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Video is Coming to Reddit

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Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#11

Post by mandie »

minimaxir wrote: post #7

A couple months ago I found that Reddit submissions using Reddit's native image hosting, a year after its implementation, surpassed those of its main competitor, Imgur (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14595212 ) I'm not entirely sure the same will happen with video. Not only are the videos typically posted on Reddit's largest video subreddits are from the YouTube community (and intended for the Yo…

Image hosting is easy, if you don't care about losing money. As long as you provide direct links to images, you're better than everybody else.

Video hosting? You need a good player (nothing will ever top YouTube's) and a good CDN. That's a tough nut to crack. Especially for a company with no money.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#12

Post by gallerdude »

I think it's obvious why they're doing this - accessibility. In moving r/all to r/popular, image hosting, removing default subs, and now this, they're trying to cater to more people.

Four years ago I joined reddit, tried it out for about 2 hours, and quit. I couldn't get past the (admittedly small) learning curve (especially acronyms: ITT, OP, TIL, etc). Two years ago I joined it for real after putting in an hour to learn what everything was.

Reddit is an amazing site, it's just kind of hard to get into it. By hosting their own video, they make it easier for new users.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#13

Post by dragonwriter »

minimaxir wrote: post #7

A couple months ago I found that Reddit submissions using Reddit's native image hosting, a year after its implementation, surpassed those of its main competitor, Imgur (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14595212 ) I'm not entirely sure the same will happen with video. Not only are the videos typically posted on Reddit's largest video subreddits are from the YouTube community (and intended for the Yo…

Reddit doesn't universally prohibit NSFW content, and already has to remove links to it or assure that it is properly flagged, depending on the particular sub, so I don't think the NSFW side really changes things.

In the copyright side, hosting vs. linking has both similar risks and similar DMCA protections around user generated content, so while they'll probably have a higher volume of complaints when they are both the link venue and the source host, I don't think that fundamentally changes anything, either.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#15

Post by chatmasta »

gallerdude wrote: post #12

I think it's obvious why they're doing this - accessibility. In moving r/all to r/popular, image hosting, removing default subs, and now this, they're trying to cater to more people. Four years ago I joined reddit, tried it out for about 2 hours, and quit. I couldn't get past the (admittedly small) learning curve (especially acronyms: ITT, OP, TIL, etc). Two years ago I joined it for real after putting in an hour to…

How does an embedded YouTube video (the status quo) make the Reddit experience less accessible for new users? Chances are, reddit's implementation will be significantly worse than embedded YouTube videos. If anything will create confusion for new users, it's having both YouTube embeds and Reddit videos on the same page. Nobody who is new to Reddit is unfamiliar with the YouTube player, but is definitely unfamiliar with any custom Reddit player.

EDIT: Point taken, I can see how this makes it easier for users to upload content to Reddit (especially original content, e.g. from a phone camera roll) without jumping through YouTube hoops.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#16

Post by csours »

[deleted] wrote: post #10
pgrote wrote: post #2

What is the end game for Reddit? Control of the videos so they can sell ads, right? Does the benefit redditors? No. Based on the testing so far the mobile player is not ready for prime time nor is the backend video infrastructure. Videos lag horribly and spin sometimes forever .. as if the connection was broken.

[deleted]

Tell me which video site has a rich and persistent community? Some youtube channels are less terrible than others, but none of them feel like community to me.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#18

Post by plopz »

minimaxir wrote: post #7

A couple months ago I found that Reddit submissions using Reddit's native image hosting, a year after its implementation, surpassed those of its main competitor, Imgur (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14595212 ) I'm not entirely sure the same will happen with video. Not only are the videos typically posted on Reddit's largest video subreddits are from the YouTube community (and intended for the Yo…

Do you have data about how reddit images score vs imgur images? Right now /r/all first page has 14 imgur.com and 4 i.reddit.com

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#19

Post by slumberlust »

pgrote wrote: post #2

What is the end game for Reddit? Control of the videos so they can sell ads, right? Does the benefit redditors? No. Based on the testing so far the mobile player is not ready for prime time nor is the backend video infrastructure. Videos lag horribly and spin sometimes forever .. as if the connection was broken.

None of the videos loaded for me on Chrome with Ublock and privacybadger.

Re: Video is Coming to Reddit

#20

Post by barumrho »

pgrote wrote: post #2

What is the end game for Reddit? Control of the videos so they can sell ads, right? Does the benefit redditors? No. Based on the testing so far the mobile player is not ready for prime time nor is the backend video infrastructure. Videos lag horribly and spin sometimes forever .. as if the connection was broken.

Video playback experience sucks right now for their mobile apps. I think they can aim for a much better viewing and uploading experience.
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