According to a survey commissioned by online business community Mancx and conducted by Harris Interactive, almost every American adult respondent (98-percent) who looks for information online distrusts the information they find. Which, of course, leaves 2-percent of Americans as too trusting or clueless.
And the reasons they distrust what they find online? 59-percent say there are simply too many ads online, 56-percent points to outdated information, 53-percent find the information too self-promotional, and 45-percent question the credibility of unfamiliar forums. In fact, 93-percent say that trust in the source could lead to more satisfaction in the information they find on the Internet.
In addition to trust, the study found that 94-percent of Americans believe that ‘bad things’ can happen to them as a result of acting on inaccurate information found online. Amongst the consequences they fear include getting a computer virus (63-percent), losing money (51-percent), encountering fraud (51-percent) as well as damaging one’s credibility (36-percent). Other consequences include getting fired (14-percent), and even losing their spouse/relationship (9-percent).
“These findings demonstrate that people want online information to be more credible than it is today, and that current web services just don’t cut it,” says Mattias Guilotte, Mancx CMO and co-founder.
