"This community is available in the app" • Hacker News Board

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#191

Post by lultimouomo » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 3:48 PM UTC

thaumaturgy wrote: post #30

Reddit has been a/b testing behavior like this for months. Multiple different popups with variations on "view this in the app"; in some cases the popup is on every single page load, sometimes only once. They started blurring images on select subreddits with a message that you could only view the sub in their app. Okay, I know they're chasing one of two things here: a higher level of revenue from the advertising they…

With the app you are basically deanonimized (e.g. if you use the Facebook app on that phone they can link your accounts), so they can either sell more targeted and valuable ads, or straight up sell your data.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#192

Post by motohagiography » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 3:52 PM UTC

Reddit was a great place to engage with ideas, and then move on from them, but turning it into just another surveillance operation is where communities go to die.

I still think I know how Reddit could make money, but it's possible they are too staid to get it. They may have also lost the plot politically, where a particular flavour of virtue is becoming a substitute for the growth and success they actually need to effect the change they want to.

The music business is and always was a celebrity and micro-celebrity factory, and Reddit (and their main magazine empire investor) could be that for content. Imagine a record label like Time Warner happened to own every indie bar in every little city where bands played, got first option on every group that came through the doors, and could measure audience reaction in real time.

That's what Reddit is, but for content.

This pressuring users to give up PII sounds like there is a sea change happening at the corporate/financial level where they've been given a limited runway and need to show some short term traction, "or else." I've mostly kicked my reddit habit, and their strategy really resembles something they'd do if they're hitting a negative inflection point.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#193

Post by whatsmyusername » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 3:52 PM UTC

willberman wrote: post #67

krtkush wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instagram only allows you to see a portion of a user's photos before forcing you to login. It does this on both mobile and browser. For the curious, adblockers can get rid of the annoying pop-ups.

I just tried, and I can only use my adblocker to block the element that requests I login. My scrolling is still stopped, and I can't see anymore of a user's photos. Am I missing something?

Scroll till you hit the modal, then ublock zapper it.

If you permablock it with the picker the scroller will break. They have something from the modal logic tied into the scrolling logic.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#194

Post by pixl97 » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 3:53 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #112

GlitchMr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark Zuckerberg cannot do this. He could sell his shares and leave Facebook, but it would still work. Your best bet about shutting down Facebook is government action or useds leaving Facebook. Either of those seems almost impossible however, and keep in mind Facebook has money to purchase its competitors if useds start moving to them.

We just need regulation. If Facebook advertising is used to promote a scam then Facebook should be considered complicit for the crime and punished. The market will do the rest. Facebook doesn’t want to be fined so will force all ads to be reviewed & approved manually. This costs money so in turn the price of the ads will go up. Legitimate brands will still be able to afford it, the rest will disappear. Overall there…

Regulations, at least in the US will be purchased by the multi billion dollar ad companies.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#195

Post by gsich » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 3:59 PM UTC

majewsky wrote: post #186

Freak_NL wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browsers are agents of the user, apps are agents of the company behind the app. With a browser the user can install extensions and do things that benefit them, in an app you get exactly what the app owner gives you. If monetization is your only purpose, you would choose apps exclusively if your users are willing to accept it.

> Browsers are agents of the user The most-used browsers, too, are agents of the company making them.

Compared to most company apps: yes, they are at least somewhat user focused.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#196

Post by pixl97 » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 4:02 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #104

willberman wrote: post #51

Instagram only allows you to see a portion of a user's photos before forcing you to login. It does this on both mobile and browser. I'm not a big application design junkey, but it's behavior like this that makes me appreciate the simplicity of hacker news. A few standard concepts implemented in their most basic form. No changes in the name of more user engagement. I understand that Reddit and Instagram's primary moti…

> but these sorts of "features" remove me from their pool of potential customers. And they don’t want customers who don’t earn them money, like all businesses.

That works great, until you run off the people that post interesting content.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#197

Post by kianigreycliff » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

thewhitetulip wrote: post #84

I gave up on read Quora when they forced logins I will give up on reddit if they do the same. Isn't visits a valid criteria? Why force a mobile app?

Just an fyi if you take the slug from any answered quora question and plug it into google you can view the page. They only require login if you are coming from another quora page. It's not convenient and they are certainly slimy but it does allow you to view any question without login.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#198

Post by mighty_bander » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 4:09 PM UTC

In depressing times like these, I like to remember that something like 30% of users have adblockers installed. It might seem like people will mindlessly go along with this sort of manipulation, but there is still a place for independent thought on the web. Not on facebook, Reddit, Instagram, or really any other big-name site, but you can find it if you look.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#199

Post by gruez » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC

jaynetics wrote: post #88

rahuldottech wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- much harder to block ads in apps than in browsers.

Good point. I use DNS66 which blocks ads in both so I forgot about that.

I'm surprised that'd even work considering that all the reddit ads are first-party.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#200

Post by dreamcompiler » Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 4:14 PM UTC

andybak wrote: post #111

codedokode wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A website cannot silently read a phone number and list of nearby WiFi access points for geolocation, scan local drive for interesting files, show annoying notifications every hour to return user back to the app.

Neither can an app without the relevant permissions. Which of those things can the official Reddit app do currently? If you're saying "the Reddit app will slowly change to do bad things" then say that and don't imply it already does those things.

Even if the user has fine-grained control over these things, the app can just refuse to run until they're granted. I don't know if the reddit app does so, but many do.

This is why users need control over the internal API layer of their phones so they can feed spoofed data to apps.