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11 21 24 Author Scott Baradell on getting news and information from social media
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But new research shows that some people are trusting sources that may or may not be telling the truth. In fact, that survey shows 1 in 5 people are getting their news from social media, social media influencers. Joining us now in the Common Spirit Health Hotline CEO of Idea Grove, an author of Trust Signals Brand Building in a Post-Truth World, an expert on trust at Scott Baradell. Scott, thanks for coming on with us this morning. I'm sure you saw the survey and what was your first thoughts when you saw that? That 20% of us are getting news from people outside of what is considered mainstream news? Well, I mean, it's certainly a sign of the times and the sign of what we saw on this presidential campaign. Everyone was wondering why is Kamala going on Caller Daddy and why is Trump going on Rogan? It's because that's where people are getting their news now. Well, going off of that, are we seeing more news influencers or are more people just flocking to these different means, like you said, and then the President and President-elect and candidates are jumping on that bandwagon and utilizing it? Well, I think it's definitely a combination because as it's become more popular, more people jump on the bandwagon and want to do it. But generally, people gravitate towards every niche audience has the kind of the top influencer in that space and people gravitate towards those. But I think there's a lot of history here. I mean, if you think about it, this trend of getting your news through influencers, quote unquote, goes back to the '80s and Rush Limbaugh. I mean, think what he did, if you look at radio and he basically took the news, quote unquote, as it was presented and said, you know, I'm not going to present it that way. I'm going to present it with my thoughts on it, through my perspective, and really what we've seen is kind of that, a kind of approach that went through cable and all the talking heads there to all the mini talking heads, if you want to call them that who are on Instagram and TikTok. And they also are using quick formats and things that the way people, especially young people want to absorb their dues today. I was going to say, Scott, because in many ways, news and truth can be a little more complicated than just putting something out there and saying, I don't have to have the facts to back it up because I'm either not in this space. So how much of it is the lack of attention span to be able to sit down and consume information that is factual versus just following somebody that may confirm your bias that just allows you to get away with it because there's no accountability for the reporting or where they get their information? Well, I mean, there's definitely a lot of data showing that people's attention spans. We've done a number on ourselves in terms of attention span in terms of making things quicker and quicker and you have to get your news quickly. And you know, even something like a Joe Rogan podcast with Donald Trump, you know, most people absorbing that through little, little, little videos on TikTok and that's how they absorb little bits and pieces of it. The number of people who actually sat through the entire conversation are probably a very small percentage. Scott, the report also says only 23% of news influencers have experience in the news industry. Is that a concern or are these influencers actually doing their research or maybe giving their opinions that those that are watching understand that this may not be the most credible source that I'm getting this from? Well, that's a really good question. And I think a lot of them don't have news or journalism experience in the way that Donald Trump didn't have experience as a politician. I think if some people view that as making that person more authentic and relatable to them, you know, if a person is someone I trust, say you hear something from a friend, think of that almost more like the relationship many social media influencers have with their following. These are people they're communicating with every single day. They understand that they don't know everything, but they still trust them. Scott, are we living in that post truth world right now? Yeah, absolutely. We haven't for a while. And what I mean by that is not that there isn't truth out there, but there's just kind of no universal or accepted idea of what truth is. You know, there's so many different splintered groups and variations and I'll turn to facts that the people go down their own rabbit holes and they're going to be believe their point of view on things. And it's very difficult to convince them otherwise because they keep getting an algorithmic hits that tell them they're right. So Scott, be brutally honest with us here at News Talk station of KOA. Should we be concerned? Well, I think you guys have done a great job of doing things like branching into podcasts and all those other things. I think traditional news radio is not what it used to be, but I think people who have voices like you guys who have followings like you guys, that's the currency today. So it's just a matter of medium through what you're sharing it. And Scott, the final question from us, it must follow the line if you want to say logic of when the president elect and those people that are going to give credentials to media covering him, it's not the traditional media. It seems like it's going to be bloggers or people online or that have podcasts, at least that's what they're signaling, the new press person for the president that's been nominated, saying those are where the credentials are going to go. That's, I guess, a direct line from what we're talking about. Yeah, absolutely. And I think Donald Trump has had a fraught relationship with traditional media, including quote-unquote conservative media like Fox, really from 2015 to 2016. So it's been a long-standing thing. He's the one who labeled them fake news to begin with and that engendered even further distrust. So it's kind of a natural step that he would invite the people he thinks should be there rather than the people that think they should be there. He's an author of Trust Signals, Brand Building in a Post-Truth World, an expert in trust at Scott Beridell. Thank you so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with the bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Remember FDIC.