4.1. Research Question 1
Are there differences in the perception of trust, validity, and credibility of social media between French and
American participants?
In order to address this question, ANOVA tests were conducted to study the interaction between the groups
(French students and US Students), based on a 21 item questionnaire. Out of 21 questions, 19 questions were having
p > 0.05, and therefore demonstrated no statistically significant differences between nationality and their respective
perception of trust, validity, and credibility. The data analysis is shown in the Table 2: See table 2
4.2. Research Question 2
Are there differences in the perception of trust, validity, and credibility of Brand Communities versus Advertising
efforts by companies on social media?
In order to address this research question, a total of 10 paired samples t-tests were conducted based on the same
21 item questionnaire. Each pair compared items such as trust, validity, and credibility of online brand communities
versus advertising efforts by companies on social media. Of the 10 pairs, a total of 8 showed statistically significant
differences, indicating that the trust, validity, and credibility put into social media brand communities rated higher
than the advertisement efforts of companies on social media (see Table 3).
The eight pairs that showed differences were all in favor of brand communities. All of these differences stem
from higher ratings for the brand communities. This may be interpreted as an indicator that participants trusted their
peers and their friends more than the information provided by the companies themselves. This further indicates that
companies truly need to pay attention to the communications in the brand communities and social media.
Successful companies have implemented or included social media communications in their Public Relations
portfolio. Companies that are successful are those that are close to the customers and able to interpret and
understand what the customers are looking for. Certainly, social media is not the only way that companies have
used to create their Public Relations efforts, but the public relations efforts have certainly become more challenging,
more diverse, less controllable, and in many cases more reflecting of customer needs.