8 ms·

Reddit is reportedly considering an IPO

53 points by artsandsci 9y ago

mywittyname 9y ago
Reddit is considered a social network?
- gooseus 9y ago
  What is your definition of social network? Mine would be a system connecting multiple entities for the purpose of socializing... or something like that. So I'd say yes, imo.
  - wakamoleguy 9y ago
    To me, Reddit is clearly an example of social media, and less clearly a social network. Compared to Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, it has much less focus on the network aspect, connecting individual users, and a much larger focus on what is being posted. On larger subreddits, most interactions are with random strangers, rather than people you have some close relation to. That being said, I do think the ability to create small communities and organize that way could just be considered a different way of modeling connections. Rather than peer-to-peer links, you have topic groups as the primary structure. There's definitely a spectrum, though, and I would be willing to accept it if somebody made the argument that Reddit wasn't a social network.
    - porfirium 9y ago
      >Compared to Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, it has much less focus on the network aspect, connecting individual users, and a much larger focus on what is being posted. They are completely redesigning and rewriting the website from scratch with the objective of turning into an actual social network. Look what the new user profiles look like: https://www.reddit.com/user/spladug https://www.reddit.com/user/spladug
    - baldfat 9y ago
      It's more social then Facebook to me. I get to meet new people based on intrest (sub-reddits) Facebook and LinkedIn is how you connect with people you actually know or 1 degree of separation. Reddit exposed you to new ideas and people. Some good and mostly bad but it is much more "Social" in action.
      - pvg 9y ago
        It's not a question of whether it's social but whether it's a 'social network'. Facebook straight up tries to model a social network - you tell FB about your relationship to other people. Reddit doesn't.
        AznHisoka 9y ago
        so then Facebook and Linkedin are both networks. Reddit is social. lets not by default prepend "Social" when its just a network.
        pvg 9y ago
        I'm not sure I follow why we shouldn't call something that is social and models a network a 'social network'.
        visarga 9y ago
        Yes it is. There are social networks based on persons you know, and social networks based on interests.
        pvg 9y ago
        There are, but reddit isn't really either.
      - bnolsen 9y ago
        facebook is one of the worst platforms I can think of. Trying to find anything in facebook is pretty much impossible, even your own posts. Reddit is more like digg used to be, but you can more easily filter out all the crap. I'm not sure how reddit can improve itself, unless some genius has an idea of how to expand what it offers to more people. Its more likely they will end up driving their core away with any radical changes.
  - mhermher 9y ago
    Are old school style forums social networks then? Reddit to me just fits into that mold, of just a forum site. The type that have existed as far back as I have been using the internet.
- ProAm 9y ago
  Really it's Twitter with pictures. Same audience, same problems. Microblogging platform that allows your to embed images and video. Has the same harassment, hate and political controversies that Twitter has. The only difference is community moderation, which can be seen as good or bad. It will be interesting what community moderation occurs after its a public company.
2017hack 9y ago
Smart move - better IPO before the incoming censorship increase.
- maldusiecle 9y ago
  You may be reading the causality backwards. My guess is that Reddit's recent changes to policy and crackdowns on abusive communities are to avoid the kinds of controversies that would be damaging for a publicly-traded company.
  - RIMR 9y ago
    With that said, it's exciting to imagine that Reddit going public might actually lead to a further crackdown on hate speech.
    - canoebuilder 9y ago
      There is no such thing as hate speech, as something that can be objectively identified and reasoned about. You can have free speech or you can have "hate speech." Hate is an emotion, a label people apply to the way they feel. The way you feel is your choice. Emotions and feelings are variable and subjective. Freedom is absolute and objective, something is free or it isn't. __ it's exciting to imagine What exactly excites you about such a scenario, from an open discourse and marketplace of ideas perspective?
      - pixelcloud 9y ago
        There is no such thing as hate speech, as something that can be objectively identified and reasoned about. Are you sure? My country defines it in a legal sense, along with many others.
      - chii 9y ago
        I'd compare your argument to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance I think tolerating hate speech will eventually cause all speech to become hate speech.
sbuccini 9y ago
In other news, water is wet. Of course they're considering an IPO eventually; they took $200m in funding just a few months back. I suspect people upvoting the article didn't actually read it, or else they would have seen the quote from Steve saying "the time frame is pretty far out".
fortythirteen 9y ago
Short of the year right there. Reddit's revenue model makes Twitter look like a cash cow.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  > Reddit's (PRE-IPO) revenue model makes Twitter look like a cash cow. > > Reddit's (POST-IPO) revenue model will make it the most profitable company in the world.... > > > Reddit's (POST - IPO) revenue model is LOOT CRATES.
