Reddit is still in turmoil

Reddit, from a business perspective, baffles me. During the Yishan Wong/Ellen Pao era, we had Reddit-Made and Reddit TV, both of which bombed especially. Under Alexis Ohanian, we had Upvoted and Formative which as the article notes were killed silently.

Reddit released a native app and an image host years too late. (I just checked the data and it is not killing Imgur: Reddit image usage was 18% in the top image subreddits at beginning of June, today it is 25%).

The biggest fundamental change Reddit has made in the time since is...making self-posts count for karma. And tracking outbound links.

It really shouldn't be that impossible to have a successful business with hundreds of millions of users. Especially with the wealth of data available to Reddit.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#6

Post by twblalock » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 11:16 PM UTC

I think much of Reddit's problems with its userbase boil down to an early failure to manage expectations.

It's pretty clear that the Reddit corporation doesn't want Reddit to be an anything-goes, absolute free speech zone with no moderation or anti-harassment policies -- but that's what the site actually was for many years. Now, when the company cracks down, users think their freedoms are being curtailed. The mistake was ever allowing that kind of freedom in the first place, because people developed an expectation that it would persist.

Compounding that problem, the fact that the site was unregulated for so long caused it to attract the kind of people who need to be regulated the most. In other words, it's no surprise that the most tolerant communities attract people who are difficult to tolerate.

I suspect Twitter is having similar issues dealing with harassment, after letting it happen for so long. If there is a lesson in this, it is that online communities which plan to implement anti-harassment policies ought to do so from the beginning, and develop the expectation among the users that such policies exist, and will continue to exist. Don't just tack them on after several years, and don't enforce them inconsistently and arbitrarily as Reddit has done.

It will be difficult for Condé Nast to get its money's worth out of Reddit now. I doubt it will ever shake its negative reputation.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#7

Post by LA_Banker » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 11:19 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #5

Reddit, from a business perspective, baffles me. During the Yishan Wong/Ellen Pao era, we had Reddit-Made and Reddit TV, both of which bombed especially. Under Alexis Ohanian, we had Upvoted and Formative which as the article notes were killed silently. Reddit released a native app and an image host years too late. (I just checked the data and it is not killing Imgur: Reddit image usage was 18% in the top image subre…

It's not. Reddit could easily sell targeted ads based on subreddits (e.g. inking a deal with Uniqlo to advertise on /r/malefashionadvice or /r/femalefashionadvice).

It chooses to pursue other monetization means to preserve the Reddit experience.

We'll see if it's able to stumble onto another sustainable business model.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#8

Post by jfoutz » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 11:21 PM UTC

I didn't realize drinking on the job was a thing. I've had the odd company party with beer in the late afternoon, but that's perhaps twice a year.

I'm not a teetotaler by any stretch of the imagination, but drinking at work seems counterproductive.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#9

Post by matwood » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 11:24 PM UTC

jfoutz wrote: post #8

I didn't realize drinking on the job was a thing. I've had the odd company party with beer in the late afternoon, but that's perhaps twice a year. I'm not a teetotaler by any stretch of the imagination, but drinking at work seems counterproductive.

We have beer in the fridge and a keg at work. Sometimes it's nice to have a beer at the end of the day, but after a working all day I usually just want to go home.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#10

Post by jfoutz » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 11:28 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #9

jfoutz wrote: post #8

I didn't realize drinking on the job was a thing. I've had the odd company party with beer in the late afternoon, but that's perhaps twice a year. I'm not a teetotaler by any stretch of the imagination, but drinking at work seems counterproductive.

We have beer in the fridge and a keg at work. Sometimes it's nice to have a beer at the end of the day, but after a working all day I usually just want to go home.

Yeah, i can see that. Finish a big project and have a beer with your team. I have a hard time seeing that as a daily or even weekly thing.