In the immediate aftermath of the Facebook, Cambridge Analytica scandal breaking – Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook indicated that while there was a lot of talk of deleting accounts – they really weren't seeing it happen. When Facebook reported their quarterly results – it seemed to confirm that the talk about deleting accounts was just that, talk. It's worth noting that most of the quarter had already passed when the scandal broke, so Facebook's quarterly results might not have painted a complete picture. New research is out that shows something considerably different.
A study just released by corporate consulting firm Edelman showed that 70% of social media users want increased accountability for false information and offensive content. 62% want social media to face increased government regulation. Only 41% "trust" social media and 40% of users have deleted at least one social media account within the past year.
This is far from just a Facebook story, 40% taking action is a big deal. There is a myriad of social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap, etc. It's also really bad news for the industry when fewer than half of your users actually trust you. I've occasionally cited one-time tech titans that no longer exist or aren't anywhere close to as relevant as they once were (AOL, Yahoo, Netscape) as a reminder that as prominent as Facebook and some of the other social services may be – there's just as good of a chance that their best days are behind them as ahead. When only 41% trust you, at least 59% are just waiting for something they feel better about to come along.
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