  - shostack 9y ago
    I'll bet even now they are watching the EA Battlefront drama unfold and thinking to themselves "how can we get in on that PR action?"
- chatmasta 9y ago
  Twitter has thousands of employees. Reddit probably has less than one hundred. I imagine Reddit has a lower operating cost than Twitter.
  - Deimorz 9y ago
    Reddit has almost 300 employees now, and is still hiring a lot.
john58 9y ago
Interesting!
midnitewarrior 9y ago
Why do I have a feeling that Reddit Gold will be worth more than a share?
- chii 9y ago
  Reddit good is worth nothing because you cannot convert it into cash. Unless Reddit tanks completely, their shares must still be worth something!
revelation 9y ago
This is amazing. Reddit today is pretty much the same site it was in the "Conde Nast dark ages", but with 100x the headcount and many many millions of VC money (I guess you could call that "liabilities"). So what is it that now makes it an IPO candidate presumably worth many magnitudes of what it was to Conde Nast?
shostack 9y ago
As an advertiser, I have concerns about their ad platform, and as a user, I'm terrified to think about what is in store for the future as they gear up for pleasing investors. History tells us that the soul of Reddit will not remain intact (if it is in fact even there still). Also still to be uncovered is what role Reddit (and potentially mods/employees) played in the election. It is no secret that Reddit was HEAVILY targeted by Russia (and still is). If I were a potential investor, I'd want to be much more confident in the accuracy of their user counts and growth. There's a LOT of fake accounts there.
- salemh 9y ago
  Also heavily targeted by several other interest parties including Media Matters. I imagine the value in Reddit at this point is in conversation "trend setting" for zeitgeist influence.
- rjbwork 9y ago
  I didn't really participate in the politic threads there during the 2016 election, but everyone was accused of being a Correct the Record shill as well.
- xster 9y ago
  Man, Putin must be riding in on his bear and assassinating every single state employee if 'heavy targeting' gets them this result. Let's look at the top posts today on r/politics: - Cards Against Humanity buys plot of land on U.S./Mexico border to block border wall - Sessions: I Can Remember Only the Parts of 2016 That Exonerate Me - RNC cuts off Moore - Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments "To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016” - Fox News' Shepard Smith hits Trump for 'inaccurate' claims on Uranium One deal - Site Altered HeadlineJeff Sessions: 'Not enough evidence' for special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton - Troll Smearing Roy Moore Accuser Stole Dead SEAL's Identity - Senate GOP to add repeal of Obamacare insurance mandate into tax bill - Roy Moore challenged Alabama law that protects rape victims, documents reveal - If Republicans believe Roy Moore’s accusers, why not Trump’s? - The FBI is examining why Russia transferred nearly $400,000 to its embassies 'to finance' the 'election campaign of 2016' - Pence NFL Stunt Cost Indianapolis Police Department $14K Maybe Putin secretly works for David Brock. Let's look at r/worldnews: - Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey: 61.6% yes, 38.4% no - 'Tobacco at a cancer summit': Trump coal push savaged at climate conference: The US administration’s attempt to portray fossil fuels as vital to reducing poverty and saving US jobs is ridiculed in Bonn - Russia tried to use computer game footage to prove that the U.S. is helping ISIS - Trudeau says he raised human rights issues with Duterte after Trump didn’t - Sessions changes statement about Trump campaign and Russia. “I do now recall” - Russia used 419 fake accounts to tweet about Brexit, data shows - Israeli police 'have sufficient evidence to charge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with fraud and accepting gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels including demanded free cigars and champagne from associates. - Trump Served Shark Fin Soup in Vietnam—A Delicacy Driving Sharks to Extinction: Shark finning is illegal in the U.S and regulated in 21 countries. It involves cutting the fins from live sharks for shark fin soup, and throwing the shark back into the ocean. - Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments "To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016” Man, that Putin is one effective anti-Putin machine. If it were me, I'd be for more worried as an investor about the virtues of their founders (e.g. Ohanian sacking Victoria then backstabbing Yishan and Ellen, Huffman abusing site admin to edit user comments) etc and how it generally very much misaligns with their original grassroots pre-superPAC pro-Ralph Nader/Ron Paul/Bernie Sanders (before he turned into a Tom Perez mouthpiece) crowd that's its userbase.
yuhong 9y ago
Which also reminds me that I am thinking seriously of Yishan-style CEOs and the board of directors should follow the same standard too.
Deimorz 9y ago
The source interview is available here (35 mins long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvRZx5gmajs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvRZx5gmajs
ggg9990 9y ago
The scale is impressive, but the site hasn't changed meaningfully since I started using it a long time ago. This is a sign of 1) a perfected product 2) a team that doesn't know why they're successful so is scared to change anything 3) huge technical debt or 4) poor engineering staff.
dbuder 9y ago
Invest in our openly hostile userbase now!

