I wonder if there’s any data available on how much content was generated from 3rd party apps. in my experience, reddit was accessed solely through an app (rip baconreader). am I wrong in thinking that the users are the product and advertisers the customer?
While third party app users probably had a larger proportion of contributors, Reddit is big enough to still have plenty of content. Moderators are more interesting and it remains to be seen over time if an erosion of quality moderation happens which would make Reddit even shittier. Especially since Reddit seems to keep fumbling when it comes to providing good first party mod tools, see the whole r/Blind fiasco.
am I wrong in thinking that the users are the product and the advertisers the customer?
As long as profitability is the goal then you are correct.
You’re not wrong and this article really drove this home for me.
Especially how leadership really didn’t care about moderators having the tools they need to do the job they volunteered for.
They don’t care about the quality of the site, just that people keep posting so they can package up all that sweet sweet data for advertisers.
Think about all the little niche communities. I’m sure Reddit can link your username to your real identity internally. Imagine the profiles they can build and sell.
They don’t even care if you stop posting, it’s all there.
am I wrong in thinking that the users are the product and advertisers the customer?
I think there was/is a monetization route through the use of user data (probably why they’re pushing their app so much) as well as using all the data for things like language AI modeling.
But on that last one it seems like the biggest players such as openAI and Microsoft already scraped their site freely. Not sure if they’ve missed a big chunk of that opportunity by now
I have developed the impression, and it’s mostly just my hunch not so much evidence based - spez and co are kind of kicking themselves for being oblivious to the AI training rush and failing to monetize on it. Probably didn’t even realize it was happening until we all did via crazy headlines showing up in news about what AI could do. That kind of thing may lead to kneejerk decisions on api access
If Reddit leadership was oblivious, their heads were under a rock. Various GPT iterations have been training on different subreddits and posting to places like r/SubredditSimulator for years and have even been reported on in the media well before ChatGPT came out. Here is one report on it from 4 years ago:
A bunch of the complaints sound like the same complaints I've heard from many companies. But it also sounds like a shit place to work, with some arrogantly poor leadership decisions.
Pretty predictable stuff from spez. If I were one of Reddit's seemingly innumerable VP's, I'd be questioning if my total compensation package is worth much anymore.
My guess is that most of them are probably preparing to cash out soon ... because the whole thing is hanging on faith and promises that no one is sure will be kept .... it's like dating that hot girlfriend/boyfriend and hoping that some day soon, you'll go to bed together and they just lead you on leaving you to wonder if anything will ever happen or not
Actually, that sounds like exactly what I would be advising them to do in a situation like this. Reddit has been bloating itself with new features that nobody has been asking for because it keeps trying to turn itself into Facebook or Discord or whatever. If Reddit needs to become profitable I'd suggest cutting those and focusing entirely on what Reddit already does better than its competitors. Link aggregation and threaded discussion. Do just that, but do it better. That would allow them to shed some massive expenses both in technology and in staffing without impacting the income from its core business.
They didn't do that and it's probably too late now. I don't know how Reddit would be able to shed its Imgur-like image and video hosting at this point, for example.
Reddit has been bloating itself with new features that nobody has been asking for
Exactly. Almost all their "exiting new features" have been subtracting value and turning the site into shit. That's why I left, not because I care about the API. I don't understand why they kept paying people to make reddit worse. They should roll back their source code to 10 years earlier.
Yeah, Reddit, like so many other websites, seems to have gotten into its head the idea that it wants to recreate the 90s AOL experience, but not in the fun way.
Well the article states that the issue was more managerial than quality of employees, granted, it is very biased since their statements are from ex-Reddit employees but some of the quotes in the article state that they wanted to focus on fixing the important issues (moderation tools etc) but the managers demanded more product improvements that generate profit, and moderation tools are not it. After all, this is the same platform that let The_Donald for years, I don’t think moderation was ever a priority at all for Reddit
I wonder when buying these 3rd party apps as acquisitions, if Reddit brought along their dev(s) in the process. It sounds like they didn't, which would be so shortsighted. Because what it seems is that once Reddit had these programs in their possession, they didn't know what to do with them, or how to integrate them into their own source code...at least with Spell this seems to be the case. I have no idea about Alien Blue, which I had used at one point prior to using Reddit's own mobile app. All they had to do with Alien Blue is rebrand...why didn't they?
