As ubiquitous as Facebook is, it turns out a lot of people don't actually like using the social network giant. On the other hand, users are giving Google+ a warmer reception than they did before.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which measures the customer satisfaction of businesses across 47 industries, released its latest report for e-business on Tuesday. The survey reveals customer satisfaction levels for social media platforms, search engines and portals, and news and information sites.
Of the 20 companies featured in the report, Facebook took the biggest hit in customer satisfaction this year, dropping from a mediocre 66 out of 100 rating last year to an even less satisfactory score of 61 this year. This makes Facebook among the five lowest-scoring companies of the 230 companies measured in ACSI's reports. Nonetheless, Facebook dominates the social media space with more than 900 million users, so what the ACSI is really telling us is that Facebook is the addiction we hate, but just can't kick.
Google+, which has a laughably small user base size compared to Facebook, debuted on the ACSI report with a much higher customer satisfaction score of 78 out of 100. That's a 17-point difference from Facebook. The survey attributes Google+'s high marks to the social platform's "superior commitment to privacy," lack of traditional ads, and overall better mobile experience. Those surveyed by ACSI expressed distaste for Facebook's Timeline feature, ads and privacy policies. And it's no secret that Facebook's mobile app needs a major refresh and speed boost.
"If Google+ continues to attract users at an aggressive pace, Facebook will run the risk of losing its main competitive advantage over time," the ACSI report states.
Overall, people aren't especially satisfied with today's social media offerings. Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest all appeared for the first time in ACSI's report with less-than-impressive scores. Twitter received a 64 out of 100; LinkedIn got 63; and Pinterest debuted at 69. Users have been the most consistently satisfied with Wikipedia, which maintained its 78 out of 100 from last year, and YouTube, which got a 73, down from last year's 74.
Search engines and portals are performing much better. Google took the lead in the search space with a score of 82 out of 100. Bing followed closely behind with an 81 -- a good sign for Microsoft as the company has made strides to revamp the Bing experience in the past several months. Even Yahoo and AOL weren't too far behind, though fewer people actually use their services. Yahoo got a 78 and AOL got a 74.
As for news websites, ACSI only included major, mainstream news sites like FoxNews.com, CNN.com, and NYTimes.com. FoxNews.com garnered the highest score of 84 out of 100 -- the best customer satisfaction level of any other e-business included in the report. Overall, news sites got an average score of 73.
The key takeaways? Users aren't very happy with social media, especially Facebook. But at least Google+ is getting a warmer reception. People have a generally positive relationship with their search engines, and the 70,000 or so people surveyed by ACSI, for some reason, like FoxNews.com.
