Social media was measured and ranked for the first time this year by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)—the results: lackluster. According to the report, U.S. consumers are ranking social media sites Facebook and MySpace on the same level as cable providers, airlines, and the Internal Revenue Service—Ouch.

"Facebook is a phenomenal success, so we were not expecting to see it score so poorly with consumers," says Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results. Mr. Freed added that privacy concerns, constant changes to the website, commercialization, and advertising were the main culprits behind the low consumer scores. In other news, Facebook just surpassed the 500 million user mark…

It’s hard to tell whether or not social media consumers, such as Facebook users—who I’m assuming have not cut back on their sometimes-excessive usage of the site even after relaying their dismay with the ACSI—are actually correct in their claims, or if they are just a bunch of cry babies. As a proud veteran of Facebook—riding the wave since Fall 2004!—I consider myself lucky to have been a first-hand witness to almost all of the company’s updates. Have there been extensive changes that myself and many others have not been happy with? Yes. Has Facebook become a leading cause of procrastination in most users’ lives? Yes. Did we know of the privacy concerns and immediately disregard them? Yes. Would any of the persons who gave Facebook a low score stop using the site? No. However, it is safe to assume that any person who deactivates (gasp) will come crawling back after a few months—what would they do without the daily dose of friend updates? Case in point—consumers just like to complain.

Unfortunately, Twitter was not included in this year’s report due to the multitude of consumers who were accessing the site through third-party applications. We will have to wait until next year before we find out the true social media champion (if there even is one). In the meantime, we’ll let Twitter wear the victory belt.

The full press release by ForeSee Results can be found here: “Facebook Flops in ACSI E-Business Report.”