The content is half folded and you need to download the App if you want to know the funeral
Why is it so difficult to browse the web in its entirety?
Our reporter Chen Xuening
Just halfway through a piece of information, suddenly the page prompts that you must click again or download the specified App to read the full text. If you operate it carelessly, your phone will jump to the app store.
The pervasive folds and jumps greatly compromise the user experience.
The reporter's investigation found that "open the app and read the full text" has become the usual routine of most information platforms.
In order to attract new users to "hook", the platform simply castrated the information that could be fully displayed on the browser, and then set up "traps" to guide the download of the App through page pop-ups, highlighting, etc., which made people unpredictable.
The jump button became a web page "psoriasis"
Open the Sina Finance Channel with a mobile browser, and you can see that a lot of information is labeled with "App Exclusive" after the title.
Click on the title, the page will prompt "This article is a Sina Finance App exclusive article", and automatically jump to the "Sina Finance" download page of the App Store.
So, can content that are not "app exclusive" open smoothly?
The reporter randomly selected a piece of information in the front position. After clicking to enter, it was found that only part of the content could be read, the complete content was folded, and only the first 3 popular comments were displayed.
"It has an arrow sign, you think you can read the full text by clicking it, and you jump to the app store at one point." Netizens said that unless you download the App, you can't see the complete content on the web page.
The reporter browsed and found that if the arrow sign is counted separately, there will be at least 5 interactive buttons pointing to the download page of the app store in the one-screen page of the mobile phone, which really becomes a "psoriasis" existence.
A user's "hand slip" during operation may be tricked.
On the web pages of many information platforms, content folds and jumps are commonplace, but the degree of bundling varies.
For example, Tencent News and Mobile Phoenix.com have a pop-up window of "Open App", but you can read the full text after clicking Cancel, and will not automatically jump to the download page; Netease News, Sohu.com, 36氪 can directly click "Expand the full text" to read ; ZAKER does not fold the content, but you also need to download the App to post comments.
Baidu banned but still guides the download
Recently, Baidu has introduced new rules for search landing pages, requiring pages distributed through search in Baidu App to not allow the main content of pages at all levels to be folded until they are completely displayed.
Baidu said that since the "Baidu Mobile Search Landing Page Experience White Paper 5.0" went online, it has carried out detailed instructions and specifications on the setting of "Expand Full Text", but it still received a large number of complaints from users.
In order to allow users to quickly and conveniently obtain the required content from the search, reduce the operating cost of browsing information, and ensure the browsing experience, this new rule has been introduced.
However, many netizens do not buy into Baidu's "show good".
Because of this "open the app, read the full text" operation, Baidu itself is still familiar with it.
The reporter randomly searched for keywords on the Baidu website, and the homepage showed a message from the Baijia account set up by a certain media on Baidu.
After clicking to enter, a menu will pop up immediately at the bottom of the page, prompting you to click to open the Baidu App, or continue to use the browser to browse.
Among them, the "Open" button is highlighted in blue, and the "Continue" button is a very inconspicuous white text on a gray background.
After selecting "Continue", only part of the content will be displayed on the page. Click the arrow sign and the page will automatically jump to the Baidu App download page in the app store. Click Back again to return to the original page and display all the content in full.
If you want to view the high-definition pictures on the page, you also need to open the App to view.
Platform "enclosure" excuses to enhance user experience
"For the sake of users? It's just because I'm afraid of losing my users," said some netizens in response to the new regulations introduced by Baidu App.
Coincidentally, before Baidu App announced the prohibition of page folding and redirection, WeChat also announced that it would close the external link of the Mini Program and no longer provide technical services for opening the Mini Program.
From the perspective of the industry, Internet platforms are so sensitive to "outside chains" that they hope to build their own ecological closed loop and avoid making wedding dresses for others.
Correspondingly, enthusiasm for folding jumps is also to retain users for their own platforms and increase user stickiness.
In this process, "improving user experience" is the best shield. When you want to guide downloads, user experience has become the first victim.
In order to solve the trouble of jumping to read the full text, netizens have made unique tricks.
For example, individual niche browsers can install plug-ins to optimize Baidu search pages to automatically expand Baijiahao articles, but most users still jump between downloading and uninstalling.
The business consulting organization "Sanyi Life" believes that folding and jumping has become a common practice in the industry because the website operator believes that it is profitable.
By unfolding the operation of reading the full text, guiding users to register or download the App is a relatively low-cost way to acquire customers.
"What developers want is that users can't get a complete experience on the web, and avoid being controlled by search engines/browsers."
How to balance the contradiction between traffic cravings and user experience? This is a question to be considered in the process of platform horse racing and enclosure. According to industry insiders, instead of "inducing" downloads with all sorts of tricks, it is better to improve content quality and user experience, and let users download the App willingly.