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In a highly contextual platform like Reddit, advertisements would always be frowned by its original users because getting contextual advertisement is hard. Tha

In a highly contextual platform like Reddit, advertisements would always be frowned by its original users because getting contextual advertisement is hard. That's what makes Facebook successful for the advertisers, Majority of it's users don't mind seeing/clicking 'Earn $10,000 in 10 days' ad after 'Baby gender reveal party photos' post by a family member. Where as the same ad has no place in r/programming(But it is), naturally the advertiser wouldn't find much conversion. I think that's why Reddit is now making all the required changes to attract users & advertisers from Facebook type platform i.e. Bloated website, App, Changes to T&C, Privacy Policy etc. I bet API restrictions would be next. But then how can a platform like Reddit in its original form make money? I guess making it a fully paid platform is the only solution, which means foregoing the scale; Which is considered a bad word in today's startup ecosystem.

Nextgrid 6y ago
> But then how can a platform like Reddit in its original form make money? Ultimately it means aligning the incentives between the platform owners and their users. Because of scale and that software is cheap, it's relatively cheap to run a platform like Reddit. Per-user, the cost would be less than a dollar per month. A two-tier system where basic features are free and premium features are paid (where the premium tier is used to subsidize free usage) would work. Some restrictions on commercial content (such as posting on behalf of a brand) forcing brands to pay for a more expensive, business account (that could also give them extra features like analytics) could work. I always found it baffling that most modern social media platforms allow and encourage blatantly commercial content while it was a major no-no in forums of the old days. This seems like an obvious monetization route - the platform is free for personal entertainment & non-lucrative purposes, and if you want to use it for commercial purposes then you should pay (and have the money to pay).

Nextgrid 6y ago

> But then how can a platform like Reddit in its original form make money? Ultimately it means aligning the incentives between the platform owners and their users. Because of scale and that software is cheap, it's relatively cheap to run a platform like Reddit. Per-user, the cost would be less than a dollar per month. A two-tier system where basic features are free and premium features are paid (where the premium tier is used to subsidize free usage) would work. Some restrictions on commercial content (such as posting on behalf of a brand) forcing brands to pay for a more expensive, business account (that could also give them extra features like analytics) could work. I always found it baffling that most modern social media platforms allow and encourage blatantly commercial content while it was a major no-no in forums of the old days. This seems like an obvious monetization route - the platform is free for personal entertainment & non-lucrative purposes, and if you want to use it for commercial purposes then you should pay (and have the money to pay).