by Jeff Elder, WSJ

User satisfaction with social media websites is improving, paced by Facebook’s success with its mobile app and advertising, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Facebook, which was the lowest-ranking social-media site in 2012, has climbed to the middle of the pack with the largest improvement since then, driven by growing user satisfaction with its mobile app, said ACSI Director David VanAmburg. The latest index was released Tuesday.

Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group market researchers, agreed that mobile success improved user experience. Solis called Facebook “a quintessential case study of mobile user satisfaction.”

Search engines do not rate as well with mobile users, however. Overall customer satisfaction for search engines declined in the new index, as did Google’s satisfaction score according to Solis.