AOL: People Like It Now More Than Ever
AOL, one of the largest national internet service providers and a global web services company, announced today that market research firm Forrester has rated it highest in "overall customer experience" in an independent study. Forrester conducted interviews with almost 4,600 people nationwide and found that AOL rated very high if not highest in categories such as usefulness and ease-of-use. When all the categories are combined, AOL was at the top with a 71% approval rating.
For those of us who have moved on to using internet service providers (ISPs) that provide little more than basic internet access, AOL may conjure memories of free installer CDs in the mail and dialing in over a telephone line. Although AOL still offers dial-up accounts, they have been diligently growing their web destination offerings, including a full portal and news page, free email and two free instant messaging utilities, AIM and ICQ. Even with all these offerings they have succeeded in the tough job of making it simple for everyone who uses their service, either online or through their ISP, to have a great experience.
I'll admit to clinging tenaciously to my free AIM account that I've had for many years. Even though I access AIM through such various third-party interfaces as Gmail and Meebo (and even have a hard time thinking of those applications as third-party) I have long since stopped worrying about the service as anything but always there and available, like the air I breathe. However, somebody runs those servers with close to 100% uptime, and it's worthwhile to reflect a moment and realize that AOL has made a commitment for the simple reason of maintaining their online reputation at a very high level.
Sure, we have all heard stories about AOL ISP customer service, and of course seen pictures of AOL CD art, but the numbers tell a different story - that AOL is committed to making sure people who choose them are pleased and have the best possible experience online.
Photo CD Reflections courtesy of Artnow314 on Flickr.
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I have always liked AOL. They have a good mobile sync service that is free if you don't have an iPhone, or if you do, but don't like MobileMe, http://aolsync.aol.com.
Very creative content, some of the best content I have seen today. Keep up the great work.
I'm also interested to see what they do with SocialThing: http://blog.socialthing.com/2008/08/14/ok-so-yeahits-true-we-got-acquired/
Get an exec from Google in and everyone suddenly starts lining up to support AOL. Hilarious.
It's not to say I don't agree with the points made in this article, but this research would have been scoffed at by 99% of even serious blogs three months ago. To be fair, I don't think RWW would have scoffed at it, I think they would have just ignored it.
But now the sun is shining on AOL for almost no reason (yet).
I have to admit that they have been busting moves right and left,lately. With the way they were hemorrhaging member's they had to do something. Inspiration or desperation will usually light a fire under most peoples asses. But,Is it too little too late? I actually think they might be able to turn things around, but they'll never get back up to the user numbers they had before.
I didn't read this,(your probably thinking, not this again!),but I will in a second. I'm pretty sure I know what it's about this time. They've have been on my radar for several months. I read a post of Svetlana's(Profy), about their innovative new offerings. After, reading it, I started a little due diligence on TimeWarner. I've been wondering for what they were going to do with it. Sorry,I'll read it now.
Yep, Right on the money. Did you know that AOL also has an excellent CDN? It's one of the better one's for streaming live events. I need to look into the new CEO they just brought in from Google. I know he comes from advertising, but that's it. I think TWX is polishing up their turd, in the hopes of fetching a nice sales price!
I like AOL a lot, browse it everyday. But one thing kept me away from using aol email is they delete everything in ur mailbox if you don't login for 30 days. Unlike google, yahoo, they keep your email forever..(might be a date limit and my mail is still there after a year without logging in.)
Gee Phil,
This post reads like an add. AOL is and has been so far behind the curve they have always been an embarrassment to their owners. I hazard to guess that the survey participants were picked from AOL longtime users who have never ventured out into the real web, or did so and were intimidated. I don't think AOL, as a property is hopeless, but it certainly hasn't done anything great in a long time.
I'm glad to see a tech blog publicly acknowledging that AOL doesn't completely suck anymore.
Sure, AOL deserved the reputation it acquired during its heyday, but a lot has changed since then. I don't know anyone who still uses them as an ISP, but they do have some excellent content online (WalletPop, Engadget, etc). Their free e-mail is surprisingly good, and AIM is still the granddaddy of instant messaging programs.
Will anyone ever admit to liking AOL again? Will it ever not be uncool to have an AOL e-mail address again? Doubtful, but with their new CEO, anything's possible.
I wish them all the best.
What a very interesting article about something 10 years old that no one gives a shit about.
Do you guys still have AOL cds?