Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Reddit is still in turmoil

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 521 posts

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#161

Post by laxatives »

bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

Because the second a better alternative appears, I'm going to switch to the alternative without hesitation. Having original content provides something that an alternative can never provide, especially if that original content is good.

One thing that bothers me about reddit already is the amount of blatant advertising in many subs where people review things. A few brands catch on early and everyone becomes a promoter, sometimes because the brand developed recognition, sometimes because of subversive marketing.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#162

Post by BigCatStuff »

bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

I think the problem is that most of Reddit's current 'content' isn't monetizable to the degree that they need it to be. In its current form, Reddit is mostly an aggregator of other sites' content, which makes that content much harder for Reddit to make money off of. Self-serve CPM and CPC ads will only get you so far in terms of revenue nowadays.

I run a company with an advertising based revenue model with seven figures of yearly revenue, and CPM isn't what the largest advertisers are looking for. Everyone wants custom created content now, and they pay high premiums for this type of content.

I love Reddit as a news aggregator, but I can see why they need an editorial and content team for revenue generation. I'm certain that most large user generated content sites like Snapchat and Facebook have writers and editors to help paying advertisers create content.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#163

Post by jsemrau »

imh wrote: post #75
bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

>Incentivize for the behavior you want. This isn't as straightforward as it seems. It's kind of like that old quote, "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." If the behavior you want is there because people are just casually messing around for fake internet points, it will change when you compensate them. It's probably possible, but far from simple.

Well you manage the number. If your target is a high number of internet points your post will aim to maximize that.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#164

Post by jboles »

cerrelio wrote: post #132
a_small_island wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"The future is probably something where people pay a small amount to access a forum that's somehow distributed on their machines (phones, PCs, etc) and not controlled by any organization. Data transfer (even mobile) and storage are getting cheaper. It'll be like bitcoin, but for discussions." No. The future is the next Digg, the next Reddit, etc. Just like a torrent site, when one goes down (for whatever reason), th…

With the advent of the cloud and the ubiquity of mobile devices, the next Digg won't be controlled by anyone other than the users. They will supply the storage and bandwidth. The community will truly be in charge, and also be responsible for policing it. When the cost (time) of policing it becomes too much (even with machine-learning bots to remove ads, child porn, hate speech, harassment, etc), then a new version of…

While we're at it, we can also throw blockchain at the problem. It will be hosted on Etherium as the DAO (Distributed Authoring Organisation). Policy changes require 51% of the computing power. If someone doesn't like some content, they can fork off and make their own child DAO, living in a universe where that content no longer exists.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#165

Post by astrange »

grandalf wrote: post #15

Why does Reddit have to become a media empire? The formula for doing that is pretty well-known by this point: We'll see a ban on throwaway accounts and a push for real names, then a ban on third party URL shorteners, then interruption ads, and finally some sort of paywall. Reddit is a useful piece of internet infrastructure, and I'd be pleased if it would stay that way. It doesn't need to become its own media empire…

URL shorteners have no value except to hide spam links and add someone else's ad interstitials. I should hope they'd be banned!

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#166

Post by skewart »

cerrelio wrote: post #95
bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

I see why they want to create their own curated content. A friend of mine has created and run several user-generated content sites and he said: "user generated content is worthless; largely racism and porn." It's driven by the lowest common denominator. As long as content is hosted on company-controlled servers where ad revenue is the model for survival, you're going to see slow declines and eventual busts like Digg.…

> A friend of mine has created and run several user-generated content sites and he said: "user generated content is worthless; largely racism and porn." It's driven by the lowest common denominator.

What about HN? I don't disagree that a lot of ugc on the web is crap. I do think though that there are viable strategies for encouraging quality content.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#167

Post by krisroadruck »

bane wrote: post #39

Why the hell is Reddit trying to make their own content when the entire point of the site is for the users to create the content? Don't make a Reddit podcast, make Reddit a podcast hosting network. Don't make a Reddit video show, make Reddit a video hosting site. Don't make a Reddit magazine, make Reddit a source for anybody to publish their own magazines. Why does Reddit have writers and editors and creative directo…

Amusingly reddit's own policy are very anti-creator in the way you describe. Funny comment? yes. Self publication/promotion = no. You can be banned for submitting your own work. There are slues of marketers that have learned this the hard way.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#168

Post by blahi »

flashman wrote: post #142
mbesto wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why does Reddit have to become a media empire? Because investors have poured a ton of money into it expecting it to be a media empire.

This is what I detect in Reddit's new ideas: the fear that the existing site is good enough for most people and its population has therefore stabilised... which would be pretty bad for certain kinds of investor looking for a big one-off return instead of a consistent dividend.

Oh god. There are no "investors". Reddit is owned by Conde Nast's parent company. The only other shareholders are employees.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#169

Post by tamana »

mgalka wrote: post #138
Mahn wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right on the nail. To me personally, the moves Reddit has been doing the past couple years read as if they don't know exactly what Reddit should be or what they want it to be. I imagine it's not easy, Reddit is massive and somehow not quite killing it, but somehow it feels like there's a strange lack of focus.

The mobile version of the site doesn't work and they only just released a mobile app. That says it all about their lack of focus.

The old i.Reddit.com works OK.

The new m.reddit.com fails after a few minutes, on each page.

Re: Reddit is still in turmoil

#170

Post by lazaroclapp »

Animats wrote: post #152
cerrelio wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see why they want to create their own curated content. A friend of mine has created and run several user-generated content sites and he said: "user generated content is worthless; largely racism and porn." It's driven by the lowest common denominator. As long as content is hosted on company-controlled servers where ad revenue is the model for survival, you're going to see slow declines and eventual busts like Digg.…

How much does it really cost to run a forum system? Even a big one? Look at 4chan.

Well, I imagine Reddit costs far more than 4chan to run, not just because they store the content at perpetuity, but also because Reddit has actual employees, not just volunteers working out of the g... evil of their hearts.

But, more importantly, how much Reddit costs to run, at their current scale, is immaterial. Reddit has raised $50 million in VC money and is valued at $500 million, that means that half a billion is the mark they are expected to meet/exceed in lifetime revenue, independent on what their costs are. For better or worse, for-profit startups have very different incentives than non-corporate internet communities. This allows Reddit to not be 4chan (wider audience, some level of control on trolling and harassment, etc), but at the same time, it can't be 4chan (including running on a ramen-for-one-and-electricity-bill budget if need to be)

Post reply on HN