The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Public Trust in News Sources: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Social media platforms have changed the manner in which people access, ingest and share news information. They have facilitated citizens' access to a variety of information sources, but have also led to widespread problems with consumer confidence in digital news spaces due to the proliferation of misinformation and unverified content. This research is focused on the relationship between social media use and public trust in news sources, aiming to develop an empirical analytical structure about the socio-behaviour of social media use, exposure to potentially misleading information and news verification. Using 200 questionnaires, the responses obtained were analyzed statistically through the use of statistical methods used in Python which are descriptive analysis, reliability assessment, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. The results support the conclusions that a number of behavioral and informational factors are associated with public trust of social media news. The results of the reliability analysis indicated consistency of the measurement constructs, while the results of the correlation analysis indicated that the variables studied had significant relationships with each other. The results from regression analysis found that the most significant negative predictor of public trust was the exposure to misinformation, with the more exposure to misinformation, the less trust in social media news sources. There was also a strong negative relationship between the use of social media and the trust and digital news verification behavior had a positive effect on maintaining trust in digital news. The main novelty of the current study is the development of an integrated empirical framework of user behavior, credibility of information, exposure to misinformation, and verification in social media news environments. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening digital media skills, verification mechanisms, and digital misinformation mitigation strategies to foster a more trustworthy and effective online news environment.