Social Knowledge in the Digital Age: Transformations in Trust, Interaction, Participation, and Digital Inclusion

Abstract

Digital changes have completely changed how social knowledge is created, disseminated, valued and challenged. These changes are discussed in this review in four interrelated aspects: trust, interaction, participation and digital inclusion. Social knowledge is increasingly developing in digitally mediated environments that are shaped by the interplay of platforms, networks, algorithms and user practices, all of which impact visibility, credibility and access. The review highlights how online interaction and identity formation contribute to knowledge exchange, while digital platforms simultaneously create new opportunities for participation and new forms of inequality. The problems of trust and information integrity continue to be relevant issues as users face misinformation, mediated credibility, selective exposure, and a lack of even digital literacy. Meaningful participation is also influenced by structural variations in terms of access, skills, representation and platform design, as connectivity alone does not imply meaningful participation. AI enhances knowledge processing and communication by bringing another level of complexity with algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, and lack of social context. The synthesis suggests that future digital knowledge systems should be computational and also interpretable by humans, participatory and democratic, and governance-focused. To ensure that the development of technology will facilitate credible, inclusive and socially embedded knowledge formation, there is a need to put greater emphasis on digital literacy, accessible design, transparent algorithms and human oversight.