Facebook Users Express Strong "Dislike" of New Timeline Format

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Attensity, the leading provider of social analytics and engagement applications, today announced the results of its analysis of public reaction in social media to the new Facebook Timeline format for profile pages. Using Attensity Analyze, the company's social analytics application, Attensity processed 138,572 public comments posted on Facebook, Twitter and blogs over a six-week period. The results, showing an overwhelming 93 percent of comments contain negative sentiment toward Timeline, are published on the Attensity blog at blog.attensity.com/?p=4545.

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"We were rather shocked at the degree of frustration expressed by Facebook users toward the new Timeline format," said Rebecca MacDonald, vice president of marketing at Attensity. "We knew from anecdotal evidence that many users —both individuals and businesses— were unhappy with it, but the results generated by Attensity Analyze show a degree of negative sentiment we hadn't anticipated, given that Facebook is still in the process of rolling out Timeline to individual users."

Attensity's data reveals a strong customer "churn" potential away from Facebook. The most frequently-appearing phrases in the messages are: "Delete FB Account"; "Hate New Timeline"; "Timeline Forced Changes"; "Switch to Other Social Network"; and "Will Delete FB."  During the research timeframe, which included the March 30 deadline for businesses to convert their profile pages to Timeline, many users indicated their intention to try competing social network Google+.

Attensity used its Facebook Analytics Module available with Attensity Analyze, the next generation in voice of the customer analytics and engagement applications. The module enables business users to analyze publicly viewable Facebook comments, posts and surveys to extract deep business insights.

View the full chart analysis on the Attensity blog, along with other examples from Attensity of trend analysis in social media. Attensity's new eBook titled "Social CRM Use Cases from the Field" is also available as a free download.

About Attensity™
Attensity's social analytics and engagement solutions are the choice of the world's leading brands for Social CRM. Attensity is the only company that gives business users the ability to analyze millions of real-time customer conversations from any online, social media or internal source, and extract the industry's most accurate insights to drive business decisions. From its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Attensity is powering the Social CRM strategies of companies such as Charles Schwab, JetBlue Airways, Lloyd's Banking Group, Siemens, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, StubHub, Travelocity and Whirlpool. Visit www.attensity.com and follow the company at blog.attensity.com, on Twitter @Attensity, and on facebook.com/Attensity.

©2012 Attensity Group. Attensity is a trademark of Attensity Group in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All rights reserved.

Contacts:
Rebecca MacDonald, Vice President of Marketing, (650) 433-1700, [email protected]
Lisa Hawes, Sterling Communications, (408) 884-5155, [email protected]

SOURCE Attensity