Overseas media announces questionnaire results summarizing user impressions of GAFA and major online services



The time of refraining from going out due to the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) overlapped with technological progress, and the online services provided by major IT companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple (GAFA) have made great strides.

The Verge , an American tech news site, has conducted a survey on these tech industries and published the results.

Verge Tech Survey 2021 --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/6/22702798/verge-tech-survey-2021-trust-privacy-security-facebook-amazon-google-apple-pandemic

The survey conducted by The Verge targeted 1,200 people living in the United States. The survey was conducted in August 2021. The Verge will be conducting such a survey for the third time after 2017 and 2020.

The first question is, ' What do you think about these brands? ' Green is 'Favorable', red is 'Unfavorable', and the numbers are percentages. Amazon and Google are 'favorable' at about 90%, but Apple is 79% and Facebook is 66%.



The second question that follows is, ' How do these brands affect society? ' Green is 'Positive', white is 'Neutral', and red is 'Negative'. Many people think that Apple, Amazon, and Google have a relatively positive impact, but Facebook is unpopular. Only 36% of the respondents said that Facebook had a “good impact” and 31% of the respondents answered that it had a “bad impact”. Also, it can be seen that Twitter and TikTok of the same SNS are also not evaluated well.



The third question is, ' Do you trust these companies in terms of personal information? '

Facebook, which leaked user data for 533 million people , which was also called 'the worst in history', has a low rating, 44% of the total. About 60% of respondents said they 'trust' Sonos , which provides home sound systems, Slack , which is a communication tool, and YouTube.



The fourth question is roughly divided into six questions, each of which is asked whether they agree or disagree.

· Facebook has too much power. ( Facebook has a great power)
It's okay that Instagram and WhatsApp are owned by Facebook. (It doesn't matter that Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp)
· Youtube and Google should be split into two companies. (YouTube and Google should be divided into two companies)
We don't need to know which products sold on amazon.com are owned by Amazon. (You don't need to know if the seller of the products sold on Amazon.com is Amazon or a third party)
· Tech companies took advantage of the pandemic to increase profits. ( Technology companies have a profit to take advantage of the pandemic)
· Tech companies were supportive of consumers during the pandemic. ( Technology companies were cooperative to consumers during the pandemic)



In particular, many respondents disagree with the question, 'You don't need to know if the seller of the item sold on Amazon.com is Amazon or a third-party vendor.' Amazon, which operates the world's largest online market, is developing a service called 'Amazon Marketplace ' where third-party distributors can sell products, but these third-party distributors ' prohibited items and recalls that can be life-threatening' It is also true that there are reports of activities that have no choice but to question its reliability, such as 'We continue to sell products and counterfeit products.' It is believed that these concerns are also affecting the results of the survey.

The fifth question that followed was the question ' Why not use Facebook? ' That aimed at Facebook. There are eight reasons below.

· Privacy / trust with my personal information . ( Reliability of privacy and personal information)
· Not interested in the content. (There is no interest in the content)
· Do not like how Facebook does business . ( Do not like the Facebook of business practices)
· Prefer to use other social media. ( I prefer the other social media)
· Friends / family do not use Facebook . ( Friends and family does not use Facebook)
· Advertising. (Ad)
· User interface / experience. (User interface, user experience)
· Other. (Other)



The sixth question is to compare Google and Facebook and ask, 'Which is better?' The questions are roughly divided into the following six. Red points to Google and blue points to Facebook.

・ Providing useful services.
・ Helping you manage your life.
· Giving you control over display of your geographic location. ( Has given the appropriate management authority relates to a position information)
· Giving you control over info provided to other businesses. ( Has given the appropriate management authority relates to an information to be provided to other business)
· Communicating its privacy policy. (I have told the privacy policy)
· Helping you connect with friends / family . ( It has to be connected with friends and family)



The seventh question is, ' Do you feel sorry if these companies disappear? ' The result was that there were many positive answers to companies that are deeply involved in life such as Amazon, Google, and YouTube, and many negative answers to SNS.



The eighth question is, 'If tech companies dominate the economy too much, does the government need to dissolve the tech companies? ' Big tech companies are often questioned for their market monopoly, and the antitrust subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives

has been investigating since 2019. The Antitrust Subcommittee has proposed 'dismantling of companies' as a measure to curb market monopoly power, but opinions are divided within the government. In the questionnaire, 61% were affirmative and 39% were negative.



The final ninth question is, ' How has your trust in these companies changed during the pandemic? ' Many respondents answered 'No Change'. However, while trust in Amazon, Google, YouTube, etc. is increasing, trust in Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, etc. is declining.



in Web Service, Posted by log1p_kr