Margot Bloomstein gave a presentation at Confab 2019 about rebuilding trust by validating users and starting where they are. She discussed how inconsistency erodes our ability to evaluate and trust information. She argued that a consistent and accessible voice, appropriate volume, and humanizing vulnerability can empower users and help regain their trust. Her overall message was that by reflecting users' existing beliefs and helping them educate themselves, trust can be rebuilt.
21. 21 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 45
22. 22 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 47
23. 23 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Do we get comfortable in our faith,
or confidently test our beliefs through education?
23 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
28. 28 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
63% of the general population finds it difficult
to differentiate between real and fake news.
Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer
29. 29 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Only 48% of Americans say they believe
climate change is mostly due to human
activity.
Source: Pew Research Center “The Politics of Climate”
30. 30 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Only 40% of Americans say they have
a “great deal of confidence” in science.
Source: AP-NORC Center study Confidence in Institutions: Trends in Americans’Attitudes toward Government, Media, and Business
37. 37 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Cultural predisposition > confirmation bias
…and we can work with that.
Vaccine hesitancy study source: Smith, David, Katie Attwell, and Paul Ward. “The Unhealthy Other”: How Vaccine Rejecting Parents
Construct the Vaccinating Mainstream, Vaccine Volume 36, Issue 12, March 14, 2018, p. 1621 – 1626.
37 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
38. 38 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
Cultural predisposition > confirmation bias
Reflect the audience’s beliefs, offer resources
to self-educate, and use their language.
Vaccine hesitancy study source: Smith, David, Katie Attwell, and Paul Ward. “The Unhealthy Other”: How Vaccine Rejecting Parents
Construct the Vaccinating Mainstream, Vaccine Volume 36, Issue 12, March 14, 2018, p. 1621 – 1626.
38 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
62. 62 • #Confab2019 • @mbloomstein
A consistent and accessible voice,
appropriate volume for the context, and
humanizing vulnerability together
empower users and regain their trust.