According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) E-Business Study 2020-2021, year-over-year user satisfaction with all three e-business industries – social media, news and opinion, and search engines and information – is unwavering.

“The same goes for FOXNews.com in the news and opinion category, as user satisfaction has never been lower. Customer satisfaction with each category may be unchanged, but it’s hard to ignore the negative movement among these well-known players.”

A closer review of the data, however, shows that “stability” would be a welcome relief for many of these companies after customer satisfaction declines last year, and amid frequent public criticism from users.

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“While Facebook is traditionally near the low end of social media, Twitter’s sudden plunge is quite surprising,” says David VanAmburg, Managing Director at the ACSI. “The same goes for FOXNews.com in the news and opinion category, as user satisfaction has never been lower. Customer satisfaction with each category may be unchanged, but it’s hard to ignore the negative movement among these well-known players.”

Pinterest maintains edge in social media, while Twitter topples to the industry’s bottom

After stumbling 2.8% last year, social media overall is stable with an ACSI score of 70 (out of 100). Among individual platforms, however, the gap between the top and bottom now stretches to 17 points.

Pinterest maintains its superiority over the industry as satisfaction rises 1% to 78. YouTube moves into sole possession of second place after climbing 1% to 76, followed by the smaller group of social media sites (down 1%) at 74.

Wikipedia loses ground, dropping 3% to 73, just ahead of ACSI newcomers Reddit and TikTok, both premiering with scores of 72. Snapchat, down 3% year over year, is next at 70.

Just below the industry average, there’s a three-way tie at 69: Instagram (down 3%), LinkedIn (up 3%), and Tumblr (up 5%).

Facebook stays near the bottom of the industry, with user satisfaction falling 3% to 62. Twitter takes last place after experiencing the largest decline across all three e-business categories, plummeting 10% to an ACSI score of 61.

News and opinion websites hold steady, yet satisfaction with FOXNews.com falls to record low

Following a 3.9% drop one year ago, user satisfaction with news and opinion websites holds steady at an ACSI score of 74.

Even unchanged, the group of smaller news and opinion sites still beats the rest of the industry with a score of 76. FOXNews.com loses its stranglehold among individually measured sites, as satisfaction plunges 4% to a new record-low mark of 72. USATODAY.com, up 1%, now ties with FOXNews.com.

Three news sites score 71 each: CNN.com (up 1%), HuffPost (up 3%), and NBCNews.com (down 1%).

Following an 8% tumble last year, NYTimes.com stays pat at 70. ABCNews.com falls into last place after a 4% decline to an ACSI score of 69.

Google tops search engines, but its lead is shrinking

Among the three e-business categories, users are most satisfied with search engines and information sites. Most search engines post positive gains, and the industry overall is stable at an ACSI score of 76.

Google remains the industry leader with an unchanged score of 79, but the competition is gaining ground. The group of smaller search engines takes second place again, inching up 1% to 77.

Yahoo! builds off last year’s success, climbing 1% to a score of 73. Ask.com and MSN are next, both rising 1% to 72. Answers.com (up 1%) and Bing (unchanged) follow, each at 71.

Last place AOL is the only search and information site to experience a downturn in user satisfaction, dropping 3% to a score of 69 and losing ground for a second year.

The ACSI E-Business Study 2020-2021 is based on interviews with 5,544 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between July 6, 2020, and June 15, 2021. Follow the ACSI on LinkedIn and Twitter at @theACSI.

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