A recent survey of European consumers has found that current social networks aren’t living up to expectations, either being too complicated to use or lacking features such as synchronisation.
3,000 consumers were questioned, with key findings:
- 75% said that updating their contacts across social networks was frustrating
- 82% wanted a solution to synchronise separate address books
- 78% wanted a simple, easy-to-use solution
- Most people wanted automatic updates from the friends on social networks, as well as being able to control over what updates they receive.
It’s clear to see some of these frustrations vented every time Facebook decides to change the way it displays information, albeit generally for the better.
The survey was conducted for Critical Path, who are pushing their Social Address Book system that is supposed to help synchronise contact data across popular services include Facebook, Twitter and MSN.
The service is aimed primarily at mobile operators wanting to keep hold of subscribers by providing a central contacts repository and notification system. It’s only going to make life easier for consumers if their mobile network operator introduces the system.
