What Facebook has in common with the taxman
As Facebook, the world's biggest social network, prepares to declare it has officially hit the 500m user mark, turns out that some are unhappy with the site. But of course not enough to want to leave.
The University of Michigan's 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report said that Facebook scored 64 on its 100-point scale. That means the company actually rates lower than the taxman.
As if that is not enough to make someone cry into their beer, the index said Facebook is in the bottom 5% of all measured private sector companies and in the same range as airlines and cable companies - two perennially low-scoring industries with terrible customer satisfaction ratings according the study.
"Facebook is a phenomenal success, so we were not expecting to see it score so poorly with consumers," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.
"At the same time, our research shows that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the website, and commercialisation and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience. Compare that to Wikipedia, which is a non-profit that has had the same user interface for years, and it's clear that while innovation is critical, sometimes consumers prefer evolution to revolution."
This was the first time the ASCI rated social media. It also looked at YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia.
Actually if it makes Mr Zuckerberg feel any better, he does have company down there on the lower ratings rung. MySpace was given a 63 rating, just below Facebook.
While it could be argued that there is nowhere else for people to take their social graph, at the moment, Facebook should take heed of these results. After all customers have clearly voted with their feet over at MySpace which has seen its numbers dwindle.
And as Mr Freed noted, historically speaking, customer satisfaction index rankings are a good indication of future stock performance.
For its part, Facebook spokesman Jonny Thaw told the Wall Street Journal the company hadn't reviewed the survey's methodology in detail, "but clearly we have room to improve."
Mr Thaw also added:
"Building a simple, useful service is the best way to earn and sustain the trust people put in us. That's why we spend so much of our time and energy focused on improving the products we offer and introducing new ones. We look forward to the next survey."
Perhaps Mr Zuckerberg will have something to say about the issue when he is interviewed by Diane Sawyer on ABC television tonight.
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Comments
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@coolhappened: Don't spam the blog please.
@Blog: Facebook is, just like myspace, going to go down eventually. Teenage public gets bored, they get bored quite frequently and very quickly. This is normal.
Regards.
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I think the figures about the number of Facebook users is misleading.
How many registered 'users' are there who, like me, signed up to see what the fuss was about and then never bothered to go back when they realised it was a complete waste of time?
I never deleted my registration as there was nothing on my page and just couldn't be bothered.
I also agree with Post 2. Further to this comment - as the current generation of facebook users get a bit older and have children, who then in turn get a bit older, what will happen to subscription rates? I can't see many kids wanting to sign up to the same social space as their parents.
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Regards post 3- I know many kids who are already "friends" with their parents. Cant say I would have liked it much but then I was a kid a very long time ago. I find FB as dull or as interesting as the people who write on it. As for the organisation I dont give it much thought. Changes in design are pretty annoying though. I keep personal info to a minimum consistent with enjoying the site and dont file any embarrassing pictures. As such it is enjoyable if not addictive.
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ACSI not ASCI.
I am a 34-year-old father of three and love using FB. My 15 year-old son also uses it, as does my wife.
People often misunderstand FB - the appeal is not to make friends, or announce oneself to the world, it is to keep up with existing or old friends.
I am puzzled by the low rating of 64 by ACSI. Perhaps this is to do with the increased advertising and prevalence of invasive mini-apps that clutter the experience. I actually think the core FB experience is pretty good, but certainly 3rd party apps/controls that message all your friends or trigger 200 emails to you in a week are very frustrating!
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Facebook - Apple - Twitter and repeat Facebook - Apple - Twitter and repeat...
This isn't a blog, it's a disgrace.
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I am on Facebook, as is my son. He deals with this problem by refusing to be my 'friend'. Nothing personal, he adds! Seriously - Facebook is badly designed. You are either a friend or not. No attempt is made to reflect reality - people tend to have different groups of friends who don't intersect much. It's wide open to attach by some new site which reflects that.
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Facebook is terrific for people like me who grew up overseas and want to find old classmates and friends. Now I feel its a normal event to check it every few days just to see if anyone has any news. It may stop being the 'favourite site of teenagers' as #2 suggests, but I think its longevity is guaranteed by many others.
If it has a problem re: satisfaction it is a simply a lay-out issue - all they need to do is read the thousands of comments made after they changed the layout to a sad copy of Twitter. It's messier and less visually appealing now.
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I have twelve of those Facebook accounts all to myself. Well, when a game like Mafia Wars needs you to have 500 friends, you just gotta expect people to create a few shills.
But what annoys me most about Facebook is the adverts they push to me. They are either misleading or offend me in some way.
I will be so happy when the next big thing hits and Facebook and Twatter die.
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My main problem with Facebook is the way they change the site. If I had the chance I would move to the layout from a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately that's how I feel about the new BBC News layout (only two weeks ago). If it wasn't for rss feeds I wouldn't have seen this article.
Why did the BBC have to change the layout of an award winning website the only thing I have noticed is the extra plugging of iPlayer
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