Are website owners bullying visitors with content locking?

Beverly Level X³

June 6, 2016, 2:45 am

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Are website owners bullying visitors with content locking?

A lot of the really big name websites use content locking to ensure audience participation. And, if you want to see what's on the site or access content, you have to take some kind of action such as sharing the page on Facebook or tweeting about it.

Other sites like Zulily, a shopping deals site also locks their content by forcing opt-in to the site newsletter before you can access the content.

Do you think this is a bully tactic to force interaction or smart marketing tactic to build email list and social signals?

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robertman11

robertman11

Forcing website participation of any kind will get your site on my block list. I won't visit and I won't join. The same goes for the adblocker sites that require you to disable your adblocker.

I'm pretty sure require a tweet/like/etc before you can access the page is against the social media TOS. You should report them.

9 years ago

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Beverly

Beverly

These content locker sites annoy me on the same level as the ones that do unstoppable light box pop ups on page entry. Typically, you can just click away from those, but more recent ones make it so you have to click some lame opt out text like, 'No thanks! I don't want 10 billion spam leads to my site!" Not those exact words but whatever it is they wanted me to sign up for (free leads info) was likely going to be a spam technique anyway. I love being able to go to a site and have some level of control over what I do there, not being forced into sharing or subscribing to enjoy the content.

At this point, I wonder what Google says about this and/or would they likely start penalize sites that abuse this content locking technique.

9 years ago

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robertman11

robertman11

When I visit a site that has a popup immediately, asking for something, I hit the X in the upper right without even looking at the content of the popup. These are akin to those old popup ads we use to see and I've already started blocking them out. If the close the popup X/cancel option isn't immediately available, I hit the back button.

I also hate those sites that take an article and split it into 4 or 5 pages. I always leave those sites too. Some are more clever, they provide half the story which you read and get interested and then to get the rest you have to unblock ads or do some action (like signup or like the page). Really annoying. I hope they die a slow death.

9 years ago

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Beverly

Beverly

Very ironic you would mention the 'articles split over many pages' thing, as last night I clicked on a link for an article about '20 Top Iconic Wedding Dresses of All Time' and it ended up being an annoying 20 page slide show. Annoyingly beyond that, they did a pop under. A huge waste of ten minutes looking at something that should have taken ten seconds to scroll on one page. Theoretically speaking, a website page could be endless, not really sure what the purpose could be for splitting something so many times, except to get banner impressions/page views and monetize the same content repeatedly.

9 years ago

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W130SN

W130SN

I will normally walk away from forced content locking or use a dummy account/disposable email to access the content.
There are a few high quality sites that I don't mind sharing but those that force it actually damage the user experience/engagement.
It can also affect a websites Bounce Rate if people would rather leave the page than complete the action.
Also GoogleBot may have trouble reading the content from some lockers and if it can't crawl/read the content it will have a negative effect on the site.
Content Lockers have a place but they have to be used wisely.

9 years ago

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hitmeasap

hitmeasap

I would say it's a superb method to build your email list and get valuable visitors, as each visitor will need to sign up for a newsletter or similar things to access the content. A great way to build a list without for sure. These visitors sign up because they're interested. They want the content and they most likely need the content. At least, they're willing to sign up because they're curious. With that being said, I would definitely say it's a "bully tactic" as Beverly stated and I personally leave immediately whenever I stumble across such things. I like the fact of "free information" and I strongly think information should be truly free, if you are claiming to provide it. You purchase services & products using your cold cash, but signing up to newsletters and such is another way of paying for it. It's still an act of payment.. Even though most people still sees this as totally free as it does not involve any money-transfers. So basically, I'm against it but I do understand why people are doing it.

9 years ago

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TommyCarey

TommyCarey

From a marketing stand point I think it's a great idea. From a user stand point I get really annoyed when I go to a website and the content is locked until I add my email or fill out a survey.

Some websites that do content locking are getting a bit ridiculous. I've seen content locked websites that are locking duplicate content and/or content that is just a snippet with a link. It's like they're not even trying, they just copy the first paragraph from a news article and want you to fill out they survey/locked page stuff in order to see the link for a different website.

Now I have seen some good content lockers that I'm willing to fill out. Mainly the newsletter content lockers because I can just opt back out when I get a newsletter from the website admin or whomever sends it out. On these websites I've noticed that they have much better content that I will actually read through so I feel it's worth it to add my email in which I can remove later if I'd like.

9 years ago

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Beverly

Beverly

Sometime back, I was on this website that had some kind of premium script download. And, their 'lock' was a refer-a-friend script. Not sure if this idea would work now, but maybe worth a try?
Possibly that would promote spam, which is not really what you want. I can see where this idea of a locker could be used by a Facebook page (assuming it's still allowed) for a contest or freebie, "share to get your freebie" type of promotion.

9 years ago

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MasterA

MasterA

Well, there is no free lunch in this world. If you want something, then you need to work for it. That is the same theory behind content locking. For Zulily, it is only subscribing to a newsletter and at the end of the day, you are getting better deals so it is worth it. As a webmaster, the important thing is that you offer good content so people will take your offer to access it. Content locking is similar to enforcing adblockers; it is just another way to ensure the websites earn money. As the audience, I hate it but as a webmaster, it is a pretty standard thing.

9 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

I don't like it at all when a site does this. I just leave. I won't share content unless I like it and I want to share it of my own accord.

I find it annoying. I also don't like it when I have to register on a website in order to leave a comment, then I just leave it.

8 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

I don’t think it’s a good idea to use that locking function in forcing the visitor to log in. I know of one website that did that before. All you can see in the website is the home page with nothing on it except the advice for you to log in or register so you can gain access and see the contents. The lock remains until today but they admitted that they rarely get new members. That’s fine is they want to make their website exclusive. That locking device is a turn off and I would never ever register just to see the contents of that website.

7 years ago

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augusta

augusta

I come across sites like this and I don't just bother my pretty head when there. are other alternative sites to get the needed information. it most times their loss in terms of traffic because a lot of people like me might not what to do their bidding but just move swiftly to the next alternative sites and that ends it.I think it a total bullying telling users to tweet,share, sign up or follow whatever before getting access to any blog I don't fancy those so I move on very fast.

7 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

This tactic may have worked before but nowadays these won't succeed. Whenever a site does this trick, it's a sign that it's desperate for views and customers, which doesn't work anymore due to the amount of competition out there. I usually just look for a different website every time I encounter this practice.

7 years ago

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