Mashable is reports that “Millennials trust user-generated content 50% more than other media.” Sounds reasonable, right? However, in that article Mashable makes a false claim, “User-generated content (UGC) is media created by your peers.”
Whoa. Mashable. Hold it there. Be careful with this report. Mashable is blending together the terms “user-generated content” with content made by your peers. User-generated content is created by people you know AND by people you don’t know.
Millennials trust content made by people they know–not ALL user-generated content by people they don’t know.
We can’t go around making blanket statements that ALL user-generated content is more trusted. If someone you don’t know posts a photo and claims something about that photo, will you trust that person? Perhaps not. But if someone you know posts a photo and makes a claim about that photo, depending on the person, you might trust him/her–because you know that person.
With Mashable bending the truth to make a eye-catching headline, it’s no wonder that Millennials don’t trust brands as much.