Tag Archives | Social Media

Music To Google’s Ears: Facebook Sucks, Say Survey Respondents

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 20, 2011 at 5:21 pm

If you’re on Facebook, chances are that you don’t think it’s anywhere near perfect. At least that’s the findings of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which released its results for 2011 yesterday. Facebook scored a 66 out of 100. While that may not sound that low, it comparison to other sites it is.

Not only is Facebook the lowest ranked social networking site, but it also scored the lowest of any company in the technology business that ACSI studied. Can you say ouch?

Leading the pack in the social media category was Wikipedia, with a score of 78. YouTube came in second at 74, and a category called “Others” at 67. I guess it’s pretty bad when you’re even losing to unnamed services. Social networking in general doesn’t garner high satisfaction overall among consumers, ACSI says. With a group rating of 70, only airlines, newspapers, and subscription television services score lower.

It’s really too early to say whether Google+ may turn the fortunes of this sector around — the survey results were compiled before the site launched. However, researchers believe it may score high. “We do know is that Google is one of the highest-scoring companies in the ACSI,” Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, creator of the ACSI said.

“An existing dominance of market share like Facebook has is no longer a safety net for a company that is not providing a superior customer experience,” he argued. In other words, 2012 could be interesting.

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Netflix Quits Social Networking — Again

Posted by Jared Newman on January 13, 2011 at 2:30 pm

Thanks to Netflix, I’m starting to think social networks based on individual content providers are a lost cause.

Netflix announced this week that it’s abandoning a Facebook program that let subscribers rate movies and TV shows and share those ratings with friends. Never heard of it? You’re not alone; user disinterest is the reason Netflix is shutting it down, regrouping and coming up with a better strategy.

This is the second social networking effort that Netflix has scrapped over the last year. Last September, the company discontinued the “Friends” feature on its own website, which allowed users to view each others’ queues and recommend videos. Again, unpopularity was to blame.

Maybe Netflix is just really bad at social networking, but I’m more inclined to think that social networking and services like Netflix don’t mix.

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Study: Social Media Consumes Our Online Time

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 2, 2010 at 10:47 am

Checking e-mail has long been considered the primary pastime of the online user. However, if data from Nielsen is to be believed, that’s no longer the case. The firm found that on average, about 23 percent of our online time is spent on social networking sites, versus 8.3 percent on email.

This was a much wider spread than last year, when it was 15.8 and 11.5 percent respectively. The changes could be explained by the fact that social networking sites are the primary method of communication between friends these days, which makes sending an e-mail much less necessary.

Facebook is dominating this space, with an 85 percent share of social networking use. MySpace comes in a very distant second with a five percent share, and Twitter only a single percentage point.

Our third most popular activity online is playing games, which on average takes up about 10 percent of our time. Again, highlighting the power of social networking, Zynga is one of the biggest companies in the space.

Zynga is creator of the popular game Farmville, which has seen a majority of its success as a result of the success of Facebook itself.

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Technologizer Throws a Party

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 7, 2009 at 11:16 pm

If you live in the Bay Area and are a FoT (Friend of Technologizer), read on: We’re throwing a party next Tuesday, May 12th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at Nectar Wine Lounge and Restaurant, a very cool venue in Burlingame. We’re calling it Technologizer’s Tweetup, but Twitter newbies and skeptics are as welcome as hardcore Twitter addicts. The main goal of the night is simple: to relax, enjoy some good food and drink, and talk gadgets, the Web, social media, and all the other stuff we cover on this site. Consider it a sort of in-person edition of Technologizer.

If you’re reading this and can make it, you’re invited–although admittance is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Head to TTweetup.com to register.

Technologizer’s Tweetup is sponsored by eHow and by TWTRCON SF 09; the latter is the cool conference on Twitter and business that’s happening on May 31st in San Francisco. (I came up with the idea and will tweet the whole event.) You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about both at the Tweetup.