Publications
Partners
Cape Town – A local survey has found that South Africans love social media sites, with media driven sites having particular appeal.
According to the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi), media driven social media sites like YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest scores 76.2 out of a maximum 100.
Conversation sites like Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn scored 72.8, while hybrid site Facebook scored 69.6.
“The number of YouTube and Instagram users has grown exponentially in the past year because people love pictures. They process images much faster than text and easy navigation makes such sites even more attractive,” said Professor Adré Schreuder, founder of SAcsi and CEO of Consulta.
The survey was carried out among 820 South Africans and reflects data collected in October 2015.
Facebook mobile dominance
READ: Facebook rules SA smartphones
The results tie with the dominance of social media applications on smartphones and the growth in data among local mobile subscribers.
According to data in a South African Social Media Landscape study by World Wide Worx and Fuseware, chat application WhatsApp owned by Facebook is the most dominant application on smartphones, taking the number one position on both Android and iOS platforms.
Application tracker App Annie reveals that Facebook properties dominate free app downloads across both Android and iOS platforms.
Schreuder said that despite Facebook’s relatively low score, it ranked high because of the ease of use across platforms.
“Although Facebook received low scores for the amount of advertising and perceived ability to protect user privacy, it scored high on the ease of using the site on different devices such as smartphones and tablets.”
Although media reports highlight data security as a key failing of social media sites, just 4.1% of survey participants complained about user data security.
“This could be due to consumers viewing social media sites as a platform for complaints, rather than something consumers complain about,” Schreuder said.
The South African results correlate closely with US customer satisfaction score of 74.
How much are you addicted to Facebook? Let us know
- Follow Duncan on Twitter
