4 ms·

What social mobile apps don't require you to login? Twitter does, Facebook does, Google+ does, I can't name a single one that doesn't.

by Grue3 11y ago

ansible 11y ago
I think the point is that you should be allowed to browse without a login. Then, when you want to use any of the social features, you will be asked to create an account. I've looked at photos on Flickr without having an account on the web, why not with a mobile app too?
- harryf 11y ago
  Exactly. Flickr and Tumblr are both primarily about the content - there's no need to force users to login before they can explore. Also Facebook, Twitter et. al are the wrong examples to be looking at - brands already so strong people will jump through hoops to use them. If you're Yahoo! - coming from behind - your brand and even the brands of Flickr and Tumblr aren't strong enough to to require users login before they get to try anything. In the case of Tumblr you might get the _existing_ userbase from the web to come with you but you won't succeed in growing that audience on mobile. Examples that do use gradual engagement would be games. Clash of the Clans for example - a huge success on mobile - let's you immediately start playing without any form of identification. Many mobile games have strong social elements but they focus first on getting you engaged before requiring anything.
- jonas21 11y ago
  That's fine, but the claim that "The reason why Yahoo! has failed so far with their mobile apps is very simple - they try to force users to login" doesn't hold up when the most popular app in the world forces uses to log in.
  - harryf 11y ago
    > the claim [...] doesn't hold up when the most popular app in the world forces uses to log in. Strongly disagree. Facebook (which I assume is what you mean by "the most popular app") was and still is _the_ social network. It's success on mobile has been driven by massive network effects. As such they can force users to jump through hoops which are in Facebook's favour because users want in so badly. That said Facebook doesn't get a free pass on device permissions, which is why they use gradual engagement in Messenger like this: http://installclub.tumblr.com/post/82319976281/double-opt-in-to-permissions http://installclub.tumblr.com/post/82319976281/double-opt-in... But if you want to attack the leader, or simply grow your mobile user base, you don't get the same luxury or network effects Facebook has. Yahoo! doesn't have anything users want _so_ bad that they'll jump through hoops to get it. But anyway - another a great example of an app "doing it right" is Airbnb - they let you browse properties without logging in - see http://firsttimeux.tumblr.com/post/83588089909/airbnb-ios-app-first-time-user-experience-the http://firsttimeux.tumblr.com/post/83588089909/airbnb-ios-ap... for details - this gives people a chance to see what they're getting before going through the pain of signup. This is the model Yahoo! should follow as their apps, like Airbnb, are primarily about the content not the social element
nly 11y ago
Whatsapp doesn't. I'd say this was huge at driving its adoption.
- GFischer 11y ago
  Tying the username to the phone number was brilliant, and I don't know why others hadn't succeeded before with that approach, or why don't others copy it. It is quite annoying when you want to switch phone numbers though (not a common use case, but at least in my country if you want to switch providers you have to switch phone numbers).
  - harryf 11y ago
    What's probably slowed adoption of that approach is too much "web thinking" in the app design process and too much "But what does Google / Facebook / Twitter do?" In fact Twitter provides SMS based signup as a free service for app developers as part of Fabric - https://get.digits.com/ https://get.digits.com/
- Angostura 11y ago
  From what I recall, however Whatsapp won't let me dip my toe in the water on IOS without full access to all my Contacts. It got uninstalled pretty quick.
  - nly 11y ago
    Yeah, an option to selectively add contacts would have been great but logically that would require an OS provided contact picker. Does either iOS or Android provide such a beast with an appropriate API? If not, you can't exactly blame Whatsapp for wanting a nice experience for users.

What social mobile apps don't require you to login? Twitter does, Facebook does, Google+ does, I can't name a single one that doesn't.

by Grue3 11y ago

What social mobile apps don't require you to login? Twitter does, Facebook does, Google+ does, I can't name a single one that doesn't.

ansible 11y ago

I think the point is that you should be allowed to browse without a login. Then, when you want to use any of the social features, you will be asked to create an account. I've looked at photos on Flickr without having an account on the web, why not with a mobile app too?

harryf 11y ago
Exactly. Flickr and Tumblr are both primarily about the content - there's no need to force users to login before they can explore. Also Facebook, Twitter et. al are the wrong examples to be looking at - brands already so strong people will jump through hoops to use them. If you're Yahoo! - coming from behind - your brand and even the brands of Flickr and Tumblr aren't strong enough to to require users login before they get to try anything. In the case of Tumblr you might get the _existing_ userbase from the web to come with you but you won't succeed in growing that audience on mobile. Examples that do use gradual engagement would be games. Clash of the Clans for example - a huge success on mobile - let's you immediately start playing without any form of identification. Many mobile games have strong social elements but they focus first on getting you engaged before requiring anything.
jonas21 11y ago
That's fine, but the claim that "The reason why Yahoo! has failed so far with their mobile apps is very simple - they try to force users to login" doesn't hold up when the most popular app in the world forces uses to log in.
- harryf 11y ago
  > the claim [...] doesn't hold up when the most popular app in the world forces uses to log in. Strongly disagree. Facebook (which I assume is what you mean by "the most popular app") was and still is _the_ social network. It's success on mobile has been driven by massive network effects. As such they can force users to jump through hoops which are in Facebook's favour because users want in so badly. That said Facebook doesn't get a free pass on device permissions, which is why they use gradual engagement in Messenger like this: http://installclub.tumblr.com/post/82319976281/double-opt-in-to-permissions http://installclub.tumblr.com/post/82319976281/double-opt-in... But if you want to attack the leader, or simply grow your mobile user base, you don't get the same luxury or network effects Facebook has. Yahoo! doesn't have anything users want _so_ bad that they'll jump through hoops to get it. But anyway - another a great example of an app "doing it right" is Airbnb - they let you browse properties without logging in - see http://firsttimeux.tumblr.com/post/83588089909/airbnb-ios-app-first-time-user-experience-the http://firsttimeux.tumblr.com/post/83588089909/airbnb-ios-ap... for details - this gives people a chance to see what they're getting before going through the pain of signup. This is the model Yahoo! should follow as their apps, like Airbnb, are primarily about the content not the social element

nly 11y ago

Whatsapp doesn't. I'd say this was huge at driving its adoption.

GFischer 11y ago
Tying the username to the phone number was brilliant, and I don't know why others hadn't succeeded before with that approach, or why don't others copy it. It is quite annoying when you want to switch phone numbers though (not a common use case, but at least in my country if you want to switch providers you have to switch phone numbers).
- harryf 11y ago
  What's probably slowed adoption of that approach is too much "web thinking" in the app design process and too much "But what does Google / Facebook / Twitter do?" In fact Twitter provides SMS based signup as a free service for app developers as part of Fabric - https://get.digits.com/ https://get.digits.com/
Angostura 11y ago
From what I recall, however Whatsapp won't let me dip my toe in the water on IOS without full access to all my Contacts. It got uninstalled pretty quick.
- nly 11y ago
  Yeah, an option to selectively add contacts would have been great but logically that would require an OS provided contact picker. Does either iOS or Android provide such a beast with an appropriate API? If not, you can't exactly blame Whatsapp for wanting a nice experience for users.