Exploring the Influence of Social Ties and Perceived Privacy on Trust in a Social Media Learning Community

Abstract

Social media has exploded in recent years and new types of interactions happen all the time. People share photos, knowledge, and personal feelings, and receive replies, comments, and feedback. Social media could now be used to build learning communities. However, before this can happen, users must trust the platform and it must protect the privacy of the users. This study explored the determinants of social media trust. It was hypothesized that social ties and perceived privacy influenced users trust in social media. A survey was distributed to 278 undergraduate students. The results showed that social ties had a direct, significant, and positive relationship with trust in social media (β=0.18, p<0.01), and perceived privacy had a direct, significant, and positive relationship with trust in social media (β=0.31, p<0.001) and with social ties (β=0.28, p<0.05). The reduced R-square values for trust and social ties were 0.16 and 0.076, respectively. The implications of these findings are discussed.