By Lisa Yenn
Staff Writer
This has not been Facebook’s year, from their overvalued IPO to their timeline fiasco; Facebook has had more downs than ups in recent months. When Facebook went public, their stock was valued at $38; today the stock is worth around $28.
Now comes news from a new poll that shows that Facebook is losing it’s popularity among users. According to a study by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), Google+ has satisfied a greater percentage of customers than its more renowned Facebook counterparts. The study revealed that Google+ secured a score of 78 out of 100. Facebook only managed to satisfy 61 out of 100 users.
In a statement, ASCI stated that, “Facebook’s drop coincides with the release of its Timeline profile, a significant change to the look and organization of its pages. Users complain that they cannot opt out of the new profile design.”
Google+ has received praise for integrating other Google services like YouTube and Gmail into the social networking site. Users also note that they aren’t inundated by advertising when using Google+.
Could this mean that Facebook is going the way of Friendster and MySpace? Not very likely. For all of its flaws, Facebook still remains the most popular social networking site on the web. Facebook needs to find a creative way to solve user complaints and increase overall satisfaction or risk losing their status as the premier social network in the world.
Google+ has launched TV and web ads showcasing some of their innovations such as being able to watch YouTube videos with friends and video chat at the same time. Google+ is indeed innovative with the addition of “Circles”, categories of friends based on work, life, school, etc. Facebook has added a similar option that allows users to place friends into categories based on work, family, school, etc.
Even though US users are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Facebook, the decline isn’t necessarily world wide. Since Facebook went public, shareholders will expect strong revenue. This has proven to be a challenge to the Facebook team as they struggle to find a way to create inconspicuous ads. Users have grown accustomed to minimal ad placement, but if Facebook is unable to increase ad revenue, shareholders might start abandoning the stock.
Facebook will be looking to increase user satisfaction as news of this study echoes across the internet.
Related articles
- Google+ users more satisfied than Facebook users (slashgear.com)
- Report Says People Are Happier with Google+ than They Are with Facebook (techland.time.com)
- Google+ Debuts With ACSI Consumer Satisfaction Score Well Above Facebook’s (marketingland.com)
- G+ is tops in customer satisfaction (cnn.com)
- Facebook users revolt at new Timeline profile – satisfaction falls to all-time low with just 61% happy with social netwrok (dailymail.co.uk)
- It’s Official: Social Media Users Happier With Google+ Than With Facebook (wired.com)
