Community: Polls & Surveys

My Site

We wanted to find out what personalising a website means to you and what new functions you might (or might not) like to see on TheSite.org.


The basics

  • Nearly 200 people took part in the survey
  • Over half of the respondents were women
  • The largest percentage of people responding lived the South East
  • 18-19 year olds were the best represented age group
  • Eight percent of those taking part were under 16 and 14% were over 25

What does personalisation mean to you?

Thirty six percent of you stated that personalising a website means making it a space individual to you that shows your personality. Reflecting this view, one respondent explained that they see personalisation as "marking your own territory" while another said: "Personalisation means that I have somewhere to express myself as I see fit."

Taking these definitions a step further, 24% of you stated specific features of personalisation that would enable you to reach your aims. These included the ability to change colours, layouts and font sizes which one user summed up as "making the website much more enjoyable to use." In the same thread, 19% of you see personalisation as being able to choose what content is displayed on a website. For example, one respondent said: "Personalising a website means that you can get rid of all the things that you don't use or look at ever. So like the main page could just have all the bits you're most interested in rather than just everything."

Top five websites that use personalisation


Results

  • 1. Amazon
  • 2. MSN Myspace
  • 3. TheSite
  • 4. LiveJournal
  • 5. Yahoo

 

Twenty seven percent of people either haven't used websites with personalisation or don't think any are doing a good job.

What features would you like to see on TheSite.org?

The most popular idea for new content on TheSite.org was information based around where readers' live which 60% would like to see. In terms of functionality, 49% would like to be able to choose which content you can see on the website and 47% would embrace the ability to change the layout and colour of pages. Being shown links related to what you've previously looked at was given the thumbs up by 46%.

Next on the agenda was your desire for personal content. We wanted to know how interested you are in space for music or pictures (35%), your own diary or journal (25%) and your own blog (25%). Only 8% of you would like to see TheSite.org stay the same without any new functions.

How would you feel about having to log in to see customised or personalised content?


Results

  • Sounds like a good idea, as it would mean the things I would want personalised remain private: 46%
  • I'd rather it happened automatically, like Amazon: 37%
  • It sounds good but I don't think I would bother logging in every time I use the site: 17%

The final word

While we were keen to gauge which aspects of personalisation you would like to see incorporated into TheSite.org, we were equally eager to find out whether you would be concerned by any potential new functions. 62% ticked the No, I trust TheSite.org box while 31% worried that the website might become over complicated. 17% don't like the idea that people sitting near them could see content that's really personal to them and 14% said they would worry about TheSite.org having personal information about them.



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