The Mobile Web Still Matters. A Lot.

The mobile web only seems like an anachronism. Because seriously, who actually opens up Safari or Chrome on their phone and goes searching for a website, particularly one that already has an app.

I say “seems” because the thing about those apps, particularly the ubiquitous ones like Facebook and Twitter is that any link you find in them gets opened up in either the app’s own browser… or in Safari or Chrome. So a New York Times article found on mobile Facebook gets opened in a mobile browser. Not the New York Times app. Ditto video. In fact the more popular an article or a video is (see how I successfully avoided the “c” word there), the more likely it is to be seen via the mobile web.

That’s why it’s so important for sites to be optimized and designed for the mobile web. No matter how many smartphone apps they have. Because until Facebook agrees to link to your iPhone app, you’re going to have millions of Facebook users watching on their iPhone’s Safari browser. And if the experience is suboptimal, you’re the one getting dinged. Not Facebook. Not Apple. Not Safari.

It’s an obvious thing, but I’m always surprised by how many times I hear people say “but we already have an app” as they dismiss the need for a well-done mobile website, particularly for video-heavy sites. No quicker way to lose your audience than ignoring the mobile web.