Can i ask a user to just enter his social media channel handlers?

Question

A client of mine wants to add extra functionality to its app. He wants the user to be able to add his social media channels, but for this version, he wants the user to be able to just add his handles (eg www.twitter.com/user or www.facebook.com/user in which 'user' is the handle). He wants this so that for now the database gets filled. In a later stage they think of connecting to the channels themselves and letting the user interact socially.

I think this is completely stupid to ask a user for his handle since i guess a majority doesn't know their handles. Plus Googe+'s handle is a multi-digit handle by default.

What would be best practice here? My client also wants me to advise how we can continue: i mean what is genereally best practice for a user to connect his social media to the app. The app would ask the social media channel to authorize the app to use that channel, by which the user has to log in to do so?

Thank you for the advise!

Answer 1

Aside from being very poor UX, storing the handles is almost completely useless There's no way to automagically gain access to the user's pages later on (luckily).

If connection to social networks is a must, then using the network's own methods to connect is the only (viable) option. As this is a one-time action which your users might already be familiar with, it is quite allright usability wise.

TL;DR please convince your client to not fill the database with essentially useless crap. If connection to social networks is such a big deal, get the user's e-mail addresses and send out a newsletter when all the social connecting thingies are done.

But please, please don't ask for the handles. You won't like it, the client won't like it, the users won't like it.