Is Social Media about Trust?

The Edelman Trust Barometer came out this year and although the market may be up from this time last year, trust is down. Especially in social media, as Tom Foremski points out on his blog Silicon Valley Watcher. The stat in question:

Trust in information from friends and peers, “people like me,” dropped by 20 points, from 47 to 27 percent.

Which leaves me wondering a couple things. A. Who are people like me? And B. Is Social Media really about trust or is it about connection?

Let’s explore.

People Like Me

I grew up in Southern California, have a metal plate in my face, graduated from the United States Air Force Academy, served in Iraq, am a project manager/intrapreneur, received an online MBA, prefer to drink malt liquor, work for a health insurance company, own turntables and am into turntablism, have a wife and two kids, love electronic dance music, enjoy carne asada burritos more than any one man should, play video games, exercise three times a week, follow the Minnesota Timberwolves, blog, tweet, and have driven the same car for the past nine years…

Who are all these people like me that I’m supposed to trust?

Because I haven’t found one person like me, despite my efforts, for the past 20 or so years. My wife is probably the most like me person I’ve found and even we have heated arguments over trivial things, meaning we don’t always see eye to eye. I have found people who I share interests with, but who I would not classify as like me. Which leads me to…

Connection

I don’t believe that we’re ever going to come across a bunch of people like ourselves. What we will find are people who share interests with us and the great part about the internet and social media is that we all seem to put those answers into tiny, searchable, little boxes in our profiles. That’s the key to me…

Am I trusting a “friend” because they ate at a restaurant that I have wanted to go to, and confirmed that it was good, if I then go to it? Do I have to trust that my “friends” only fan cool Facebook pages before I fan them myself?

Or do I do these things because I want to, and use social media to connect with people?

I’ve watched movies/TV shows, gone places, purchased expensive and non-expensive items and used social media to connect with people before, during and after each process. It’s all about the connection and the ensuing conversation, in my mind. We both did or are doing something and can talk about it together. That’s what social media allows us to do now.

So is there any trust in social media? Was there ever any? Does there need to be?