Social Media Trust Tracker | Election Impact
As trust erodes and elections loom, social media’s pull endures—driven by utility, loyalty, and the messy reality of our feeds.
Trust has always been the missing piece of social media. Across five waves of our tracker, people said trust mattered but consistently rated platforms poorly. And yet, they keep logging in. Even the looming TikTok ban didn’t push users away.
This paradox drove us deeper. Beyond trust, what keeps people hooked? Utility, satisfaction, and loyalty. And how might the 2025 election reshape it all?
What’s Happening
Social media is once again in the spotlight as the election cycle unfolds.
400M+ election-related posts surfaced online in just the last five months.
Elon Musk openly endorsed President Trump on X.
Polarization has fueled stolen-election fears.
Deepfakes are spreading faster than fact-checks can catch them.
Political events before and after the election could leave a lasting mark on how we see and use these platforms.
The Key Questions
In this edition of the Trust Tracker, we set out to answer:
How do satisfaction and trust overlap with platform utility?
What makes users stay, even when trust is low?
Will the election permanently shift how we view social media?
What do users think about AI and deepfakes in their feeds?
Why This Matters
For marketers, understanding these tensions is critical. It’s not enough to know platforms are untrusted. We need to see why people stay anyway, what they value most, and how external forces like elections and AI shape those habits.
Final Take
Social media is in a fragile state. People question trustworthiness but can’t look away. With the election fueling polarization and AI-driven deepfakes on the rise, the next few months could redefine what loyalty and satisfaction mean online.
👉 Download the full report for the deep dive.
