It’s jarring to see so many online and mobile companies treat their users with such a lack of care.
We see ecommerce sites from the moment you arrive take over the the screen with a request for your email so they can slam you with you unsubscribeable newsletters.
Or publishers that break up an article into many pages to increase the page view count to generate more ad revenue.
Or news sites that come up with click baity headlines to get readers to click.
Facebook is carrying on this lack of respect to a whole new level. A Facebook newsfeed is filled with all sorts of things that the user didn’t ask for along with contstant push notifications that are focused on increasing retention metrics instead of user delight.
I think one of the saddest tales in this all of this is Google. A company born on the web and caputured our imagination with a brilliant simple and elegant box that delivered the fastest search results has now turned into something else. When I see their search results page today with all the ads, with all the invasive data tracking, AMP, or all the clutter it bums me out. From the outside its hard to say if they lost their way or have lost respect for us.
I am encouraged by new companies that have an authentic and sincere relationship with their customers. Slack charges only if you use their product. The Athletic delivers high quality content with a clean subscription model. Many new podcasts are thriving with fantastic content along with a few tasteful ads per episode (and an easy way to skip the ads if you don’t like them). No tracking, no retargeting.
I believe the best companies will take this approach.
It’s about respect.