53 points by artsandsci 9y ago

mywittyname 9y ago

Reddit is considered a social network?

gooseus 9y ago
What is your definition of social network? Mine would be a system connecting multiple entities for the purpose of socializing... or something like that. So I'd say yes, imo.
- wakamoleguy 9y ago
  To me, Reddit is clearly an example of social media, and less clearly a social network. Compared to Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, it has much less focus on the network aspect, connecting individual users, and a much larger focus on what is being posted. On larger subreddits, most interactions are with random strangers, rather than people you have some close relation to. That being said, I do think the ability to create small communities and organize that way could just be considered a different way of modeling connections. Rather than peer-to-peer links, you have topic groups as the primary structure. There's definitely a spectrum, though, and I would be willing to accept it if somebody made the argument that Reddit wasn't a social network.
  - porfirium 9y ago
    >Compared to Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, it has much less focus on the network aspect, connecting individual users, and a much larger focus on what is being posted. They are completely redesigning and rewriting the website from scratch with the objective of turning into an actual social network. Look what the new user profiles look like: https://www.reddit.com/user/spladug https://www.reddit.com/user/spladug
  - baldfat 9y ago
    It's more social then Facebook to me. I get to meet new people based on intrest (sub-reddits) Facebook and LinkedIn is how you connect with people you actually know or 1 degree of separation. Reddit exposed you to new ideas and people. Some good and mostly bad but it is much more "Social" in action.
    - pvg 9y ago
      It's not a question of whether it's social but whether it's a 'social network'. Facebook straight up tries to model a social network - you tell FB about your relationship to other people. Reddit doesn't.
      - AznHisoka 9y ago
        so then Facebook and Linkedin are both networks. Reddit is social. lets not by default prepend "Social" when its just a network.
        pvg 9y ago
        I'm not sure I follow why we shouldn't call something that is social and models a network a 'social network'.
      - visarga 9y ago
        Yes it is. There are social networks based on persons you know, and social networks based on interests.
        pvg 9y ago
        There are, but reddit isn't really either.
    - bnolsen 9y ago
      facebook is one of the worst platforms I can think of. Trying to find anything in facebook is pretty much impossible, even your own posts. Reddit is more like digg used to be, but you can more easily filter out all the crap. I'm not sure how reddit can improve itself, unless some genius has an idea of how to expand what it offers to more people. Its more likely they will end up driving their core away with any radical changes.
- mhermher 9y ago
  Are old school style forums social networks then? Reddit to me just fits into that mold, of just a forum site. The type that have existed as far back as I have been using the internet.
ProAm 9y ago
Really it's Twitter with pictures. Same audience, same problems. Microblogging platform that allows your to embed images and video. Has the same harassment, hate and political controversies that Twitter has. The only difference is community moderation, which can be seen as good or bad. It will be interesting what community moderation occurs after its a public company.

2017hack 9y ago

Smart move - better IPO before the incoming censorship increase.

maldusiecle 9y ago
You may be reading the causality backwards. My guess is that Reddit's recent changes to policy and crackdowns on abusive communities are to avoid the kinds of controversies that would be damaging for a publicly-traded company.
- RIMR 9y ago
  With that said, it's exciting to imagine that Reddit going public might actually lead to a further crackdown on hate speech.
  - canoebuilder 9y ago
    There is no such thing as hate speech, as something that can be objectively identified and reasoned about. You can have free speech or you can have "hate speech." Hate is an emotion, a label people apply to the way they feel. The way you feel is your choice. Emotions and feelings are variable and subjective. Freedom is absolute and objective, something is free or it isn't. __ it's exciting to imagine What exactly excites you about such a scenario, from an open discourse and marketplace of ideas perspective?
    - pixelcloud 9y ago
      There is no such thing as hate speech, as something that can be objectively identified and reasoned about. Are you sure? My country defines it in a legal sense, along with many others.
    - chii 9y ago
      I'd compare your argument to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance I think tolerating hate speech will eventually cause all speech to become hate speech.

sbuccini 9y ago

In other news, water is wet. Of course they're considering an IPO eventually; they took $200m in funding just a few months back. I suspect people upvoting the article didn't actually read it, or else they would have seen the quote from Steve saying "the time frame is pretty far out".

fortythirteen 9y ago

Short of the year right there. Reddit's revenue model makes Twitter look like a cash cow.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
> Reddit's (PRE-IPO) revenue model makes Twitter look like a cash cow. > > Reddit's (POST-IPO) revenue model will make it the most profitable company in the world.... > > > Reddit's (POST - IPO) revenue model is LOOT CRATES.
- shostack 9y ago
  I'll bet even now they are watching the EA Battlefront drama unfold and thinking to themselves "how can we get in on that PR action?"
chatmasta 9y ago
Twitter has thousands of employees. Reddit probably has less than one hundred. I imagine Reddit has a lower operating cost than Twitter.
- Deimorz 9y ago
  Reddit has almost 300 employees now, and is still hiring a lot.

