What Does Facebook Share In Common With The Taxman?
July 21st, 2010 | by Jen |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.
Facebook siteThe 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.