function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } Facebook's User Satisfaction Bombs: Site Rates Slightly Above IRS

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg might have quieted some of the outcry over Facebook's privacy settings, but, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Facebook's users still aren't happy.

The index, which, for the the first time, included social media sites among the thirty online media companies, found that Facebook had one of the lowest "satisfaction" scores among the firms ranked.

Facebook's "abysmal" 64 points out of 100 put it in "the bottom 5% of all private sector companies, and in the same range as the IRS tax e-filing system, airlines and cable companies," the Wall Street Journal explains.

MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube received scores of 63, 77, and 73 out of 100, respectively. Google, which earned an 80, saw its score go down 7% over the previous year, but it still topped search engine sites and web portals: Bing scored 77, Yahoo! 76, and AOL 74.

Larry Freed, the CEO of ForeSee Results, which worked on the ACSI survey, said Facebook's low score came as a surprise. "At the same time, our research shows that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the Web site, and commercialization and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience," Freed noted in the ASCI press release.

He also explained, "Customer satisfaction is a combination of what you get and what you expect [from a website]. The business model of starting out free and ad-free, then turning your site into something else over time works somewhere in tech, but from the average consumer standpoint it doesn't work."

What score would you have given Facebook? Tell us in the comments below.

Know something we don't? E-mail us at [e-mail]

Comments

[lungfish]

I have a FB account, it is a useful way to stay in touch with my many acquiantances, friends and family members. I know that I need to protect myself so I am careful what I say and do, limit the amount of personal info I provide to both FB and "friends". Its like standing on a street corner in a small town filled with people who know you, surrounded by a larger town full of strangers. So don't stand there naked and spewing your guts out to every passer by.

[agxphoto]

We might be happier if Farmville coins could somehow substitute for IRS eFiling of anything.

Your annoying friends want to give you a W-2. Accept it and help them out. Return the favor by collecting Audit points! Yeah!

[scodavis1]

Too late many Facebook users realized that they were simply using a marketing site disguised (thinly) as a social network site. Reminds me of years ago when I signed up for that 'locate your old classmates' site.

Many, many years later I am still getting promo material from them.

The only people who should be using Facebook are retired people who have nothing to lose. If you are young and spilling your guts on Facebook you will get what you deserve. Or maybe that's too harsh. Facebook seems to prey on the young.

[hypnotoad72]

The naive don't always deserve what they get... Sometimes those who instill and deploy are the ones who should be deserving.

May as well blame the sheep for being tasty.

[SiberianRat]

I don't really like FB and I don't check my profile often. For me, the organization's top personalities are also completely offputting which makes me not want to use it.

[Matthew Harrold]

There's too many like pages up these days. I prefered it when it was simple, and didn't feel like I was being targeted by advertising. I try to ignore that at the best of times.

[Demarcus Jackson]

They did not ask me.

I am rather satisfied with Facebook and I don't understand why some many people are hating on the site. I don't have a problem with privacy issues and I think the site is relatively easy to manage.

[scodavis1]

You certainly have the right to have no problem with the privacy issues, but realize that much American blood has been spilled to keep our freedom and our rights to privacy.

Now along comes Facebook and people willingly give up their privacy for a little convenience. I can see both sides of the issue, but no amount of convenience will make me give up even a small amount of my privacy. It's precious and many won't mourn its loss until it is much too late.

[donaldinks]

You really believe you have "privacy"?
If you think you have "privacy"....
just walk down any busy street.
I guarantee you will be caught on a camera.

...and that is only the tip of what is going on already.

Facebook is the least of a persons worry when it comes to "privacy".

[ChicagoBob]

I am completely satisfied with Facebook.

I have successfully resisted every invitation to join, and I have never visited their web page.

Even better, I do not feel my life has been diminished in any way. Go figure.

[scodavis1]

I'm sure that Facebook not diminishing your life is not the best endorsement I have ever heard. I think they were really going for the enhancement aspect of the service.

[Nettrice]

Ummm...it's f.r.e.e.

[hypnotoad72]

Nothing in life is free. Unless you wish to work for free as an unpaid intern - of course, you have to drive to get there, so you're really paying to go somewhere to do work that doesn't even pay for the cost of gas. (ROI is for the working class too...)

But I digress...

[Catfish1968]

They should fix the picture uploader

[Senseid]

bunch of hypocrites

[OregonMigrant]

Umm... the "customers" in the article are really the products, data about whom is being collected and sold to companies.

[spyslowhands]

I use FB. Every few months I go through my "friends list" and do a spring cleaning. I will not have more than 99 virtual friends. I believe the more "friends" you have on there, the lonelier you are, and desperate too, for some kind of attention. I usually post little blurbs about movies (i'm like the resident movie critic on there) or interesting political factoids. I could care less what most people have to write, particularly about what they've just eaten. I also really can't stand when couples post little lovey-dovey things for themselves like "can't wait to see you tonight!" as if that was the only means of them expressing themselves to each other. Everyone really does want their own 15 minutes of fame, except now they want it every few hours or daily!

[Natte]

I only use it to log in to websites that have the "connect" thingy; Which is handy.

Apart from that?
Nada.

[kinogod]

Leave the force that is fooling you into data melding with their corporate outreach which lulls you into a false sense of community....

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, maybe the rest of the MyBookFacePlaceNet-thing isn't far behind. Net-centric networking burnout? Or, are people finding out that what's on the other end of the connection is just...more people, people with the same damn problems as the people you already know, just further away.