I may have been a bit behind-the-times since I started using a phone to browse the internet just two years ago. I still prefer my PC when it comes to doing just about anything, but I can’t deny the usefulness of being able to access the net just about anywhere I can get cell service.
About a year ago I decided to get a tablet which is also very cool, and I really love being able to download books and read them on my tablet.
There is at least one thing about using the internet on a mobile device that I find extremely irritating. A number of websites (particularly news websites) are constantly wanting me to download their app. Sometimes, a site will prompt me with their annoying “Download Our App!” pop-up every time I visit the site during a single browsing session.
Now I realize that many of them may be setting cookies so they can avoid throwing the same stupid pop-up in visitor’s faces every time they visit the site, but perhaps I have the security settings on my browser configured to block or delete pop-ups. And why wouldn’t I? With all this NSA spying and tracking for commercial purposes that goes on, maybe some of us just don’t like browsing while feeling like we have someone looking over our shoulder.
Here’s a clue, and one particularly apropos for news sites like local newspapers or TV and radio stations. Why in hell would I want to download your app when I live 2,000 miles away from your location and may visit your site only a couple of times per year?
Do they not realize that large numbers of visitors may be visiting their site when a story of theirs is featured on a big news site like DrudgeReport.com? Trust me, as someone living in the southeast, I am not the least bit interested in contributing to the bloat of the apps already resident on my phone or tablet by installing a news app from a newspaper site based in Fresno, California!
As most surfers probably already know, there are ways for website operators to determine where you are coming from when you visit their site. There are exceptions, of course, but in general, most sites can at least determine what country and state, province, prefecture or canton you are coming from.
Why not just throw the annoying pop-up for your nifty app up for people who actually live in your general area? As the owner of a few websites myself, I know this is very possible, and not that difficult – even for someone like me who is not a programmer.
So, give us a break will you please? Closing those pop-ups is a royal pain in the ass, especially on a mobile device where you have to hit that tiny “X” just right with your finger to close it.
Do you really think every visitor to your site wants to download your app? For people that are local to your area, perhaps so, but I highly doubt that visitors from other areas of the country or the world have even a slight desire to download it. Get real, please.
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