Facebook fan loyalty dwindles following IPO - study

Following last week's IPO, the Facebook brand has lost consumer engagement and loyalty, according to new research.

Brand Keys' Customer Loyalty Index revealed Facebook was knocked off February’s top spot by YouTube and now ranks fifth in May’s index.

According to the study – which included social networking brands name checked by 49,000 respondents –  the IPO produced a number of damaging effects on the Facebook brand including ‘self-image’ (11%) and ‘trust and security’ (20%).

Other driver assessments such as ‘ease of connection’ and ‘brand value and content’ remained unchanged but the other two were significant enough to knock the networking giant off its perch.

Twitter came second to YouTube’s number one ranking, whilst Pinterest followed in third place and LinkedIn in fourth. Quora rounded off the list in tenth place.

The full list is as follows:

1. YouTube
2. Twitter
3. Pinterest
4. LinkedIn
5. Facebook
6. Yelp
7. MySpace
8. Four Square / Google +
9. Flickr
10. Quora

Speaking on the study’s research methods, Brand Keys founder and president Robert Passikoff said: “It’s completely consumer-driven. First you need be resonant enough with consumers to make the list. Then we’re able to determine how well a brand meets or exceeds expectations consumer hold for the drivers of engagement and loyalty in the category.

“Five months ago Facebook was doing just fine. The marketplace, particularly the social network marketplace, travels at the speed of the consumer, with new entries all the time.”