Comments on: People don’t care about scoops, they care about trust

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:26:02 +0000

That’s a fair point, Matthew — and shareability has definitely become a big factor for media. But I think trust plays into whether it gets shared or not.

By: Trace Cohen

Trace Cohen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:52:13 +0000

Talking about trust, I don’t trust ANY of these surveys, as everyone knows 70% of stats are made up on the spot anyways. And the fact that this was done during the election process skewed towards voters, it has lost all credibility for me. These surveys are conducted during the day by calling landlines. Do you know who is home during the day and still has a landline? And ONLY 1000 people surveyed? Wow.

Regardless, it is hard to trust any writer these days because there are so many! Besides you, Arrington and a handful of other consistent and thoughtful writers, I can’t think of any other writers I follow because media companies seem to be hiring new ones every day just to produce more content. Maybe I’m the 1% with the techy/early adopters group that just wants the scoop and will piece the facts together as the story develops. I just want to know what’s new, whether it comes from a journalist, blogger, columnist, mommy blogger or tweet.

By: Matthew Herper

Matthew Herper — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:36:33 +0000

I think this is a false comparison. What matters in a social era is share-ability, not trust or scoops. Trust probably figures more into share-ability than scoopiness, unless the scoop is big. But I’m not sure either is a dominant factor. And trust may function more as a minimum you have to hit than something that continues to deliver benefit. Once perceived trustworthiness hits a certain mark, it may stop having a big impact on what gets shared. (It may be more a factor of “I don’t want to send my friends garbage” than “I want to make sure I share only the best stuff.”)

By: PHILINPHLASH

PHILINPHLASH — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:58:37 +0000

Please Check my blog I agree We Are All A News Source PHILINPHLASH.blogspot.com

By: Alisa Hauser

Alisa Hauser — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:50:06 +0000

I read the whole thing ,it echo’s some of the things you have taught me and what we were talkin bout the other day ! Thank you PHLASH

By: Valeria Maltoni

Valeria Maltoni — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:31:54 +0000

The best and the ones we can rely on, confidently. The term “trust” gets us on an entirely different conversation. Having confidence I can rely on a news source is what keeps me coming back. And I do like your use of the term “best”, Marshall, as in best promises possible.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:04:10 +0000

Thanks, Chris — that was my fault. Glad our eagle-eyed copy editors caught it :-)

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:02:34 +0000

Thanks, Marshall — I agree that being first has a place, and that bringing people breaking news is part of how you build a relationship as a trusted source. But the trust is ultimately the important thing, not the “scoop.”

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:00:43 +0000

That’s a great point, Rurik — I agree that no one will “win,” but I think there is plenty of opportunity for non-traditional sources to be among the winning.

By: Chris Olsen

Chris Olsen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:49:57 +0000

I take it back, I cut and pasted a small grammatical mistake directly from the article, and by the time I posted, it was fixed. My bad…..great article all around.