Many users find social sites 'inaccessible'

Fifty per cent of web users said Facebook is the easiest social site to use

A surprising 12 per cent of web users find social networking sites " inaccessible" and "unintuitive", according to a new survey carried out by internet consultancy firm Webcredible.

The poll asked over 1,000 web users to identify which social networking site they find easiest to use.

Webcredible director Trenton Moss argued that the respondents who branded some sites "unusable" may not be taking sufficient time to learn how they work.

"Some respondents thought that some of the more in-depth features of social networking sites were unintuitive, inaccessible and difficult to use, and in many cases they may well be right," he said.

"However, these are most likely people that do not use these sites particularly regularly, as social networks are characterised by ongoing use."

Facebook came out on top of the survey, polling 50 per cent of the votes, while Twitter came second with 19 per cent.

However, Moss explained that the results cannot be taken at face value, as Facebook's huge popularity could be the reason it polled so many votes, rather than because it genuinely has the best user experience.

"Facebook's 400 million users have learned to use the site and they use it a lot, hence they consider it easy to use. If someone was to use these sites for the first time and then compare the usability, the results may not come out the same," he said.

Moss added that the results underline the importance of making sure that web sites are simple to understand and interact with, as users are far less likely to spend time working out how an e-commerce site works, for example, than a social networking site.

"Other web sites can learn from social networking sites that it's important to simplify your proposition and evolve your user experience," he said.

"Users are unlikely to drop off Facebook and use a competitor if they find it hard to use, but this is very common on an e-commerce site."

Smaller social networking sites received a fraction of the votes. Just five per cent of respondents selected LinkedIn as easiest to use, four per cent went for MySpace, while Bebo and Friends Reunited polled just one per cent each.