Why organisations cannot communicate their way out of a credibility problem

Kenya is one year away from the next General Election, and the political conversation is already taking shape. New political formations are being launched, alliances are being tested and leaders are positioning themselves for the contest ahead. But beneath the speeches and declarations is another contest that will matter: the contest over what Kenyans believe to be true.

That contest is taking place in a very different information environment from previous elections. The Media Council of Kenya’s 2024 State of the Media Report found that social media had become the primary source of news for 33 percent of Kenyans, ahead of television at 31 percent and radio at 26 percent.

Yet social media was trusted less for news than television or radio. People are consuming information in one place and checking it somewhere else.

This behaviour extends beyond politics. A government statement may be followed by competing accounts online.

A corporate announcement can be discussed by employees in private channels and tested against customer experiences. A development organisation’s claims about impact can be considered alongside what beneficiaries, partners and independent observers say.

The same trust dynamics we see in politics are playing out in boardrooms, donor meetings, customer interactions and dinner-table conversations.

The official account is increasingly one input among many.

For organisations, that changes the nature of trust. People are no longer simply receiving information. They are assessing it against what they already know, what others are saying and what they experience for themselves.