Digital Trust Benchmark 2022

Social Platforms Lose Ground as User Trust Falls

Executive Summary

Digital trust is the confidence people have that a platform will protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content. Our sixth annual benchmark survey of US social media users reveals that trust is falling across several key areas, including privacy, safety, and ad relevance.

3 KEY QUESTIONS THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER

  1. What’s behind the decline in trust, and how does it affect social media users’ willingness to engage with advertising on the major social platforms?
  2. Which social platforms rank highest in digital trust, and which ones are losing trust among users?
  3. What can social platforms and their advertisers do to restore trust?

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? Our benchmark ranking of nine major social media platforms, an analysis of the factors causing declines in user trust, and what it means for advertisers and social platforms.

KEY STAT: Every social platform in our benchmark experienced a decline in overall user trust since last year.

Here’s what’s in the full report

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Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Key Findings
  3. Action Points
  4. Trust in Social Media Is Falling
  5. 2022 Rankings: A New Leader Emerges
  6. Security: Privacy Perceptions Fall Across All Platforms
  1. Community: Safety Is Still a Big Issue for Users
  2. Legitimacy: Many Platforms Struggle to Contain Deceptive Content
  3. Ad Experience: The Annoyance Factor Has Somewhat Diminished
  4. Ad Relevance: Apple Is a Likely Culprit in Worsening Sentiment
  5. What Do These Findings Mean for Advertisers?
  6. Additional Demographic Data
  1. Methodology
  2. Survey Demographics
  3. Read Next
  4. Sources
  5. Media Gallery

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authors

Debra Aho Williamson

Contributors

Paul Briggs
Principal Analyst
Jasmine Enberg
Principal Analyst
Ona Koehler
Senior Director, Benchmarking
Na Li
Director, Primary Research
Natalie McGranahan
Senior Researcher and Taxonomy Manager