CNBC Poll: 46 Percent Think Facebook Is A Fad

A new data revealed from a CNBC poll of 1,004 US adults among of which, almost half of Americans believes Facebook is a passing fad. 46 percent believe it “will fade away as new things come along,” 43 percent believe it “will be successful over the long term,” and 11 percent don’t know what to think. The poll take place between May 3 and May 7 through landline and cell phone interviews, and the results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. The results are hardly stands with a mere favorable – unfavorable opinion, 51 percent have a favorable impression of the company, while 23 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

Here are notable findings:

• About half (51 percent) say Facebook stock would be a good investment to make while 31 percent say it would not be so good and 17 percent just aren’t sure.
• Among those who own stocks, bonds or mutual funds, 54 percent say Facebook would be a good investment, 34 percent say it would not. Active investors (38%) are more likely than other investors (30%) to say it wouldn’t be a good investment.
• Half of Americans (50 percent) say a Facebook valuation of nearly one hundred billion dollars – larger than Ford and Kraft but smaller than Google and Coca-Cola – would be too high. Among active investors, 62 percent say they think Facebook will be overvalued, 27 percent think it will be fairly priced and 5 percent believe it will be undervalued.
• A majority (59%) of Facebook users do not trust the site with their personal information and have little or no faith in the company to protect their privacy. A slight minority (13%) trust the company completely or a lot.
• About 8 in 10 Facebook users surveyed say they hardly ever (26%) or never (57%) click on online advertising or sponsored content when using the site.
• Most (54%) say they would not feel safe purchasing goods and services on Facebook. Among the site’s most frequent users, half say they would not feel safe making purchases through the site.
• Just 18 percent of Americans have deep confidence in Zuckerberg’s ability to run a large publicly traded company like Facebook, another 40 percent say they are “somewhat confident.”
• About a third of the public (36%) has a favorable impression of the Facebook founder, while 14 percent hold an unfavorable opinion and 20 percent say they’ve never heard of him or don’t know how they feel. Among active investors, 42 percent have a mostly positive impression of Zuckerberg while 14 percent view him unfavorably.
• The Social Network filmgoers have a more favorable impression of Zuckerberg than others (51% favorable compared to 31% among those who have not seen it).
• More than 4 in 10 said Zuckerberg’s age would have little impact on his leadership abilities. His age is actually seen more as an asset (21 percent help) than a liability (11 percent hurt).

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