As top-down models break down, expertise will only matter if institutions embrace authenticity, algorithmic fluency, and networked engagement.
Attention now flows through a fragmented, algorithm-driven ecosystem dominated by creators, influencers, and networked communities. Trust is increasingly built not on credentials or institutional prestige, but on authenticity, emotional resonance, and participation. For nonpartisan institutions and the philanthropists who support them, this new reality poses both an urgent challenge and a rare opportunity.
To be effective leaders, we need to understand where public opinion is formed and how trust is established. This isn't just about sharing facts; it's about building connection and credibility in an evolving, participatory public sphere.
A new paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies, underscores why experts and organizations must adapt—not just their channels, but their entire theory of influence. Below, we unpack 10 key takeaways from the report and explore what they mean for leaders working to ensure that credible expertise has a seat at the table in today’s media environment.
10 Key Takeaways:
- Collapse of the Top-Down Model: The era when institutions could rely on traditional media gatekeepers to deliver their message is over. Audiences are no longer waiting for information to be handed down—they’re finding it, remixing it, and amplifying it themselves.
You can't rely on the media for distribution. Do you have a network you can leverage?
- Rise of Networked Influence: Public attention and influence now flows through a dynamic web of creators, communities, and algorithms. To be heard, institutions must operate within this ecosystem rather than above it.
How can you create an ecosystem to help with the distribution of your insights and research?
- Personalities Over Institutions: Individuals who position themselves as authentic community members often outpace established organizations in reach and trust. Institutions must recognize the power of personal storytelling and voice.
Who are the influencers in your space, and what do you offer that benefits their distribution?
- Reach and Free Content: While legacy media struggles with shrinking, paywalled audiences, free and ad-supported platforms have achieved massive scale. Meeting people where they are means embracing the reach and accessibility of these channels fuels the new ecosystem.
Do you have relevant content that could be liberated from buried areas of your website?
- Entertainment as Information Source: For many, political and issue-related content is no longer sought out in traditional news feeds but encountered ambiently—woven into entertainment, lifestyle content, or influencer commentary. Institutions must adapt to this reality if they want to be present in everyday conversations.
How are you adapting your content to resonate within entertainment and lifestyle contexts on social channels?
- Authenticity as New Legitimacy: Polish and institutional prestige no longer equal credibility. In today’s environment, authenticity, immediacy, and emotional connection carry more weight with audiences.
How likely is it that your published content could be mistaken for, or dismissed as, a paid advertisement when it appears within a feed of personal updates, celebrations, and revelations?
- The Algorithm, Audience, and Other Influencers: To break through, institutions must understand how algorithms reward engagement, how audiences co-create narratives, and how collaboration with other voices multiplies influence. Influence is maximized through understanding and serving platform algorithms, active audience participation (co-creation of narratives), and networking with other influencers for mutual amplification.
Are you actively analyzing platform algorithms and fostering audience participation and influencer collaborations to maximize your reach and co-create narratives?
Note from H&S: We find that this in particular, is an area where the greatest opportunity lies, and also where there needs to be the largest shift in organizational thinking. Being present on a platform is not a guarantee. Space for institutions is strategically placed, earned, and then disseminated through reputation (see No. 8 below).
- Institutional Absence and Its Impact: By clinging to old broadcast habits or staying silent, fact-based institutions leave a vacuum that misinformation and populist narratives eagerly fill, unchallenged. Closing this gap is urgent.
What are the risks of your institution's absence or silence on key platforms, and how can you proactively fill the information vacuum to counter misinformation?
- AI's Further Transformation: AI-driven “answer engines” are reshaping how people find and trust information. This shift could further marginalize institutional content unless new strategies for visibility and credibility are developed.
How are you adapting your content and distribution strategies to ensure you are the primary source of information in an AI-driven "answer engine" landscape?
- Call for Adaptation: The path forward demands more than tactical tweaks. Institutions must build new capacity, experiment with collaborative storytelling, measure success by trust and engagement, and embrace the realities of a participatory media environment. Think more along the lines of fostering individual and institutional presence, cultivating collaborative storytelling through incentivizing cooperation, and measuring trust and engagement in the new media environment.
Are you currently experimenting with new approaches to engage in the participatory media environment?
The bottom line is clear: if expertise is to matter in today’s media landscape, institutions must be as innovative and adaptive as the forces reshaping it. Those willing to step outside their walls and rethink their influence, embracing authenticity and engaging directly with audiences, have an opportunity not just to remain relevant but to rebuild public trust in facts and expertise.
At Herzog & Schindler, we work with mission-driven organizations to turn these kinds of insights into action—helping leaders reimagine their communications strategies, build credibility in networked environments, and design brands that thrive in the new media ecosystem. For institutions ready to adapt, the moment to act is now. Contact us to start a conversation.
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