbers for Social Networking Sites in the chart.

So we know that Facebook has just topped the half a billion mark in users, but as the meteoric rise of social media continues unabated, the question that should be asked is,

…As Social Media companies grow and become more of an influence in our everyday lives, is there a similar rise in trust people have in the users on these systems, or are more and more people piling in to be part of the phenomenon without really understand what they are becoming part of?…

Let’s take a step back.

What always surprised me about Google and it’s rise to search dominance, was the fact the most people (i.e. those outside the online marketing industry) always put a lot of trust and confident in the faceless search engine results page.

Ordinary people trusted the results that were delivered to them as an independent measure of value.

When Google talks about it’s algorithm it uses words like trust, authority, reputation, page rank, high quality. Matt Cutts and his team are constantly looking to evolve the Google algorithm in terms of putting more and more emphasis on quality, the independent quality of their organic search results is what makes Google Google. Check out the short 3 minute video below showing Matt talking about this topic.

Now, back to Social Search. There can be no question as to the rise in popularity and reach of social media, what is in question is what information sources do people trust?

Do users on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn trust their social graph? This question for me is more about the fundamental nature of people and less about the functionality of any particular social media site.

Ask yourself the question, and be honest, do you trust people you are connected to online? If you’re like me, you probably don’t really know most of the people you are connected with, sure you may know them in a casual business sense, but would you trust them? Would you trust them to give you a truly independent view of a new product or service you are checking out? Maybe?

According to the data returned by Digital Influence Index, if you’re from the US, there is a 15% chance that you trust information that is provided by other internet users. Compare that to a 27% chance that you trust information that is provided by companies and a 26% chance that you trust information that is provided by the government.

Trusting Web Information Sources

Think about a recent business event you were at, a face to face event. Think about the people you met, had a conversation with, exchanged business cards. You later connected with that person on LinkedIn and are now following them on Twitter. You’ve exchanged a few tweets and posted a couple of comments ( that were replied to) on their blog. Happy days, you have a new member of your social graph.

Question: Do you trust that person?

Do you trust them to give you an independent analysis of something you’re working on? Assuming you’re not paying them of course, would you trust them?

This, in essence, is the key question that needs to be answered when people debate how social search is going to take over from traditional search. Do you want your social graph to dictate what you see, or are you looking for a truly independent view of the world, a view that is not influenced by the unavoidable bias (positive or negative) of human nature?

What are your feelings about this? Do you trust your social graph? Do you trust search engines?

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