## 5 Discussion
### The Impact of SNSAs Use on Social Trust  
In the current study, the social trust scale demonstrated that participants indicated a moderate to high level of social trust (\(M=3.71\), \(SD=0.59\)) in relation to SNSAs. In the interviews, participants supported the role of SNSAs in increasing levels of social trust through developing self-confidence, obtaining reliable information, and dealing with others confidently. Increased self-confidence resulted from feeling comfortable in discussions, having sufficient time to reply, and being able to participate in community events. Similar results were reported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [48]; and [PERSON] and [PERSON] [82], who found using SNSAs improved students' self-confidence. This was due to removing social and psychological barriers between genders through discussion, without the need to meet face-to-face [48], increasing social interaction with family and friends, and reading and sharing information [82]. With the customs and traditions that play an active role in Saudi society [83; 84], the absence of social barriers in discussions via SNSAs was an important factor for increasing social interaction and self-confidence of participants in the current study. While SNSAs provide a space for discussions for Saudi users, the existence of tribal, regional or ethnic intolerance could potentially limit the ease of interacting ([PERSON] and [PERSON] [48]. The opportunity to obtain reliable information from original sources or from trusted followers was also raised as an advantage of access to SNSAs by participants in the current study and supported by other studies [2; 85; 86; 87]. In contrast, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [87] found that SNSAs can also deliver unreliable information, such as unsolicited invitations. Likewise, [PERSON] et al. [86] found that 31.2% of the dataset used in their study from SNSAs (Twitter) were classified as untrustworthy health information. However, they found that users were quite effective in identifying trustworthy information sources on SNSAs. Communicating with other users confidently and tolerantly was reported by the participants of the current study in relation to increasing their social trust, supporting survey results on the social trust scale where participants rated as highest the fact that people try to be helpful to them on SNASAs (M = 3.89, SD = 0.67). [PERSON] [2] found that SNSAs foster students' social trust both towards themselves and others through their interactions and exposure to the opinions of others. This was also supported by other studies, which found SNSAs increased the social trust of users through the content and activities of their online relationships and existence of a comfortable and secure environment for building relationships with others [40; 44; 46]. However, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [47] stated that lack of interpersonal information about other users could limit the building of social trust during interactions. Other concerns raised in the current study included apprehension about displaying private information and the lack of rules preventing offensive participation. In the social trust scale, the item relating to people trying to be fair on SNSAs rated lowest (M = 3.53, SD = 0.82). [PERSON] [2] also noted complaints about invasions of privacy that could lead to extortion, dissemination of insulting language, verbal abuse and defamation on SNSAs. Other concerns about privacy and discussions on SNSAs have been reported [46; 88; 89; 90; 91]. The potential of SNSAs for impersonation and for penetrating accounts was raised by participants in interviews, supporting concerns raised in other studies [92], regarding privacy and defamation of character [48] and potential for misuse of personal information [93]. This highlights the \"complicit risk in communities where personal information becomes social capital, which is traded and exchanged\" [94], and suggests rethinking the safe use of SNSAs [93].