Media Beats Out Social in Trust Ratings

We previously reported the Edelman Trust Barometer 2013 which surveys the institutions and individuals people trust.  

Edelman asked 1200 Australians about their confidence levels in media, government, not for profits and business. 

Well ... the latest results for traditional media are surprising and seem to go against prevailing wisdom. For example:

• 83% of the general public trust TV or trust it a great deal
• 78% trust newspapers and radio, with both enjoying exactly the same trust levels
• 75% trust magazines
• 64% trust corporate communications

But levels of trust for social media are way, way below traditional media: 

• 41% of the general public trust Youtube and content sharing or trust it a great deal
• 40%  trust blogs
• 38% trust microblogs like Twitter

 And while crazies of all sorts have invaded the web confidence levels in it as a source of information remain high:

• 78% of the general public trust search engines or trust them a great deal
• 71% trust news/RSS on the web

 So Aussie communicators ....don't trash your media releases just yet.

  
 

Sharing Stories and Knowledge On The Web

This video offers insights into how we share knowledge and information on the web.

Watch Harvard scholar David Weinberger explain.

Survey Shows Government Communicators Likely To Struggle

Each year the powerhouse American PR company,Edelman, surveys what institutions and individuals people trust.  

As part of its 2012 global efforts Edelman asked 1200 Australians about their confidence levels in media, government, not for profits and business. 

Some of the findings suggest people working in government communications are likely to struggle in the coming 12 months because:

• 60% of Australians do not trust government to tell the truth.
• Only 13% of the public believe government communicates honestly and frequently.
• In the last three years trust in government has fluctuated but trust in media, not for profits and business has steadily increased.
• At the same time traditional media - which some pundits say is dying - has enjoyed an increase in trust up from 23% in 2011 to 32% in 2012.

The survey also reports 56% of Australians need to be exposed to information 3 to 5 times to believe it is true. Yet many public sector campaigns are short lived or even still born because Ministers and staffs are continually shifting the PR focus to meet the latest crisis. 
 

AUSTRALIA: 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer Data by Edelman

Your Boss Needs To Be PR Savvy

Ever wished your boss knew more about PR?

A CEO who "gets" the value of communications is priceless. But to date there has been little opportunity for them to learn the how to of PR.  

Well thank goodness someone is finally doing something about it.

This year the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is partnering with leading US universities to introduce public relations and reputation management into MBA courses. 

Great initiative.  Are there any Australian university doing something similar for senior managers?

Get Good PR By Thinking Like An App

17.4 million smart devices were activated on Christmas Day
along with 328 million app downloads (Flurry).

Australians downloaded 32 million apps for their smartphones and tablet computers between Christmas Day and New Years Eve 2012. (Flurry Blog)

During the same period  1.76 billion applications were downloaded worldwide: a staggering amount in just seven days.

Apps have become the new power tool of PR and marketing since Apple began the first standardised app  service in July 2008.

Wikipedia reports:

• The Apple Store stocks 650 000 apps with 30 billion downloaded since 2008.
•  Last October Google Play had around 700 000 Android apps and an estimated 25 billion downloads.
• The Microsoft Windows Phone Store has over 120 000 apps.

Apps have become part of our everyday lives.  They provide news and entertainment, connect us to others, help us bank and budget, improve our productivity and make it easy for us to buy, bet, follow our heroes and manage our diaries. 

Apps are so commonplace we no longer stop to consider the technical wonder behind those little icons patiently waiting to be pressed into service on our mobile screens.  

But while the technology is relatively new, apps work on a proven PR formula:

• Give people information they need or want when they want it.
• Make it easy to understand.
• Ensure information is easy to access and remains timely and relevant.
• Remove barriers and make the content easy to share.
• Deliver that information at the point of personal need. 

The communication simplicity of the app surely must offer lessons in the rest of our PR lives.