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TripIt Invites are Misleading April 28, 2008

Recently I created an account on Tripit.com. I usually don’t do this, but I decided to invite a few friends through the interface they provide. Why not get our social network on, web 2.0 style, I thought.

I found out today that that invites sent out contain a link that automatically creates an account when it’s clicked. It’s not a horrible idea, if done properly. For starters, it should be clearly labeled in the email, as to what you’re about to do. The Tripit.com email decides to do the opposite & disguise it a bit by saying “View invitation from Bill Keller by following this link…”

TripIts wording is convoluted, they’re hiding what you’re really getting into.

Secondly, the page you end up on should be a confirmation screen that clearly states “You are about to create an account”. Instead, TripIt chose to use wording associated with their service (”Accept Connection Invite”), which keeps the level of confusion pretty damn high:

For some reason 37 Signals praise their current method, I think it’s pretty sketchy.

Anyone who inadvertently created an account because of me will now receive service related email. In this case, it’s spam, because you were tricked into signing up in the first place. My apologies. You can delete your TripIt account easily, like I did. Too bad there’s no “Recommend others delete their account as well” email I can send out.