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Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

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Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#161

Post by marrone12 »

yrro wrote: post #41
obilgic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably unpopular opinion on HN: but I really prefer the new design. finally something that doesn't scream "we have a sub-culture" but rather welcomes new users.

The new design literally doesn't work! Trying to follow a link is now all but impossible - clicking a link takes me to the comments page. Not what I want. But on that page, the link that I expect to see at the top of the page doesn't load! So I shrug and go back to the index page, and now the link or image or whatever is attached to the post is gone from _that_ page too. Reloading the page doesn't fix it. So for that…

I think you need to differentiate between the "design" and the "experience". The design itself is good e.g. the wireframes of the website. The actual engineering behind the design is not good.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#162

Post by gaius_baltar »

abhiminator wrote: post #3

On a side note, really hope reddit's engineering team doesn't kill off their 'old.reddit.com' domain though. That's probably the only thing keeping me from dumping reddit altogether (aside from their API-powered custom reddit apps made by indie devs for Android).

I suppose they will slow-boil old.reddit.com until it's dead. Things like gradually adding unwanted changes from the redesign, removing or not supporting features (is there a way to upload images to i.redd.it from it?), or causing random delays or errors. Something like the dark patterns used to force visitors using mobile devices into installing the app.

We need a distributed or federated reddit, and give it power. Lemmy ( https://lemmy.ml/ ) seems to be going into the right path.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#163

Post by boringg »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #85
pradn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest subreddits have always been awful. The best way to use reddit is to subscribe to niche subreddits, unsubscribe to the big ones, and avoid the temptation to see the /popular or /all pages.

That doesn't really solve it though. You have to continuously try and find the new subs for your niche because they all go to crap.

This is the internet of 2020s. It’s a lot of work to find good quality content. Everyone knows how to take advantage of everyone or every platform. Any new hot platform will be coopted once it gets traction. Recently made the conclusion so many other people realized is that google search is just searching through paid ads or paid seo. It just sucks frankly. DDG better but still painful.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#164

Post by vkou »

ardy42 wrote: post #76
jedberg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how many of the current admins read HN. I just know some of us old guys hang around here. And FWIW I agree with you. I've been a 15 year reddit user (and employee!) but if old.reddit goes away, I suspect my usage will go way down. The good news is that the current execs know this, because I have told them. But at the end of the day they have to do what's best for the business, and I'm afraid those of us…

> But at the end of the day they have to do what's best for the business, and I'm afraid those of us who like the old interface aren't large in number. Do people actually prefer the new interface [on its merits], or do they just use it because it's the default?

The only thing the new interface is better for is for scrolling through image-heavy subreddits. It's a lot better for that use case.

The old interface is a lot better for discussion.

Unfortunately, any subreddit that does not ban memes/low-effort media gets flooded in memes/low-effort media, so scrolling through images is how most people use reddit.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#165

Post by pradn »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #85
pradn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest subreddits have always been awful. The best way to use reddit is to subscribe to niche subreddits, unsubscribe to the big ones, and avoid the temptation to see the /popular or /all pages.

That doesn't really solve it though. You have to continuously try and find the new subs for your niche because they all go to crap.

All internet communities will be overrun with new users (eternal September effect), tend toward popular/sensational posts, attract trolls, have people post illegal content, run the risk of bad moderators, be astroturfed or have paid posts, etc etc. It's a living ecosystem, so it'll keep changing.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#166

Post by setr »

billmalarky wrote: post #145
ardy42 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But at the end of the day they have to do what's best for the business, and I'm afraid those of us who like the old interface aren't large in number. Do people actually prefer the new interface [on its merits], or do they just use it because it's the default?

From the article: >Reddit Inc. said it averaged 52 million daily active users in October, up 44% from the same month a year earlier The redesign launched in 2018, so I'd say yes, the general public greatly prefers the redesign if they had almost 50% growth last year. Could there be other factors? Sure. But Occam's razor is a solid argument in this context imo.

The simplest argument is that the default is usually... defaulted to. And the default is the redesign -- you have to actively go out of your way to revert to the old design; so the simplest takeaway is that the general public greatly prefers doing nothing, than reverting the redesign.

Doing nothing may be for the reason that they prefer the redesign, but also numerous other reasons apply (including that they don't dislike it enough, or some key new feature, etc).

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#167

Post by Naga »

billmalarky wrote: post #145
ardy42 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But at the end of the day they have to do what's best for the business, and I'm afraid those of us who like the old interface aren't large in number. Do people actually prefer the new interface [on its merits], or do they just use it because it's the default?

From the article: >Reddit Inc. said it averaged 52 million daily active users in October, up 44% from the same month a year earlier The redesign launched in 2018, so I'd say yes, the general public greatly prefers the redesign if they had almost 50% growth last year. Could there be other factors? Sure. But Occam's razor is a solid argument in this context imo.

Is it? You've taken two facts (1. Interface redesign and 2. 50% growth last year) and assigned causation to the first. In my persepctive, reddit has been digging into the cultural psyche for a long time and has been growing steadily. The news uses it to replace local journalism now. Anecdotally, a lot of people I know are now talking about things they saw on reddit (I've been a user for ~10 years). I think the interface design is not relevant to growth. If anything, it probably decreases it, although I think the type of users they are attracting now don't care as much as people who post on HN do.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#168

Post by choward »

obilgic wrote: post #4

Reddit is following the steps of Facebook: copying other's features. They have a live streaming platform, they added something similar to discord for chats. what's next?

I'm guessing their own 3rd party seller marketplace is next.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#169

Post by WizardAustralis »

QuietZelda wrote: post #152
jedberg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how many of the current admins read HN. I just know some of us old guys hang around here. And FWIW I agree with you. I've been a 15 year reddit user (and employee!) but if old.reddit goes away, I suspect my usage will go way down. The good news is that the current execs know this, because I have told them. But at the end of the day they have to do what's best for the business, and I'm afraid those of us…

If old.reddit is killed off I might have to resort to browsing through the rtv terminal client.. though this likely would be deprecated as well

Considering the original developer walked away from it in June 2019, I can see it being an issue.

https://github.com/michael-lazar/rtv/issues/696

The forks from it however keep it living for now.

Im waiting for the day when Reddit kills the version 1 API.

Re: Reddit Claims 52M Daily Users, Revealing a Key Figure for Social-Media Platforms

#170

Post by holler »

cblconfederate wrote: post #71

If you like being the center of attention at parties, FB is your place If you like attention in the middle of a public square, twitter is for you If you're an introvert, gotta nerd out on reddit I don't see them as competitors

If you'd like to try a new option, check out https://sqwok.im
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