Thirty-four percent of Facebook users now spend less time on the social networking site than they did half a year ago, reveals a poll by Reuters and market research firm Ipsos.
The study of the giant social networking site’s users found 34 percent of the respondents described Facebook as “boring,” “not useful” or “not relevant.”
One of three of the Facebook users confessed to have turned out of the site citing various concerns — including over privacy that ranked third in their list.
According to Reuters, only 20 percent said they now spend more time on Facebook while about a half spend almost the same period.
Some 21 percent of the 1032 respondents said they have no Facebook account, leaving 79 percent to answer questions on Facebook use.
About 40 percent of those interviewed said they use the site every day with the most active ones ranging between 18 and 34 years old – 60 percent of them sign into the site on a daily basis.
The least active comprised respondents 55 years and older with 25 percent of them “hopping” into the site each day.
Of major concern to Facebook, according to CNET, may be the rebuff received by the products promoted online.
Majority of the 80 percent of the respondents confessed to Reuters and Ipsos they have never bought products or services given the ads and the reviews made on the site.
Ray Valdes, Gartner analyst, told Reuters the reviews from friends on the social site “do carry a lot of weight.”
While the poll did not find out how other adverstising forms affected purchasing behavior, eMarkter’s February study shows Facebook performed worse than direct-mail or email marketing in influencing consumer decisions.
The results highlight investor’s worries about the site’s moneymaking capability that has dragged the stock down 29 percent — since Facebook’s initial public offering in May — reducing the company’s market value by US$30 billion to nearly US$74 billion.
General Motors recently reported it is yanking around $10 million in advertising from the social network, claiming the ads just weren’t working.
A number of large advertisers say they are equally frustrated as even though they crave to advertise on Facebook, the company doesn’t appear to know how to handle “big ad agencies or their clients.”
Although the company generated US$3.7 billion in revenue in 2011 mostly from ads on its site, sales growth is stagnating.
Analysts attribute the increased use of smartphones to access Facebook to have slowed the company’s revenue as they (phones) offer limited advertising space. According to Reuters, Facebook is yet to figure out a way to generate money from mobile users.
Ad revenue generation is more critical to the company now that it is a public entity. Facebook spokeswoman told CNET the company had no official response to the survey released Monday.
