An experiment by Twitter to show content on iOS devices using Safari Reader dramatically changes the material, removing ads and reader engagement options and sometimes preventing the content from showing at all. Here’s an interactive tour.
The Twitter/Safari Reader test
Last week, Twitter began making use of Safari Reader for some people on iOS devices. Using this strips content of ads and many other things when people click from a tweet to the content, causing it to load within the Twitter app. This can be a nicer reading experience in some cases, but it can also mean important material for both readers and publishers goes missing.
Twitter has said publicly that this is a test involving people who appear to be picked at random. It hasn’t confirmed how long it will run or how many people are involved.
I’m in that group. This began for me last Thursday on my iPhone and completely confused me. I had no idea why it was happening or that Twitter had made a change:
Twitter is freaking me out. Stories are loading as if they're in Apple News. Is that kicking in if a story is available in that format? — Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 28, 2016
Since then, the test has also started happening on my iPad. The examples below show you the impact this has had on content I’ve viewed there, how content has been stripped of elements because of Reader.
On the left, you can see what a publisher is normally showing to readers. On the right, you can see what Twitter actually displays. By default, it’s the Twitter view that people in the test group see. They don’t see the “normal” view unless they deliberately click on the little black menu icon in the address bar, assuming they know to do this.
Use the slider to switch between both views. (Thanks to our social media reporter Tim Peterson for setting these up.) Also, if you’re on a mobile device, we’re working to make these easier to view.
Ads blocked
In the example above, you can see how when clicking to a Bloomberg story, Twitter removes a banner ad from the top of the story, and all the sidebar content, along with other material.
Ads & share units blocked
This example shows how a story from New York Magazine has sharing options at the end removed. Yes, ironically, Twitter’s new view makes it harder for people to share a story back to Twitter.
Ads & social sharing options blocked
This example shows how a story from The Verge has both ads and social sharing options removed.
App install prompt blocked, as well as ads
The example above shows how Twitter prevents a prompt to install the app for Fox Sports from appearing, as well as stripping ads.
Email sign-up box blocked
In this example from History.com, an option to sign up to get headlines via email that shows at the end of a story was removed, along with other content.
Everything blocked!
This example is a post on Medium where Twitter’s use of Reader caused it to display a blank page. Yes, absolutely nothing at all was shown.
Why not use AMP?
We have asked Twitter (twice) for a statement about the test, including how long it will last, if it’s expanding, if it’s based on accounts and any reaction to concerns that publishers may have. We’ve not gotten a response but will update if one comes in.
We also asked why Twitter isn’t using AMP pages as a way to both deliver cleaner, faster loading content while also respecting publisher wishes to show ads and engagement options.
Twitter pledged to support the AMP project last year but to date hasn’t seemed to expand use of it beyond in embedded tweets and in Moments, which began earlier this year.
By the way, if you don’t like this feature as a user, you can disable it using settings in Twitter:
Go to settings from within the Twitter app, then look for the “Display and sound” section, then toggle the “Open links in Reader View” option.
If you don’t like this feature as a publisher, of course, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Postscript: Twitter has reconfirmed to Marketing Land that this is a test but gave no comment other than that.
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