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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
11:35:00 PM CST
Though the vast majority of people I know online use AOL, I don't know anyone who likes it. There is always some customer service issue that's ticking people off. I've never had any problems that the technical or billing people couldn't handle, and I've always been treated with respect, but a lot of that has been due to my own persistence. I've spent so much of my career with a telephone attached to my head, that I have no hesitation to keep asking for the next person up the ladder.
Two things have kept me with AOL, message boards and journals. Not long ago, AOL changed the format of message boards, making them harder to read and harder to navigate. Many of the "regulars", women who'd earned my affection and respect, bailed completely on the board and some left AOL completely. AOL blew through and destroyed a community with the effectiveness of a tornado, all the while telling us how much better it would be.
Today, I've watched another community begin to crumble. At the top of the journals used to be Your thoughts. Your blog. Now, at least in mine, it's a bank I don't use. They are not bringing my words to the ether. They do not sponsor me, and I do not support the advertising that has been placed on the journals. It's rude. It's intrusive. All bloggers know that they're writing in a public forum, but the draw is that it feels like a personal space.
One of the features that AOL has promoted about their journals is the permission management feature. They've wanted to let us know how easy it is here to let in who you want and keep out who you want. My permission was neither sought nor given to let this bank in my blog.
AOL is a media company. Traditionally, the media make more money from advertising than they do from subscriptions. With newspapers and magazines, the cost of a subscription doesn't even begin to cover the cost of the product. This makes advertising the driving force behind profitability. However, advertising rates are driven by subscriptions. Advertisers want to reach the maximum number of people for their money, and the more subscribers a mediaoutlet has, the more they can charge.
An exodus of journallers, and it looks like AOL subscribers, has begun. In their reach to include more advertising, AOL is forcing away the draw for the advertisers. I've seen more banner ads in journals for AOL and its LoveMatch service than I have any other ads. This leads me to believe that they're still selling this particular product and are filling space with their own in-house advertising.
If the advertisers know that the people they're trying to reach and convince to use their products are dissatisfied, it promotes their own dissatisfaction. I think AOL needs to be reminded of this, and I don't think the companies whose ads top our journals want all the people who read journals daily to get mad every time they see their business name.
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11:35:00 PM CST
Though the vast majority of people I know online use AOL, I don't know anyone who likes it. There is always some customer service issue that's ticking people off. I've never had any problems that the technical or billing people couldn't handle, and I've always been treated with respect, but a lot of that has been due to my own persistence. I've spent so much of my career with a telephone attached to my head, that I have no hesitation to keep asking for the next person up the ladder.
Two things have kept me with AOL, message boards and journals. Not long ago, AOL changed the format of message boards, making them harder to read and harder to navigate. Many of the "regulars", women who'd earned my affection and respect, bailed completely on the board and some left AOL completely. AOL blew through and destroyed a community with the effectiveness of a tornado, all the while telling us how much better it would be.
Today, I've watched another community begin to crumble. At the top of the journals used to be Your thoughts. Your blog. Now, at least in mine, it's a bank I don't use. They are not bringing my words to the ether. They do not sponsor me, and I do not support the advertising that has been placed on the journals. It's rude. It's intrusive. All bloggers know that they're writing in a public forum, but the draw is that it feels like a personal space.
One of the features that AOL has promoted about their journals is the permission management feature. They've wanted to let us know how easy it is here to let in who you want and keep out who you want. My permission was neither sought nor given to let this bank in my blog.
AOL is a media company. Traditionally, the media make more money from advertising than they do from subscriptions. With newspapers and magazines, the cost of a subscription doesn't even begin to cover the cost of the product. This makes advertising the driving force behind profitability. However, advertising rates are driven by subscriptions. Advertisers want to reach the maximum number of people for their money, and the more subscribers a mediaoutlet has, the more they can charge.
An exodus of journallers, and it looks like AOL subscribers, has begun. In their reach to include more advertising, AOL is forcing away the draw for the advertisers. I've seen more banner ads in journals for AOL and its LoveMatch service than I have any other ads. This leads me to believe that they're still selling this particular product and are filling space with their own in-house advertising.
If the advertisers know that the people they're trying to reach and convince to use their products are dissatisfied, it promotes their own dissatisfaction. I think AOL needs to be reminded of this, and I don't think the companies whose ads top our journals want all the people who read journals daily to get mad every time they see their business name.
Written by sistercdr Blog about this entry |
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This entry has 6 comments: (Add your own)
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and I will never eat at Quiznos again either. judi
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Yeah...at the top of my PRIVATE journal is an ad for AOL 9.0. Which I had to break down and start using, because it was loaded on my new computer. I have 7.0 on my old laptop, and it suits me just fine. Every time they "upgrade," the thing gets harder and harder to use. So, no, I wouldn't personally endorse AOL 9.0...
The part that bothers me the most is the deal where AOL imposed the ads on FREE AIM journals, with the inference being that it paid for the space. And that one of the perks of being a paying AOL customer was that our journals would be ad-free. Between deciding to give away a service which we PAY for, and then imposing their ad banners on us anyway, I really feel as if we've been doubly "dope-slapped" by AOL. A gold standard of member service? I don't think so. They must have needed the money to pay Julia Roberts to keep doing the commercials... Lisa :-] -
Well argued, Cynthia. Wish YOU worked for AOL. http://journals.aol.com/there
sarrt7/TheresaWilliams-author/ -
Well said Cynthia! Anne
11/17/05 12:25 AM
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