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Not having the app installed but being a monthly active user, not just someone who's driving by because they clicked on a link on mobile seems like an edge case

by dewey 2mo ago

Not having the app installed but being a monthly active user, not just someone who's driving by because they clicked on a link on mobile seems like an edge case and I'm pretty sure it won't make a difference to the numbers.

Sindisil 2mo ago
A website being used in a web browser seems to you like an edge case?! Really? If that's really a common view, we really did lose the plot.
- dewey 2mo ago
  For a social media site on mobile, yes.
  - rglullis 2mo ago
    We really lost the plot, then. None of the user-facing and user-benefiting features of the social media apps need native-specific capabilities.
    - dewey 2mo ago
      It's never about the technology or if it's theoretically feasible but that tracking, push notifications and ad blocking are much better handled in mobile apps for most platforms.
      - rglullis 2mo ago
        I'm not sure I follow. Do you think that someone using the Twitter app is more or less tracked than someone using their mobile web browser?
        dewey 2mo ago
        More, as you have the advertising identifiers from Apple / Google on mobile and you are also not able to block tracking scripts / tracking ads like on mobile web (At least not without more effort or installing additional software or a vpn).
        rglullis 2mo ago
        Then we are in agreement: native apps are only made to the benefit of the companies, not the users.
        JimDabell 2mo ago
        This is not true. I’ve worked in this space. Whenever users had the choice, they chose native iOS about two thirds of the time, native Android about a quarter of the time, and web about 10% of the time. This is across all platforms, including desktop, so the actual user preference for web was even lower than that. We didn’t care which platform people used and weren’t pushing people onto native. Users genuinely prefer native apps. People don’t seem to have any problem accepting this when you compare things like Electron to desktop apps. It matters even more on resource-constrained mobile devices.
        rglullis 2mo ago
        You are talking about their choices over distribution channels. I'm talking about who gets to benefit about the features offered by these platforms.
        JimDabell 2mo ago
        > native apps are only made to the benefit of the companies, not the users. We literally built the apps because people wanted them. The whole reason the App Store exists is because when Steve Jobs told everybody that to build iPhone apps you should build web apps, people revolted and demanded native apps. The preference for native apps over web apps predates the App Store.
  - adastra22 2mo ago
    I have zero social media apps installed. Nobody in my family has social media apps. We are not the majority, but we do exist…
  - pjmlp 2mo ago
    I have no idea how Bluesky works as native app, always used the mobile Web version. Same applies to every other social media web sites I use, and yes I need to click away the banner that regularly asks to install the native app, which would anyway be Electron for mobile.
jcrben 2mo ago
One of the main reasons I don't use the app is that it makes it harder to bookmark.
- dewey 2mo ago
  My problem is usually that I bookmark in the app, but then forget about the bookmarks as they are in the walled garden. I've built something for that a few years ago (https://getbirdfeeder.com https://getbirdfeeder.com) that just sends me my Bluesky (And X, Mastodon etc.) bookmarks straight to my email inbox once a month.
HeyLaughingBoy 2mo ago
That's funny because the Bluesky app is the only social media app that I have installed. Everything else I do from the browser.
pjmlp 2mo ago
I only install games, apps that are required by specific services in the country, and the streaming apps due to the download capability, everything else is mobile Web.

by dewey 2mo ago

Sindisil 2mo ago

A website being used in a web browser seems to you like an edge case?! Really? If that's really a common view, we really did lose the plot.

dewey 2mo ago
For a social media site on mobile, yes.
- rglullis 2mo ago
  We really lost the plot, then. None of the user-facing and user-benefiting features of the social media apps need native-specific capabilities.
  - dewey 2mo ago
    It's never about the technology or if it's theoretically feasible but that tracking, push notifications and ad blocking are much better handled in mobile apps for most platforms.
    - rglullis 2mo ago
      I'm not sure I follow. Do you think that someone using the Twitter app is more or less tracked than someone using their mobile web browser?
      - dewey 2mo ago
        More, as you have the advertising identifiers from Apple / Google on mobile and you are also not able to block tracking scripts / tracking ads like on mobile web (At least not without more effort or installing additional software or a vpn).
        rglullis 2mo ago
        Then we are in agreement: native apps are only made to the benefit of the companies, not the users.
        JimDabell 2mo ago
        This is not true. I’ve worked in this space. Whenever users had the choice, they chose native iOS about two thirds of the time, native Android about a quarter of the time, and web about 10% of the time. This is across all platforms, including desktop, so the actual user preference for web was even lower than that. We didn’t care which platform people used and weren’t pushing people onto native. Users genuinely prefer native apps. People don’t seem to have any problem accepting this when you compare things like Electron to desktop apps. It matters even more on resource-constrained mobile devices.
        rglullis 2mo ago
        You are talking about their choices over distribution channels. I'm talking about who gets to benefit about the features offered by these platforms.
        JimDabell 2mo ago
        > native apps are only made to the benefit of the companies, not the users. We literally built the apps because people wanted them. The whole reason the App Store exists is because when Steve Jobs told everybody that to build iPhone apps you should build web apps, people revolted and demanded native apps. The preference for native apps over web apps predates the App Store.
- adastra22 2mo ago
  I have zero social media apps installed. Nobody in my family has social media apps. We are not the majority, but we do exist…
- pjmlp 2mo ago
  I have no idea how Bluesky works as native app, always used the mobile Web version. Same applies to every other social media web sites I use, and yes I need to click away the banner that regularly asks to install the native app, which would anyway be Electron for mobile.

jcrben 2mo ago

One of the main reasons I don't use the app is that it makes it harder to bookmark.

dewey 2mo ago
My problem is usually that I bookmark in the app, but then forget about the bookmarks as they are in the walled garden. I've built something for that a few years ago (https://getbirdfeeder.com https://getbirdfeeder.com) that just sends me my Bluesky (And X, Mastodon etc.) bookmarks straight to my email inbox once a month.

HeyLaughingBoy 2mo ago

That's funny because the Bluesky app is the only social media app that I have installed. Everything else I do from the browser.

pjmlp 2mo ago

I only install games, apps that are required by specific services in the country, and the streaming apps due to the download capability, everything else is mobile Web.