It's not entirely true that native apps can't deal with URLs. On Android, they can handle them well with intents and on iOS, they can at least open URLs of a ce

It's not entirely true that native apps can't deal with URLs. On Android, they can handle them well with intents and on iOS, they can at least open URLs of a certain protocol. The main issue is that the receiving user probably doesn't have the actually app. That's the benefit of web presence from a sharing/virality perspective.