Facebook – Fewer Users, Drop in Consumer Satisfaction and Share Price
Updated Sept. 13, 2012
Get out the black balloons for Facebook.
As a new public company, its stock made a bit of a comeback after announcing plans for more mobility to keep users happy. But its stock is still down from its initial public offering.
Facebook’s first quarterly loss wasn’t the reason for its share-price decline.
Its user-rate and consumer satisfaction ratings are dropping, according to two authoritative published reports.
One reason for Facebook’s decline appears to be the popularity of Google’s social network, Google+. (There are other reasons – this business-news portal has been critical of Facebook, but more on that later.)
The two reports show:
- Facebook may be the world’s largest social network, but its number of users dropped in the first half of 2012. About the time of a report (Facebook Falls as Use on Social Site Drops), by Capstone Investments, Facebook’s share price dropped nearly nine percent in two days.
- A report (Facebook down, Google+ up with customers) indicates Facebook’s consumer satisfaction score has dropped this year by eight percent. That’s from a survey of 70,000 consumers by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and Foresee, an analytics company.
According to a Capstone analyst, Rory Maher, the report on Facebook’s user-decline shows two developments:
- The number of U.S. users declined 1.1 percent.
- Worldwide in Q2, the social network showed little growth or a decrease in 14 countries where it had at least a 50 percent market share.
“This could be an issue for Facebook growth since we estimate that outside of Southeast Asia and some countries in Latin America, most markets are approaching 50 percent penetration,” the report quoted Mr. Maher.
ForeSee says Facebook’s consumer-satisfaction decrease was ostensibly prompted by increasing privacy concerns and dissatisfaction with its Timeline feature.
“Facebook and Google+ are competing on two critical fronts: customer experience and market penetration,” said ForeSee’s President and CEO Larry Freed. “Google+ handily wins the former, and Facebook handily wins the latter, for now.”
The American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Facebook with a 61 – among the lowest of 230 ranked companies. On the other hand, a news release said Google+ won a 78 score because of its mobile product and sans any advertising.
The average for all social media companies was a 69. Twitter held a 64 and LinkedIn followed at 63. These mediocre scores confirms a warning published in this Biz Coach column: Despite Hoopla over Social Media, Web Searchers Stay Longer.
Not to gloat, but Facebook’s demise is not a surprise – note these Biz Coach columns:
- Is Facebook Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle? Ostensibly, Yes.
- Aside from Privacy, Security Issues — Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways
Still, some companies can make money via social media, and it teaches businesses valuable lessons in understanding customers.
From the Coach’s Corner, for additional columns about Facebook, see:
Facebook Privacy: Advice for Job Seekers and Employers
8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag
11 Tips to Make Money on Facebook
“Our head of social media is the customer.”
–McDonald’s
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Who Profits from Android’s Security Issues? Not Users.
Updated – Oct. 16, 2012
The security hits on Androids just keep on comin’. A government task force, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued a dire warning about malware. In particular, it’s a threat to Android users. As a result, IC3 issued security tips for users.
There’s also a version of the OpFake malware for Android – it’s incorporated in the Opera Mini mobile browser, according to ZDNet. Users don’t know anything’s wrong until they use the legitimate software.
Android user beware: other security applications are fakes, too – they’re Zeus malware. Known as “Android Security Suite Premium,” they confiscate new SMS messages to the Android user.
Messages can include passwords and other sensitive data, according to Kapersky Lab Security News Service.
Countless headlines detail the cyber dangers of Android-based devices, which is why it was announced in late 2011 that 22 applications were taken off the market by Google. The operating system’s issues stemmed from malware infections.
So who can benefit? Certainly it isn’t Android users.
“We continue to advise readers to be very cautious in downloading Android applications,” wrote Dr. Stan Stahl on his blog. “Applications should be downloaded only from ‘official’ stores and only after they have been ‘vetted’ as legit,” wrote the nationally known security expert.