john58 9y ago

Interesting!

midnitewarrior 9y ago

Why do I have a feeling that Reddit Gold will be worth more than a share?

chii 9y ago
Reddit good is worth nothing because you cannot convert it into cash. Unless Reddit tanks completely, their shares must still be worth something!

revelation 9y ago

This is amazing. Reddit today is pretty much the same site it was in the "Conde Nast dark ages", but with 100x the headcount and many many millions of VC money (I guess you could call that "liabilities"). So what is it that now makes it an IPO candidate presumably worth many magnitudes of what it was to Conde Nast?

shostack 9y ago

As an advertiser, I have concerns about their ad platform, and as a user, I'm terrified to think about what is in store for the future as they gear up for pleasing investors. History tells us that the soul of Reddit will not remain intact (if it is in fact even there still). Also still to be uncovered is what role Reddit (and potentially mods/employees) played in the election. It is no secret that Reddit was HEAVILY targeted by Russia (and still is). If I were a potential investor, I'd want to be much more confident in the accuracy of their user counts and growth. There's a LOT of fake accounts there.

salemh 9y ago
Also heavily targeted by several other interest parties including Media Matters. I imagine the value in Reddit at this point is in conversation "trend setting" for zeitgeist influence.
rjbwork 9y ago
I didn't really participate in the politic threads there during the 2016 election, but everyone was accused of being a Correct the Record shill as well.
xster 9y ago
Man, Putin must be riding in on his bear and assassinating every single state employee if 'heavy targeting' gets them this result. Let's look at the top posts today on r/politics: - Cards Against Humanity buys plot of land on U.S./Mexico border to block border wall - Sessions: I Can Remember Only the Parts of 2016 That Exonerate Me - RNC cuts off Moore - Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments "To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016” - Fox News' Shepard Smith hits Trump for 'inaccurate' claims on Uranium One deal - Site Altered HeadlineJeff Sessions: 'Not enough evidence' for special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton - Troll Smearing Roy Moore Accuser Stole Dead SEAL's Identity - Senate GOP to add repeal of Obamacare insurance mandate into tax bill - Roy Moore challenged Alabama law that protects rape victims, documents reveal - If Republicans believe Roy Moore’s accusers, why not Trump’s? - The FBI is examining why Russia transferred nearly $400,000 to its embassies 'to finance' the 'election campaign of 2016' - Pence NFL Stunt Cost Indianapolis Police Department $14K Maybe Putin secretly works for David Brock. Let's look at r/worldnews: - Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey: 61.6% yes, 38.4% no - 'Tobacco at a cancer summit': Trump coal push savaged at climate conference: The US administration’s attempt to portray fossil fuels as vital to reducing poverty and saving US jobs is ridiculed in Bonn - Russia tried to use computer game footage to prove that the U.S. is helping ISIS - Trudeau says he raised human rights issues with Duterte after Trump didn’t - Sessions changes statement about Trump campaign and Russia. “I do now recall” - Russia used 419 fake accounts to tweet about Brexit, data shows - Israeli police 'have sufficient evidence to charge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with fraud and accepting gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels including demanded free cigars and champagne from associates. - Trump Served Shark Fin Soup in Vietnam—A Delicacy Driving Sharks to Extinction: Shark finning is illegal in the U.S and regulated in 21 countries. It involves cutting the fins from live sharks for shark fin soup, and throwing the shark back into the ocean. - Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments "To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016” Man, that Putin is one effective anti-Putin machine. If it were me, I'd be for more worried as an investor about the virtues of their founders (e.g. Ohanian sacking Victoria then backstabbing Yishan and Ellen, Huffman abusing site admin to edit user comments) etc and how it generally very much misaligns with their original grassroots pre-superPAC pro-Ralph Nader/Ron Paul/Bernie Sanders (before he turned into a Tom Perez mouthpiece) crowd that's its userbase.

yuhong 9y ago

Which also reminds me that I am thinking seriously of Yishan-style CEOs and the board of directors should follow the same standard too.

Deimorz 9y ago

The source interview is available here (35 mins long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvRZx5gmajs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvRZx5gmajs

ggg9990 9y ago

The scale is impressive, but the site hasn't changed meaningfully since I started using it a long time ago. This is a sign of 1) a perfected product 2) a team that doesn't know why they're successful so is scared to change anything 3) huge technical debt or 4) poor engineering staff.

dbuder 9y ago

Invest in our openly hostile userbase now!