Trust on the Internet

A recent study by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Consumer WebWatch in January 2002 indicated that 59% of US Internet users trust small businesses as opposed to only 29% trusting large corporations. Only 26% of US Internet users trust Web sites that sell products/services online and 29% trust Web sites that provide information about what products/services to buy.

What do they think about the media? 48% trust newspapers and television – which is more than they trust charities and non-profits (46%).

How about this for a barometer: 40% trust the Federal government…

(I must interject that I am not really sure of what they mean by “trust”; does that mean that they would choose to do business, or simply believe what they have to say?)