Swearing by Google

There was a time when people heralded newspapers as the Gospel of truth. Then came the age of television and news channels where people were able to see things to believe. And then arrived the Internet fast replacing all traditional news media. According to a latest global survey, Google, Apple and Microsoft are now more trusted than any other traditional news media.

Find everything

Among all other sources available on the Internet, Google has emerged as one of the most trusted source, despite various newspapers and publications having their own websites. "Google has changed the very meaning of searching something on the net," says softare professional Abhinav Sengupta. "People don't search, they Google."

And that's exactly why netizens swear by its name. "I practically don't bother to go to a particular website to look for news, I just type the topic on the 'News' tab on Google," says Mahima Parekh, a sub-editor in a leading magazine. "There is this unsaid rule now that if 'it has happened, it must be on Google'," adds Sushmita Biswas, a journalist.

Socially reliable

Even though people detest their privacy being infringed, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are ranked high for trust, especially by the youth. "Its first-hand and immediate nature makes it real," says blogger Samar Jain. "It's more like word-of-mouth and believable, specially when the newsmakers tweet themselves," says media advisor Prerna Chugh.

According to a study by The Telegraph conducted amongst more than 2,100 people, nearly half trusted the big three technology firms, namely; Apple, Google and Microsoft "completely" or "a lot".

This was compared to eight per cent trusting Twitter and 13 per cent saying they had more faith in Facebook. But all of the companies rated higher than traditional media, the research concluded. One in five young adults, aged between 18 and 29, said they had higher trust levels in Facebook. Fifteen per cent of youth said they trusted Twitter.

The traditional media received little sympathy from the public with only 8 per cent of all adults and 6 percent of young adults saying they trusted them.

(ANI)