Google removed the apps from its Android market after they fooled users into accepting hidden, fraudulent charges.
The biggest operating-system competitor to Google’s Android: Apple’s iOS.
Published reports indicate Microsoft is actively pursuing opportunities to capitalize on Android’s woes.
Research in Motion (RIM) has its woes with Blackberry profitability. New products are slow to market. As RIM’s phones age and need to be replaced by business users, Apple’s products might become even more attractive in the corporate world.
And if the vulnerabilities aren’t resolved, both Apple and Microsoft should be in a position to profit.
From the Coach’s Corner, security resource links:
- New Cybercrime Serves as Warning to Take Defensive Precautions
- Why Many Healthcare Workers Are Responsible for Alarming Trend: Medical ID Theft
- Our Mobile-Banking Warnings about Security Prove Prophetic
“Distrust and caution are the parents of security.”
-Benjamin Franklin
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
What Do Small Business Owners Need from Washington State Policymakers?
Updated Feb. 1, 2012
Washington state legislators are getting an earful from small-business owners. But will lawmakers listen in the 2012 legislative session?
Washington state’s small-business owners have voiced their concerns over six major public-policy issues, as a result of a Seattle-area conference held by respected think-tank Washington Policy Center (WPC). Their economic-related issues range from workers’ compensation to mandatory paid sick leave.
A detailed analysis was presented in a report to the Legislature.
“Nearly half of Washington’s work force is employed by small businesses,” said WPC President Daniel Mead Smith.
“These are the businesses struggling for survival right now, and they came to us with practical recommendations for how policymakers can make it easier for them to not only survive but grow and create jobs,” added Mr. Smith.
The conference held breakout sessions at Bellevue College.
“The result is a list of priority solutions, selected by small business owners, for solving the major problems with the state’s business climate and moving towards economic recovery,” wrote WPC Communication Director John Barnes.
Here’s the list of small-business owners’ issues:
Workers’ Compensation
- Revisit voluntary settlement agreement, as passed in the state Senate in 2011
- Do not raise rates for 2012 since L&I funds are in the black
- Increase the fraud prevention and investigation efforts
Unemployment Insurance
- Reform the displaced worker retraining program
- Implement a web-based portal to allow employers to access current claims data, including current contact information for unemployed workers (similar to the system used by the Department of Labor and Industries)
- Educate small business owners about the “shared work program”
Regulatory Reform
- Review environmental regulations to ensure that Washington rules don’t exceed federal regulations
- Legislature should not grant general rule making authority to agencies, but rather be specific about rules to be put in place
- Legislature should listen to and follow up on State Auditor Office reports on regulatory reform (tie)
- Sunset provisions for regulations (tie)
Health Care
- Tort reform
- Limit the number of state-required health mandates
- Repeal federal health care law
Transportation
- Do no harm — don’t reduce lane capacity
- Protect highway tolls and taxes for highway purposes
- Make congestion relief a policy goal (tie)
- Performance-based spending on transportation (tie)
Mandatory Paid Sick Leave
- Legislature should not follow Seattle and should not enact statewide paid sick leave
- State should pre-empt local government regulations on labor laws
- Business impact statements on laws like mandatory paid sick leave should be required
“The conference was co-sponsored by Verizon, Regence, Wells Fargo, Walmart, the Puget Sound Business Journal, Berntson Porter and Co., Columbia Bank, the Washington Health Foundation, NCM, Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington, Baldwin Resource Group, and Noteworld Servicing Center,” Mr. Barnes indicated.
”More than 30 chambers of commerce and trade associations from around the state co-presented the conference,” he added.
This was WPC’s fifth conference hosted since 2003. Rarely has the majority of the legislators listened to small business. Let’s hope they start now for economic development and the creation of jobs.
From the Coach’s Corner, in the past I’ve written about the results of the WPC conferences. I’ve also voiced similar concerns in this portal’s Public Policy section.
“People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can’t live within its income.”
-Robert Half
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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.