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

Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 658 posts

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#371

Post by phpisthebest »

geraldwhen wrote: post #338
ghusto wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the way a certain MassiveCorp talked about the acquisition of my previous workplace, lead less experienced employees to believe they were doing so in order to diversity their offerings in that area. Guess how long we lasted before being "brought into the fold".

3-6 months?

Traditionally 12-18mos...

Mo 1-3 is new owners finding all the buried bodies, and restructuring leadership with people they can trust

3-6 mos is learning who is valuable and who is not (overlap with months 1-3)

6-9 mos is predicting how customers will react to X change or Y Change

9-12mos is final legal review of changes, exit packages, PR statements,etc (especially is mass layoffs are involved)

12-18mos is execution time frame for layoffs, and restructure of the organization

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#372

Post by jonathantf2 »

RobotToaster wrote: post #234
Implicated wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d venture to bet that they respond to google with a different version of the page, without the pop up.

Isn't that also something Google delists pages for?

I think most news sites with paywalls do this? If you change your UserAgent to Googlebot you can bypass them.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#373

Post by cshimmin »

enkid wrote: post #358
criddell wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why it has to be an app at all. Why do they want people in an app rather than in a browser?

Because you can get more data to sell through an app.

And it's harder to block ads/sponsored content. And they can send annoying push notifications that lots of people don't know how to disable. Dark patterns all the way down.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#374

Post by ianai »

joshribakoff wrote: post #364
dmix wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re assuming there is some cohesive strategy here. It’s better to look at what often happens in practice at a more practical level. Some exec will be constantly getting pressure to make his mobile app growth chart keeping going up. So instead of doing customer research finding out what people want, having a product vision, market research (“why do people like Apollo?”), making the app so good that Redditors tell o…

It sounds like you are saying there is no reason other than pressure, presumably from a board. Perhaps the board has a reason.

Probably sopping up more money from all the privacy intrusions possible with an app. Better ad revenue. Probably spent money on the app and need validation of the expense. Board might even have threatened whole team terminations without better app take up.

How many times is improvement UX in desired there?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#375

Post by hospitalJail »

I would be fine with the App if I could simply set my subreddits I want to follow.

Instead they force suggestions. I don't want Reddit politics ever ever ever. I subscribed to sdnsfw, I don't want other nsfw boards, I wanted stable diffusion only. They have a juicy controversial topic that drives me crazy, show me so I can waste hours commenting, no please don't.

You literally can't get rid of these. Or at least it was not clear.

I don't use reddit because I like being addicted. I used reddit because they had niche info.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#376

Post by jfoster »

jbinney wrote: post #365
c7b wrote: post #357

There's something that I don't get about forcing mobile browser users into mobile apps - how does it make sense for the company? They're forcing themselves into a walled garden, where the gardener takes a hefty "app store tax" on your revenues and has countless levers to force you to style the app how it suits their interests, not yours. For some apps, this might still be the best way to gain traction. But if have al…

Push notifications! Super valuable for driving re-engagement.

"Install the app" walls might be super effective at destroying reengagement, though.

I gave in and installed the Reddit app, but it simply doesn't work well enough or transition well enough from a Google search into the app. Would definitely engage a lot more with Reddit if only the app pushing nonsense were gone, and that's as a user who does have the app installed.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#377

Post by WeylandYutani »

TheFragenTaken wrote: post #304
john-n wrote: post #8

I was part of this test - I've refused to install the app for years (I prefer websites and the option to open tabs for later browsing). It was extremely annoying for a site I've used for 12+ years to treat me like that. It did massively cut my usage of Reddit (which I would consider to be quite high), I primarily access it from my phone and I all but stopped using it for the week or so I was in the "experiment".

Fortunately their app is compatible with the ReVanced project (think YouTube Vanced). It's terrible you have to recompile apk's to get a useful experience (sans ads, sharing tracking, other restrictions), but for me it's currently the only viable way to use Reddit.

I use Revanced too but let's face it we're talking about 1% of users at best.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#378

Post by damnesian »

tiew9Vii wrote: post #223
FormerBandmate wrote: post #36

They are desperately trying to be TikTok. It will not work and has no chance of working. Look at their hilariously terrible acquisition of Dubsmash for $50 million (they converted it to a subreddit with 1.5k subscribers when they had 200 million users at their peak and touted having 25% of black teens in their acquisition press release. Every post is people saying the Reddit app sucks and asking where Dubsmash went)

It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. I use Facebook mainly for hobby/owners groups these days as that's where a lot of them are. I sometimes use the market place. My feed is mainly my interests, motorbikes, local events, local cafes/restaurants etc etc. Then there's reels i never interact with which get forced on me…

It's roughly analogous to a tire company producing a lemon of a tire that needs constant repairs, then acquiring a chain of repair shops, Revenues are up, engagement with brand are high. The company seizes on those metrics, refusing to acknowledge the downside: the tires are bad products, which could easily tarnish the long term reputation of the company. But who cares? They have a steady trickle of income from their customers. It's a gamble, but lucrative in the short term.

Short term thinking makes money, but dooms the brand to an uncertain future.

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#379

Post by nonethewiser »

klrants wrote: post #283
FormerBandmate wrote: post #36

They are desperately trying to be TikTok. It will not work and has no chance of working. Look at their hilariously terrible acquisition of Dubsmash for $50 million (they converted it to a subreddit with 1.5k subscribers when they had 200 million users at their peak and touted having 25% of black teens in their acquisition press release. Every post is people saying the Reddit app sucks and asking where Dubsmash went)

Yes, everyone has TikTok envy since Musk started to augment Twitter to a video publishing platform. This model does not fit for Reddit with its poor execution (old.reddit.com is still the best) and its user base. More sites will split off and use the old.reddit.com code base.

> More sites will split off and use the old.reddit.com code base.

How? Its not open source. And its just a frontend. How would people split it off?

Re: Did Reddit just destroy mobile browser access?

#380

Post by thunderbong »

hospitalJail wrote: post #375

I would be fine with the App if I could simply set my subreddits I want to follow. Instead they force suggestions. I don't want Reddit politics ever ever ever. I subscribed to sdnsfw, I don't want other nsfw boards, I wanted stable diffusion only. They have a juicy controversial topic that drives me crazy, show me so I can waste hours commenting, no please don't. You literally can't get rid of these. Or at least it w…

Doesn't disabling 'recommendations' under account settings help?
Post reply on HN