How do you employ nearly 2,000 people. an army of unpaid moderators, and not come up with proper tools to navigate your own program, or find profitability off its user data? I think that Huffman has had no plan, leads a top-heavy organization, has been coasting along the company putting out day-to-day fires, and now he's scrambling to quickly find something profitable to show his investors.
There are a lot of things that don't make sense at the core of Reddit, because Google, Chat AI, and ad revenue are the places to make a profit...not API usage from 3rd party apps. I watched a really great video of the history of D&D last night on Nebula, and wow talk about lessons that Reddit could learn about 3rd party contributors.
(I'm going to link the video, but you need a subscription to Nebula and/or Curiosity Stream to view it). TL;DW summary: D&D works best as a business when it collaborates with 3rd party contributors and its fans.
This is the ONLY thing they listen to. If you want to work from home and your employer doesn’t let you, it’s time to quit.
I have nothing bad to say about people who prefer going in to the office. I respect your preference and I understand it is necessary for some positions. You are valuable, too, and there’s plenty of places that would love to have you.
There’s room in this work world for both types of jobs. It’s not an either-or choice.
Anyone who can WFH and wants to WFH should be allowed to do so, full stop.
I just want to interject that more people could probably be successful small business owners if they wanted to, instead of just getting another job. Small business also usually benefit humans more than corporations.
We need universal healthcare. That is the stopping point for many. People done see how they can guarantee healthcare if they start a business. I really think a huge part of the lobbying against universal healthcare is large businesses knowing it prevents competition.
It is expensive, and in a lean month for a new business, you might not afford it. Many, especially people with kids or chronic illness can’t take that risk.
Also, that doesn’t speak to hiring employees. Larger companies offering health insurance puts small businesses at a huge competitive disadvantage.
Go ahead and queue up the shocked Pikachu face when they do. Average is something like 30% of people being told to return to office will instead resign, across all industries.
Chase has been mailing me literally the same letter for the past 12 years. I think they send it once or twice a month. It is a cardboard paper with a huge “500” on it, begging me to open an account with. Mind you, it goes directly in the trash. They waste so much paper.
“We’re not going to make that decision because we’re pandering to employees”
Is there such a thing as “pandering to employees”? The employees are doing the real work to keep the company going, while Dimon’s work apparently includes appearing on news stations ridiculing said employees.
Hopefully the next headline we hear about J.P. Morgan will be a mass voluntary attrition.
Meanwhile, back in reality, my company isn't upside down on commercial real estate & likes making more money so we are getting a smaller office to house our servers & equipment.
My company did the same. We had a six week assessment period where everyone was required to come in two days per week. Once that data showed no major difference in output, we got a smaller office (for receiving and such) and everyone was told the office is optional. Smart business that kept people happy.
Mine was a bit hesitant but they are now talking seriously about getting rid of more offices and they had done one pass on that before. I would sorta like them to have an office subscription
Find me a company deeply invested in office real estate (in particular, expecting a return on that real estate), and I’ll show you a company against remote work.
The real detriments don’t exist. True, I have met workers that don’t like remote work: companies have latched on to those people as an excuse to continue what is otherwise an entirely transparent narrative.
If anything I gain productivity by working from home. I see companies that don’t support that kind of work as entirely being behind the curve.
These tools are living in the past. Sure there will always be some employees that abuse it, but mostly it has become a success. Can even help lower CO2 emissions since it removes a lot of daily commuters.
Yeah, but think of all the Arby’s and McDonald’s restaurants that are no longer getting any business from on-site employees!!1 Will someone please think of the poor Arby’s?!
There will always be some jobs that require on site workers. But many already don’t and employers force them to make a commute because they think this way.
That's OK, I didn't have any desire to work for that asshole anyway...
Most folks are exponentially more productive when they don't have to waste hours of their day (stressfully) driving/public transit from A to B just to do their job.
I am way more productive when I'm not also being constantly interrupted by the people around me all day long. When I sit down to work at home I will go hours without even looking up from my screen. When my attention is interrupted in the office, which happens regularly, it takes me a good 5-7min to focus again. Repeat that same process a couple times an hour and not a lot gets done.
I can’t believe how much time I waste in the office. It’s unbelievable. I will say that certain meetings in the office are better. However, maybe a day or so for those but for the most part. It’s such a waste.
Yeah, she caught a ton of flak for it online, and then gave a total non-apology that basically boiled down to an officespeak version of “sorry you’re so sensitive”
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