Trust

Because social networks are present on the Internet, they have some of the same issues that academics and scholars criticize and acknowledge as present on the Internet itself. One of the major issues is trust. Kling and McKim (2000) (as cited in Matzat, 2009) cite two barriers related to trust:

Firstly, a researcher who decides to use an internet tool to receive informal information must trust the sender of information with respect to its reliability. Secondly, a researcher who decides to use an ICT to send information must be sure that this does not harm his own career advancement. Since he gives away information of potential value to competitors for status in the research system, this is not self-evident. The existence of either of these two trust problems can be a barrier for the use of new ICTs in a research field (Matzat, 2009, p. 4).

Look at the short video-clip on trust. In addition you might want to listen to a lecture on Social networks and trust: NetTrust (57 min 20 sec).



Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRZkZuMGtiA Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBKI1QBAr8