It began with a simple link to a news article, shared by a fellow Central Texas security pro:
At first glance, I thought the article pertained to a story I have been following (and have written about) - a series of coordinated ATM heists over the past few years, involving large numbers of stolen payment cards and large numbers of hired hands, stealing millions of dollars from thousands of ATMs at once.
Alas, I could not read the story.
Clicking the link in Twitter's client for my Android phone did not open the story on the ABC web site. Instead, the link opened Google Play Store, asking me to install the ABC News mobile app.
In this case though, the the source of my consternation is a bit different:
ABC News makes use of "Twitter Cards" - a sometimes-useful way to enrich content shared through that social media platform. Used properly, Twitter Cards have their place. I personally find it useful to see a lead photo and brief synopsis of an article before choosing to read the entire thing. When sharing a link, it means I can use the entire 140 characters (well, minus the 23 characters consumed by a URL) to give my thoughts on the subject, without having to also describe the content - knowing the card will contain the article title and preview text.
Summary cards, photo cards, and (as long as they do not auto-play), video and audio player cards are one thing.
Twitter also provides a card type to represent mobile apps - perhaps appropriate if the tweet is promoting an app, but infuriating if the tweet is sharing a news article. And therein is the trap that ABC News fell into.
When using the Twitter web client on a desktop or laptop client, the link included in the tweet is the actual URL that the original poster shared. However, when using the Twitter app for Android, or iPhone, or iPad (though not, in my testing, if using a web browser on those same platforms), Twitter reads the meta tags included in the website, and replaces the article URL with a redirection to install the mobile app for that platform.
If I want to install an app, I'll go to my preferred app store and find it. But if I want to read a news article about an event I have been following, I want to see the article - I don't want to be bounced to your mobile app. Worse still, there is no way to bypass the app and go to the story.
What is my point? Consider how your audience will react when making design and UX (user experience) decisions. Using an App Card for your news site doesn't drive installations of your app. Rather, it drives readers away from you and to other, more reader-friendly, websites.
Troy Hunt wrote a beautiful rant earlier in 2016, about the annoying ways websites drive customers batty. Just add this to the list.
