New research reveals opinions of social media users about large banks in the US and Europe over the last 12 months.

Social media users posted many more negative opinions than positive about Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and other large banks in the US and Europe over the last 12 months. Only Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) avoided complete loathing, according to a new social media analytics report from Amplicate.

The report found that 87% of all opinions on social media about Bank of America were negative over the last 12 months. Other banks did not perform much better: 83% of opinions about major banks in the US and Europe were negative over the 12 months.

Citigroup avoided complete loathing with 39% of opinions expressing something approaching love for the US banking giant.

Negative comments

ING, on the other hand, was the most hated bank on social media. 97% of opinions on the Dutch bank were negative over the 12 months, with Dutch social media users accounting for nearly all the hatred.

Although ING was the most hated in percentage terms, many more negative opinions were posted about Bank of America, which was by far the most talked about bank on social media over the 12 months. 40% of all opinions about major banks in the US and Europe in the last 12 months were comments on the American bank.

Hatred for Bank of America reached its height in December 2010, when social media users objected strongly to the bank's decision to force the closure of numerous websites. Only 8% of comments on Bank of America were positive in the month.

Influence

The new report reveals that, although haters of banks on social media are far more numerous than fans of banks, the fans of banks are far more influential. The average fan of banks had twice as many followers or friends as the hater of banks over the last 12 months.