Reddit has taken the approach of making their website worse instead of trying to make their app better.
Reddit’s disrespectful design
11–20 of 516 posts
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why must every app monetize through ads? Why can't they provide features worth paying for?
Because coming up with features worth paying for is very, very hard. Which ad-free apps do you currently pay for?
I pay for several things that make me money. If Reddit added features that let their users make money they'd be able to charge for them.
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#13The most disrespectful pattern I encounter regularly on reddit is that it forgets that I want the nicer, more compact interface. There will come a day when they remove it entirely, clearly, and that will be the end of my reddit usage, more or less.
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#14Not sure I agree with the Marketplace angle. Ads are fine but forcing everyone into the app is odd. Will ios14 change any of that?
I really hate that Reddit insists on you using an app. I tried to share a Reddit post with some friends recently who aren’t on that platform. To my dismay they reported that they couldn’t see the post at all because of the GET THE REDDIT APP in your face bull feathers they were presented with. Reddit, you are a website. I want to use my normal browser tabs to use you, not your app. Please make it web-first.
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why must every app monetize through ads? Why can't they provide features worth paying for?
The alternative monetization model is usually subscriptions / freemium features. These don't usually work out for social media sites as people are not willing to pay for user generated content, and the main draw is the content itself so freemium features are usually not high-value enough. Thus, the only remaining viable model is ads.
That's one of the things I suggest. Copy Patreon. They've shown that users are willing to pay for "user generated content"
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#16Hostile design either makes the user login (a user reddit can monetize) or makes the user to close the site (a user reddit can't monetize, thus no need to waste resources), both scenarios is a win for reddit.
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#17Over time my reddit usage has switched to entirely on my phone, and apollo is a fine interface. I don’t know about 2/3 of these patterns!
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#18Not sure I agree with the Marketplace angle. Ads are fine but forcing everyone into the app is odd. Will ios14 change any of that?
Reddit has pathetic ad revenue per user versus every other social media platform. Part of this is likely due to anonymous users that they lack data on for proper targeting. This is their attempt to "fix" that.
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you kind of answer your own question. Social media is just a gossip page on steroids. None of their features are worth paying for; at least, not enough people are willing to pay for it. They realized given showing ads and charging customers, showing ads probably generates 10x revenue for them. Plus, what's to stop another person to offer a free reddit clone?
They've never tried generating revenue from other meaningful features. A marketplace would have a very real value for users. And it would create a much better moat.
Ring, ring. Revenue team, call for you from Cambridge Analytica on line one!
Re: Reddit’s disrespectful design
#20Hostile design either makes the user login (a user reddit can monetize) or makes the user to close the site (a user reddit can't monetize, thus no need to waste resources), both scenarios is a win for reddit.
That's a very good characterization.