The Togetherness Index 2021
The impact of communication on social cohesion
We wanted to explore the role communication plays in connecting people, so we created the Togetherness Index – a study of the impact of communication in our community.
The results of the second survey revealed some stability, with an overall score of 58 – a good sign given the challenging past 12 months. If we dig deeper into the results, we find some interesting trends and significant insights that prompt us to ask important questions.
Are people listening to their governments?
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Our latest findings show that state and federal government trust has dropped dramatically in the past year, and communication is not seen as effective.
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Trust in federal government communication has fallen to 42% amid concerns of COVID–fatigue.
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Just a third of people say federal government communication is influential on their behaviour.
Why is business not cutting through?
In the past 12 months, we have heard a great deal about the need and desire for businesses to connect with their stakeholders and communities – to be good citizens. Institutional investors and others are putting the pressure on from an ESG perspective, CEOs talk about being purpose-led and businesses have done a lot of work to step up throughout COVID-19. So why is the dial not shifting?
How important is social media?
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Our results indicate that trust in information shared via social media by people and organisations has increased slightly.
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This comes at a time when trust in information shared through all other avenues has declined.
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Over a quarter still feel optimistic when seeing communication via social media and a similar proportion give a great deal of thought to information on social media, demonstrating its importance in connecting to people – a fifth will change their behaviour based on what they read.