Which Source Do You Trust Most?
Which do you trust most as a source of advice on important issues?
People tend to trust friends & family and the mainstream media far more than they trust websites & search engines.
| Vote | All (1204) |
|---|---|
| friends & family | 37.1% (+3.0 / -2.9) |
| newspapers | 32.5% (+3.0 / -2.8) |
| search engines | 19.3% (+2.6 / -2.4) |
| social media websites | 6.7% (+2.0 / -1.6) |
| weblogs | 4.4% (+1.9 / -1.3) |
Relative to one another, men tend to trust newspapers, search engines & weblogs more; whereas women tend to trust friends & family and social media websites more.
| Vote | Men (643) | Women (561) |
|---|---|---|
| friends & family | 34.7% (+4.0 / -3.8) | 39.4% (+4.6 / -4.4) |
| newspapers | 34.1% (+4.0 / -3.8) | 31.0% (+4.4 / -4.1) |
| search engines | 20.1% (+3.5 / -3.1) | 18.6% (+3.9 / -3.4) |
| social media websites | 5.7% (+2.5 / -1.8) | 7.6% (+3.3 / -2.3) |
| weblogs | 5.5% (+2.5 / -1.8) | 3.4% (+3.3 / -1.7) |
The youngest age group tends to trust social media a bit more & newspapers a bit less than other age groups do. Outside of that, it is somewhat hard to see other age-based patterns.
| Vote | 18-24 year-olds (278) | 25-34 year-olds (307) | 35-44 year-olds (158) | 45-54 year-olds (191) | 55-64 year-olds (166) | 65+ year-olds (104) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| friends & family | 39.8% (+5.8 / -5.5) | 34.2% (+5.8 / -5.4) | 38.9% (+7.8 / -7.2) | 34.0% (+6.9 / -6.3) | 36.3% (+7.6 / -6.9) | 37.2% (+9.8 / -8.8) |
| newspapers | 26.2% (+5.5 / -4.8) | 35.8% (+5.9 / -5.5) | 33.9% (+7.7 / -6.9) | 31.7% (+6.8 / -6.1) | 33.1% (+7.6 / -6.8) | 34.6% (+10.0 / -8.8) |
| search engines | 19.7% (+5.1 / -4.2) | 16.8% (+4.9 / -4.0) | 17.7% (+6.7 / -5.2) | 23.5% (+6.5 / -5.5) | 21.8% (+7.1 / -5.7) | 17.7% (+8.5 / -6.2) |
| social media websites | 11.0% (+4.2 / -3.1) | 6.8% (+3.6 / -2.4) | 3.6% (+5.1 / -2.1) | 7.4% (+4.6 / -2.9) | 4.3% (+4.5 / -2.3) | 6.6% (+8.0 / -3.8) |
| weblogs | 3.3% (+2.8 / -1.5) | 6.4% (+3.5 / -2.3) | 6.0% (+5.1 / -2.9) | 3.4% (+4.1 / -1.9) | 4.4% (+5.3 / -2.5) | 3.9% (+7.4 / -2.6) |
Here is data by geographic region.
| Vote | The US Midwest (252) | The US Northeast (311) | The US South (372) | The US West (269) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| friends & family | 40.2% (+6.9 / -6.6) | 39.0% (+6.2 / -5.9) | 34.9% (+5.3 / -5.0) | 36.1% (+6.2 / -5.8) |
| newspapers | 30.4% (+6.8 / -6.1) | 36.0% (+6.1 / -5.7) | 33.7% (+5.2 / -4.9) | 29.9% (+6.1 / -5.5) |
| search engines | 21.5% (+6.4 / -5.3) | 15.7% (+5.2 / -4.1) | 18.7% (+4.6 / -3.9) | 21.2% (+5.5 / -4.6) |
| social media websites | 6.7% (+5.1 / -3.0) | 5.2% (+4.3 / -2.4) | 6.6% (+3.8 / -2.5) | 7.9% (+4.5 / -3.0) |
| weblogs | 1.3% (+9.5 / -1.1) | 4.1% (+4.3 / -2.1) | 6.2% (+3.6 / -2.3) | 4.8% (+4.3 / -2.3) |
Rural people tend to trust friends & family more, while urban people tend to trust newspapers more.
| Vote | Urban areas (602) | Rural areas (91) | Suburban areas (480) |
|---|---|---|---|
| friends & family | 30.9% (+4.4 / -4.0) | 45.8% (+11.3 / -10.9) | 38.7% (+4.9 / -4.7) |
| newspapers | 38.5% (+4.7 / -4.5) | 25.4% (+11.3 / -8.7) | 30.0% (+4.5 / -4.2) |
| search engines | 18.4% (+4.2 / -3.6) | 20.2% (+10.4 / -7.5) | 20.2% (+4.3 / -3.7) |
| social media websites | 8.5% (+4.1 / -2.8) | 2.3% (+14.6 / -2.1) | 6.2% (+4.3 / -2.6) |
| weblogs | 3.7% (+4.2 / -2.0) | 6.3% (+11.2 / -4.2) | 4.8% (+4.3 / -2.3) |
The richer you are, the less you generally trust friends & family. The rich also trust newspapers & blogs more (though the blog data point had a small sample size).
| Vote | People earning $0-24K (138) | People earning $25-49K (655) | People earning $50-74K (307) | People earning $75-99K (81) | People earning $100-149K (25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| friends & family | 40.6% (+8.7 / -8.2) | 38.2% (+4.1 / -4.0) | 33.9% (+6.3 / -5.8) | 36.6% (+11.1 / -9.8) | 14.4% (+19.1 / -9.1) |
| newspapers | 25.6% (+9.1 / -7.4) | 30.6% (+4.0 / -3.7) | 37.0% (+6.4 / -6.0) | 42.2% (+10.6 / -10.0) | 42.2% (+20.3 / -18.0) |
| search engines | 22.8% (+9.1 / -7.1) | 20.6% (+3.7 / -3.3) | 17.4% (+5.7 / -4.5) | 13.4% (+10.9 / -6.4) | 22.0% (+21.5 / -12.7) |
| social media websites | 7.2% (+9.2 / -4.2) | 7.0% (+3.2 / -2.3) | 5.4% (+5.6 / -2.8) | 5.2% (+13.2 / -3.9) | 5.8% (+23.7 / -4.9) |
| weblogs | 3.8% (+11.0 / -2.9) | 3.6% (+3.5 / -1.8) | 6.3% (+5.4 / -3.0) | 2.6% (+18.2 / -2.3) | 15.6% (+21.7 / -10.2) |
New to the site? Join for Free and get over $300 of free SEO software.
Once you set up your free account you can comment on our blog, and you are eligible to receive our search engine success SEO newsletter.
Already have an account? Login to share your opinions.
Gain a Competitive Advantage Today
Your top competitors have been investing into their marketing strategy for years.
Now you can know exactly where they rank, pick off their best keywords, and track new opportunities as they emerge.
Explore the ranking profile of your competitors in Google and Bing today using SEMrush.
Enter a competing URL below to quickly gain access to their organic & paid search performance history - for free.
See where they rank & beat them!
- Comprehensive competitive data: research performance across organic search, AdWords, Bing ads, video, display ads, and more.
- Compare Across Channels: use someone's AdWords strategy to drive your SEO growth, or use their SEO strategy to invest in paid search.
- Global footprint: Tracks Google results for 120+ million keywords in many languages across 28 markets
- Historical data: since 2009, before Panda and Penguin existed, so you can look for historical penalties and other potential ranking issues.
- Risk-free: Free trial & low price.
