What baffles me about #reddit's current biz fiasco is their decision to throw away the best source of authentic thought leadership in favor of bad ads. I've never seen a *good* company ad on Reddit. Ever. But Reddit still think the money is there, and it's trying to capture that revenue by pricing out 3rd party apps with a new API pricing strategy. And in the process, its volunteer moderator and user base are revolting in stunningly effective fashion. I think Reddit's focus on shoving more ads to its users misses its larger value prop: It is one of the few social media platforms where you can get straight-up feedback, help with problems, and genuinely new ideas. All managed and scaled by volunteers. It's a #thoughtleadership gold mine nobody's really ever touched. It's the ultimate test of non-promotionality: Can you as a brand truly be authentic with folks who will loudly tell you when you're not? Can you provide actual, helpful tips or ideas or feedback? And can you do it without a link to your demo page? Because entering these communities with a sales-minded agenda is the surest way to flop. The fact that Reddit — and really, any company — hasn't figured this out is a mind-boggling missed opportunity.
Emily Malott
1y
Interesting! Still, I believe a huge problem remains: sorting through all the BS on Reddit... whether you're a user or a brand 🤔💭
Information Security Engineer II
1yGreat points Alex. It’s been really interesting to watch Reddit over the past several years miss so big on trying to figure out how to monetize their service. It took them forever to even get an official app. The volunteers and the 3rd party apps are what made Reddit so unique and so useful. Some of the largest special interest groups on the Internet are on Reddit and ran by volunteers using APIs. Now people are deleting their comment/post histories and leaving in droves. Regardless of how this shakes out I don’t think Reddit will be the same or as useful afterwards.