Why People Really Hate Facebook: It's Complicated

[onehandle]

Facebook's customer satisfaction score is now as low as that of airlines, and while experts point to site changes and ads as reasons for this distaste, we think there's a more basic explanation: Facebook complicates your life.

CBS's Larry Dignan reports that Facebook scored 64 out of 100 this year on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, below IRS e-filing, right in line with airlines, and just ahead of MySpace (which got a 63). Larry Freed, whose company runs the Index, attributed the poor score to three factors: "Frequent changes to the site; Advertising intruding on customer satisfaction; And privacy concerns." But are those really enough to make people hate the social networking site as much as they hate companies that make them put all their shampoo in a little baggie before standing in line forever? I think it's a little more complicated than that — to use a Facebook term.

Facebook's "relationship status" feature (and the source of the infamous "it's complicated") has been much maligned, especially when Facebook added feeds and everybody's make-ups and breakups were instantly transmitted to their friends. I still remember the day when I vowed never to enter a relationship status on the site again, and I've kept that vow, with great benefit to my mental health. But in the pre-Facebook world, I never would have had to think about that in the first place. Nor would I have had to deal with friends calling me up when my exes changed their relationship statuses.

And of course, relationships are only the beginning. The gainfully employed must now carefully screen their photos — or tweak their privacy settings — such that their bosses can't see them doing kegstands the night before they called in sick. And even the unemployed are not immune — they can at any time be called upon to delete their photos if they depict friends engaging in potentially fireable behavior. And even if you're a privacy-settings wizard (like Anna Chapman), you still need to go through the process of deciding who gets to see you drunk, who gets to see you with your new boyfriend, who gets to know what you're thinking about at 2 am — and, on the flipside, whose unfiltered life bullshit you want pushed at you in the form of feeds. It's a whole new set of choices, and it doesn't necessarily make life easier.

http://jezebel.com/5591973/why-people-really-hate-facebook-its-complicated

[tridim]

1. I hate it because it's just a poorly designed site

I don't provide any information that I wouldn't share with my neighbors, so no worries there.

[onehandle]

2. It's MySpace without the blinking gifs and blasting midis.

Its UI is like working your way through a pyramid scheme.

[msongs]

3. people only know what users choose to post. no expectation of privacy there nt

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mrcheerful]

11. My SO is a farmville addict, she has 3 farms that takes up all of her time

The good news is she stopped asking me if her pants made her butt look big. Bad news is ah ah ah ah, hey I'm thinking, ah ah ah hell she doesn't talk to me about what she wants to spend money on so farmville is actually a good thing lol.

[bemildred]

5. Lots of bad programming in facebook.

Their comment text editor for example has some serious suckage in it.

[Bunny]

6. Why don't people just stop posting pictures of themselves doing

drunken, naked kegstands? :shrug:

[Stevenmarc]

7. Facebook is what you make it.

If you want to appear like an idiot and share every drunken moment of your life with the world then so be it but there are people like myself that only friend people that are actually friends in real life, we have a clue on how to use the privacy settings and we aren't catatonic virtual sharecroppers.

[NeedleCast]

8. Facebook is Free, so comparing it to things you pay for is stupid

I like the fact that I can quickly communicate with an extended network of people. I like that I can follow bands I like on it and get up to date information on tour dates, new releases, etc, all in one place. Beyond that, I don't really care about the farmvilles and relationship status and stuff.

Its a computer program. Its what you make of it. The people who whine about Facebook are the same ones who whine every time some piece of software they use is updated and they have to learn to use new features.

Edit to add: The people I see constantly complaining about Facebook are usually the ones who are on it 18 hours a day.

[zipplewrath]

10. The cable company

The WSJ compared it to the cable company. Everyone likes to complain, and everyone has it. They are serving a crowd from 15 to 75. Their numbers go up every year. That means they're going to have alot of people that are new and don't know how it works. And alot of people who think it should work better.

[NeedleCast]

14. That's pretty much it

It works like most things on the internet. I was a moderator on a video game message board for a long time in the early 00s and anytime something new came out it was super controversial. You had the people who loved every change, the people who hated every change, and (the minority) the people who actually wanted to discuss the merits of a change. As with most things internet, the people who used it the most tended to be the primary complainers.

[zipplewrath]

24. They could avoid much of this

Web based functions do this to themselves. They very frequently make changes with no announcement. People who are heavy users come on and suddenly past efforts, plans, and skills are wasted to some extent. Occasionally, data is lost or difficult to recover. The reasons for the changes are often not explained at all, which leaves impressions left mostly dealing with conspiracy or overt profit motives. A warning would save alot of this. More explanation that doesn't sound like it came from the marketing division would help too.

