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Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

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Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#33
post #18

I thought advertising on Reddit must be really cheap then, compared to Facebook, Google et.al. But it seems I can not advertise on Reddit if I have an ad blocker ... !?

I’m all for adblockers, but why would you be allowed to advertise if you use one? Do you have some reasoning for why other people should potentially see your ad while you don’t see those of others? Does your adblocker whitelist some things? Genuinely curious.

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#35
post #6

That’s a good thing folks. Talking about the user being the product, I’d try to choose a platform where my value is minimal since I think it’s fair to assume that there’s less data collection and profiling going on.

The problem with reddit is that I assume their team is so useless they simply can't extract value from the users. As soon as they start hiring competent people, things will change.

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#36
My first inclination is to think this is a good thing. That it's a sign of a better customer experience. It's the cynic in me that worries this will be seen by some as an opportunity to increase RPU and screw up the site. (And the new UI supports that cynical take, at least somewhat.)

I 'grew up' in the era of USENET, which had a couple benefits over the forums and then social media sites that sprang up to replace it. It wasn't perfect, but it did offer more individual control over user experience and less dependency on a single corporate entity. It would be nice to find a way to get back to some of that.

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#37
post #6

That’s a good thing folks. Talking about the user being the product, I’d try to choose a platform where my value is minimal since I think it’s fair to assume that there’s less data collection and profiling going on.

That seems like a pretty dubious assumption. Who’s to say they aren’t more desperate for cash due to that? Reddit makes it painful to browse their site on mobile exactly because they want you to use the app so they can track you.

Yeah I wonder if free models may make a platform more open to propaganda.

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#38
post #9

Do people who use reddit consider themselves part of a social network?

Nope, it's just centralized newsgroups IMHO.

Exactly. (But just the alt hierarchy... I don't think Reddit has anything like the old voting process used to create groups in other hierarchies.)

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#39
post #6

That’s a good thing folks. Talking about the user being the product, I’d try to choose a platform where my value is minimal since I think it’s fair to assume that there’s less data collection and profiling going on.

That seems like a pretty dubious assumption. Who’s to say they aren’t more desperate for cash due to that? Reddit makes it painful to browse their site on mobile exactly because they want you to use the app so they can track you.

I think they’re doing pretty well:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-reddit-funding/reddit-val...

Now that doesn’t mean they’ve found a good long term model yet. But if I had to choose between Reddit’s and Facebook’s app (not that the comparison would make a lot of sense) then I’d choose Reddit on all days of the week.

Re: Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

#40
post #6

That’s a good thing folks. Talking about the user being the product, I’d try to choose a platform where my value is minimal since I think it’s fair to assume that there’s less data collection and profiling going on.

One good thing I commend reddit for is their business model centered around the user-funded 'gold system' (now called reddit premium [0]). Kind of like a win-win: You see a great post or a comment by a random user, you buy gold (or awards/coins as it's now called), reddit gets the money, post or comment's author gets the recognition in that thread via a special badge (aside from a host of other experience-enhancing b…

I'd love to see something similar for Twitter. Perhaps with better moderation support as one of the perks.

"Gold" systems that actually pay the content creator, patreon-style, are an interesting idea too. But they have considerable potential downsides.

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