Visual analytics tools are used when interpreting and analyzing weakly formalized or non-formalized data. The paper considers the problem of the influence of subjective factors on efficiency of the visualization tools. Based on the previously proposed and developed se-miotic visualization model, a system of initiating factors is formulated that have a significant impact on the effectiveness of visualization tools. A controllability hypothesis is formulated, on the basis of which an assumption is made about limitations of visualization systems It is proposed to take these limitations into consideration when designing new visual analytics tools. Approbation of the assertions presented in the work was carried out on the example of social data.