[NeedleCast]

29. That's true to an extent

I work as a software trainer so I know the frustration of "new software" but at the same time stale content is even more of a turn off for most heavy users. There's often no balance that will keep them happy. One person is saying "OMG this is so old and boring" and when you make a change the next person says "Hey, I like the old version!"

In the particular case of Facebook I think they should be more forward announcing changes but I don't know that most people would listen.

[zipplewrath]

30. Googles announcement, or lack thereof

Google did a whole schtick a month or so ago. They defaulted to some picture background thingy as part of some promotion. It went over bad for several reasons. 1) was that there wasn't much advance notice. When there is, it usually starts to get passed around in forums. People at least know what's happening. 2) it wasn't obvious how to "shut it off". Several instructions were suggested, but some didn't work or weren't consistent with what the user actually experienced.

And it was all part of a "promotion". Seems counter productive. My recollection is that they had to shut the whole thing down about 10 hours early.

I understand the need to constantly improve and to offer new capability and content. And I also understand that change will always piss someone off, and lack there of as well. But so often web based applications force changes down that piss off those that are heavy users, and confuse those that are not. That seems counter productive in the end.

[liberal N proud]

9. Just don't use the thing and you don't have to hate it.

I just hate the whole concept and to this point find no reason to use it.

[KittyWampus]

12. I've never even seen a Facebook page...

I am a Luddite, I guess.

Also only use my cell phone for the occasional very short information exchange like "I'm going to be be late, stuck in traffic" or "they don't have the cheap white chairs, just green ones, should I buy them?"

[NeedleCast]

16. That doesn't Make You a Luddite

There's a difference between a person who says

"I've never seen a Facebook Page, I don't use it, or care about it."

and

"I've never seen a Facebook Page because Facebook sucks."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. I'm enjoying being there.

It's a great intersection for me between my DU friends, my poetry friends, and my family.

I find it easy to use...

And I'm not posting a lot of personal stuff, so I don't worry. Also, I can choose who to be friends with. This is a big plus for me...

It's a cool social networking site, IMHO...

[uncommon]

15. Facebook is simple. Simple design, simple to use. Where is

the complication?

I think people are just getting annoyed at how public everyone's personal life is who chooses to use social networking sites - easy solution - stop using them if you don't like it.

[niceypoo]

19. From a software usability standpoint, it is poorly designed

Other than that it is pretty cool. I have gotten into contact with many long lost friends via facebook.

[uncommon]

20. How so though? The search function could be better, maybe

the apps are hard to find (but I am not a big fan of apps so this might explain why that doesn't bother me), but actual communication with friends is very simple.

[niceypoo]

28. The layout is non user friendly

It is not laid out intuitively. The controls work just fine, once you find them.

[lpbk2713]

17. I don't use it because I have enough other things to waste my time.

I don't do any social networking for that same reason. I don't even IM.
DU is the biggest online luxury I allow myself. And I don't regard that as a waste of time.

[PJPhreak]

18. Me too...

Never had a Facebook Page or Myspace,Don't own a Webcam,Barely know how to use MIRC,No Skype,No MSN,None of that.
If Folk wanna get ahold of me there is my Email or my home Phone (Landline)

I will get a Pay as You Go Cell Phone at some point.

Yes I kinda like the peace and quiet of not being connected to EVERY eletronic gizmo and website.

[skypilot]

21. You sound exactly like me.

Between email and my landline phone, people have all that they really need if they really want to contact me. Some people will act as though I am unreachable when I inform them that I don't have a cell phone and that they can't text me. I figure that anyone who can't be bothered to type my email address or dial the ten digits of my landline phone number doesn't really want to connect with me to begin with.

[PJPhreak]

22. Texting....Arrrrgggggggg!

Besides not being able to type well on a querty keyboard,I can't imagine trying to type on a cellphone pad with my thumbs! And people get crazy mad when they can't interrupt me with a text.

I ride a Motorcycle and can't count the number of times I've yelled "Park yer Danm Phonebooth and Drive yer car,You Damn Fool" I swear their gonna kill me yet!

[skypilot]

23. I find it a little insulting when...

...someone tells me "I was thinking about you the other day. I went to send you a text and then I remembered that you don't have a cell phone." This is what I meant when I said that people act as though I'm unreachable because I don't own a cell phone. Either it doesn't occur to them to simply call and actually speak to me or they decide that they'd rather type than talk. I find it rather off-putting.

[frylock]

25. yeah. selecting "show to friends only" from the drop-down..

is as complicated as hardening a web server. :eyes:

[frylock]

26. to put the poll in perspective, fox news' customer satisfaction rating is 82

[Nye Bevan]

27. Being in my 40s I decided I was too old for Facebook

and have happily stayed away from it. Call me an old curmudgeon, but I have better things to do than receive continuous status updates and friend requests, and pretend to grow virtual carrots on a make-believe farm.