How do I recognize clients refer from whatsapp, telegram or another mobile applications

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Hi every one.
I want to get client refer. but if people from some applications like telegram, click on my website link, there is no information about refer. i know about campaign query string or something like that, but i have no control on many clients who share my links but i want to get refer to find which app has more refer for me.

any suggestion?
Thanks in advance

What I have tried:

HttpRequest currentRequest = HttpContext.Current.Request;
currentRequest.UrlReferrer.ToString()
currentRequest.UrlReferrer.Host

I have tried HttpRequest and referrer and host property and all of them is null when client come from telegram or whatsapp application(desktop or mobile no difference).

Posted 21-Dec-16 0:39am

arminamini

Updated 21-Dec-16 1:09am

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F-ES Sitecore · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-21T00:59:00

You can't force the client to tell you where it has come from, if the client does not supply a referrer header then there is nothing you can do. Also things like WhatsApp are applications, not websites so it makes no sense to have a referrer url. If possible you can give different links for the different platforms, so if you wanted to give a link via WhatsApp it would be "www.mysite.com/?source=WhatsApp" and you could read the client from the source param. That's about all you can do though, however it will be worth looking at all the headers sent from the different platforms as while they might not supply a referrer they might add some other header you can use.

Jochen Arndt · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-21T01:09:00

Solution 2

You can't. These applications did not send a referer. This is also true for many smartphone apps, when clicking links in emails, and for hits from anonymous search engines.

Read about "dark social" and "dark traffic".

Posted 21-Dec-16 1:09am

Jochen Arndt

Comments

arminamini 21-Dec-16 7:34am

Thnaks for Reply, but even there is no way to find if people click on some link in some app, or just copy and paste link in address bar and come?

Jochen Arndt 21-Dec-16 7:41am

Sorry, but I did not get you.

Maybe you should read about the referer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referer

"The referrer field is an optional part of the HTTP request sent by the web browser to the web server.[5]"

arminamini 21-Dec-16 7:47am

Yes i know, sorry but let me explain more. in our company there is a game with gift and we are in IT department should give our website members some specific links(include memberid as a querystring). and they will copy links in applications like whatsapp, telegram and ... so if someone click on links and come to our site we make points for member who copy links(we find it with querystring).
now if members just copy this links to one browser addressbar and come to site(whithout copy links in applications), how can we find this?

Jochen Arndt 21-Dec-16 8:06am

"now if members just copy this links to one browser addressbar and come to site(whithout copy links in applications), how can we find this?"

Where is the problem when the link contains a unique (user related) ID?

arminamini 21-Dec-16 8:14am

We prefer Unknowing User visit our website with this link. but if they just copy,paste in addressbar, it means that member visit our website again and they could do it many times a day. but we try that links from our website share to many people with this members.

Jochen Arndt 21-Dec-16 8:30am

I still don't get what you want to achieve.

As far as I understand you are giving unique links to your users to be shared with their friends. These should use the link to visit your web site. In this scenario I don't see any relation to a referer and the relevance of the application that is used.

You seem to have two problems now:
- Detect multiple visits from the same person
- Detect if the user and not one of his friends is the visitor

This can't be detected in a reliable way. Even when having a referer you don't know for sure who has visited (the user or not) and if this is his first visit or not. However, the latter may be solved for a single system by using cookies.

If I understand your problem correctly:
How is this related to your initial question?

arminamini 21-Dec-16 8:46am

Yes you got it right. I used cookies and IP address too. but coz each member have about 1k link to share, and each link has a specific point, if i forced them at least copy this links in apps or some where, i am one step forward. coz if member just copy paste this 1k links in browser, he make many points without any share.
i try to find some way to force them atleast copy this link in apps. so if them click on any of this link for one time, they welcome. atleast people will see this links too. but if they just copy paste in browser there is no benefit for us.
sorry if my problem waste your time and thanks for your guidance.