European citizens and their trust in social networks

Abstract

In information and communication technology (ICT) trust has been considered as a crucial component of digital interactions. Trust has been dissected in a variety of potential meanings and dimensions and through the merging of trust in humans and trust in machines. In this paper, we investigate the role and the aggregation of trust in social networks and blogs and how it relates to knowledge production, and its connections to concepts such as reputation and sustainability in the European context. Moreover, we discuss knowledge production in information and communication technology and its relationship to user trust. We develop a view on the co-production of knowledge and trust and propose a policy management framework to support the users in their trusted use of social networks and blogs. This is presented based on an e-health use case analysis considering web based reputation and developing a new reputation scheme. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.