Each February we celebrate the month by focusing on relationships. This time our coverage is a real box of chocolates; a mix of classic confections, brash bonbons, and a couple of crunchy frogs as well. Those less palatable items focus on depressing news: the decline of trust in our institutions, and the public’s growing inability to differentiate between truth and lies. Perhaps not the most appropriate way to celebrate the month of love. But I figure, how can love exist where there is no trust or truth?
First up, thanks to the good folks at Edelman, we review the mostly bad news from their latest Trust Barometer, see our coverage, Part 1: Bad News for Almost Everyone. The silver lining is their great insight in transforming the data into evidence-based advice on how to fix broken trust, see our coverage Part 2: Your To-do List for Rebuilding Trust.
Meanwhile Rand Corporation has taken on the issue of Truth Decay. That’s what they call society’s increasing inability to tell the difference between fact and fiction. We delve into their remarkable study at Our Society Sickens With Truth Decay—Here Are Causes and Solutions.
February is a month of romantic mergers, and so it’s fitting that we look into Cision’s purchase of PRIME Research and CEDROM-SNi: What Cision’s Purchase of PRIME Means For Measurement Pros Large and Small.
For some reminders of how important relationships are to the consumer: 4 Relationship Lessons Learned During Real Life Customer Adventures.
For those of you who labor in the PR trenches we provide you with some practical tips to retain trust in How Not to Lose Trust: Avoid These 8 Common Mistakes.
For a contrarian view of trust in PR, we hear from from strategy guru Alan Kelly: Trust Me, I’ve Got a Barometer.
Our Measurement Maven of the Month provides a heartening example of public policy using data to increase trust. Conversely, our Measurement Menace of the Month is a heart-breaking example of how data and trust can be lost by one of the most important institutions of our society.
And finally, if you haven’t had enough of trust yet, here’s nine articles from our archives: Further Reading: Trust, Relationships, and How to Measure Them.
Happy measurement,
