Contributors were sceptical as to whether social media could provide information to improve scheme governance. Although more than three out of ten thought it unwise to ignore this data, almost half of contributors thought trustees should do just that.
"Whatever next?" asked one respondent. "The mate of a cousin of the man next door says!"
Others labelled information gleaned from social media websites as "hearsay", "mischievous" or even "plain deliberate misinformation"
A correspondent with a more balanced view nevertheless warned trustees to stick to "reliable sources".
This contributor said: "They should probably take note, but as 95% of the stuff on social media sites is garbage, and would be Daily Mail-influenced garbage about pensions, social media shouldn't be used as the basis for any sound decision making."
Other respondents said trustees should not disregard information from any source. One contributor suggested: "They may weight how much feedback they receive from these sites but they cannot be ignored."
Another contributor said: "To ignore data is a failure of governance, wherever that data has originated."
