Dan

GOV.UK app currently sitting at 2.6/5 on Google Play. Recent reviews complain of errors, crashes, inability to log in.

- "Just links that open in your browser"
- "What's the point of this app?"
- "Just sends me to the website"
- "Literally useless"
- "I can get these links from a search engine"

😬

I wish people knew what accessible names were. 😩

Google launches new 'AI mode' search feature in UK The new tool marks a significant change for the search giant but raises questions for advertisers.

"But we rely on search traffic! What will we do if people don't click our links?!"

Been warning all my employers for the past decade that this was coming, and how to prepare for it. None of them wanted to listen. Sigh.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I have a skeleton framework in progress for a presentation on "creating and managing content in the age of AI" - non-technical ways that people can give their content the best chance of success in this landscape etc.

Might try to convert it into a blog post too.

Google services can, in theory, provide adult content. Will such verification checks ultimately apply to that platform?

What rights does an employee have, if they refuse to verify themselves, should an employer require them to use such services?

Did anything think this through? Of course not.

If Acme Corp has a Bluesky account, and Joe Bloggs is their social media manager, who verifies themselves so that the company can continue to use the platform?

Can Joe Bloggs identify that they are posting on behalf of a company? Can they revoke their ties to the account when they leave the org?

What are you supposed to do if you need to use services that require age-verification for work purposes?

Do you verify yourself, thereby intrinsically tying your identity to work accounts? Your line manager? Your procurement team? What happens when you leave the org and someone replaces you?

But also *so few* organisations are thinking about this.

Traffic from LLM platforms is forecast to surpass that of traditional search engines by 2027. How many orgs have a plan or strategy for this?!

One of the most sensible posts on the whole content design/AI sitution.

I'm not as much "the sky is falling, woe is us" on the whole thing as some content folks are. It's just another change and another way that content design as a discipline needs to evolve.

The Content Management industry is doomed to chase flash in the pan feature trends until it recognizes the fact that its job isn’t producing artifacts, but facilitating communication.

Assessing the effectiveness of a message is difficult, so we’re buried in terrible proxy metrics.

Word choice matters. Swap the word "fail" for the word "can't" in this headline, and let's have a proper conversation.

"Stipend" not really UK terminology, more common in European parlance. Dodgy URL. Need to do something urgently. Overseas dialling code. 🚩

You can see how some might fall for it though.

I agree, and I think it genuinely has the potential to make the internet borderline unusable in the UK if applied to the full extent that OFCOM stipulates.

But do I have the confidence that UK Gov will go back on it? I wish I could say yes, but...

Well, tbh it looks like you can stick around even if you don't do the verification. But you just can't access DMs?!

So I'll probably stick around as long as I can. I'm not super active here really anyway. I don't have many spicy content design hot takes anymore. 😢

Where we goin' next, then?!

I'm tired tbh. 😩

"Legal say this entire paragraph *must* be formatted as an H2." 😩

Honestly wonder why I do this to myself.

Music producer Stromae, working on a laptop. Comedian Jamel Debbouze approaches and asks "excuse me for bothering you but aren't you making something shitty?"

Me, rocking up to your team's Show and Tell:

Play Store reviews largely agree.

- "Just a collection of links to web pages"
- "Doesn't do anything that I can't do on the website"
- "Pointless. Just gives you links to GOV.UK"
- "It's just a web search shortcut."
- "I deleted it and just used the website."

Currently has a 3/5 rating.

I guess that's less of a concern if both the app and browser experience remain aligned. But if certain content or functionality comes to depend on the app, then I could see potential problems.

And again, an app feels at odds to me there. An app is, by it's very nature, exclusionary. It requires that you have a relatively modern phone, with a supported OS, that you have a data plan or WiFi access. It introduces extra accessibility considerations.

I think you're right, and it does feel a bit premature for me to write it off entirely. 😆

I'd guess I'd like to see more open comms and plans. Why the choices have been made, where it's going etc. Would prevent me being dismissive and fumbling in the dark trying to understand the logic haha.

I agree, I can't help but feel I'm not the intended audience. Perhaps it's aimed at those who spend significantly more time interacting with GOV than me? Business owners?

Maybe this app is going somewhere in the coming months and years that means there is a genuine need and use case for it. If so, it would be good to know more about that. Share a roadmap?

But as others have said, right now it feels like a "solution" to a "problem" that doesn't exist.

Screenshot from GOV.UK. Reads: Other UK government apps. The GOV.UK app is separate from the GOV.UK One Login app, GOV.UK ID Check app, HMRC app, EU Exit: ID Document Check app, UK Immigration: ID Check app, UK ETA app."

😵‍💫

Screenshot from GOV.UK introducing the GOV.UK app. It explains that using the app I can browse GOV.UK content, get notifications, find local services, keep a record of pages I've visited, save relevant topics.

I can literally do all this on the website, in a browser. On desktop or mobile. Using bookmarks if necessary.

This seems to assume that I want to spend significant time "hanging out" on the app every day.

What does it do that the website doesn't? Isn't it just the website wrapped in a native app wrapper?

Still confused. Is there a roadmap for where it's going and what it'll do later?

Why do I need a GOV.UK app? I interact with government a handful of times a year, at the very most.

Am I not the intended audience? Confused.

First thing I did on opening the newly rebranded home page was to reach for my sunglasses. It's blinding! 😩

Count me as another person who prefers contracting, solely so I don't have to deal with this. 😆

Wish literally any of my stakeholders and leadership were thinking about any of this. 😩

It's all still "meta descriptions and keywords", at best.