It’s the little things.
Read-later app Pocket recently announced a suite of tools for publishers, including the ability to ”add a custom text footer message that will appear at the bottom of any article saved from your site.”
I saw it in action for the first time on this great article on The Awl that celebrates the invaluable work that editors do, and bids a heartfelt farewall to departing Awl editor Carrie Frye.
This is the message at the end of the article:
Thanks for reading The Awl! We appreciate you. Hey, do you like reading on your iPhone? You could test out our app for free and see if you like it.
I know that this message is being displayed to everyone who is reading The Awl inside Pocket…and yet I can’t help but be completely charmed.
The Awl isn’t one of my most visited sites (I think the only other Awl story I’ve read is Jeb Boniakowski’s magisterial We Must Build An Enormous McWorld In Times Square, A Xanadu Representing A McDonald’s From Every Nation. Read this now. Seriously. Right now.) but in four short sentences The Awl:
- quickly communicated something about their culture. I now associate them with warmth and friendliness.
- got me to check out their iPhone app.
- got me to check out other articles on their website.
Thumbs-up to Pocket for empowering these intimate moments between publishers and readers, and high-five to The Awl for the great execution.
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