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As someone who tried to advertise on reddit (though it was > 1-2 years ago, so things may have changed)-- Reddit, along with Twitter, is very advertiser unfrien

As someone who tried to advertise on reddit (though it was > 1-2 years ago, so things may have changed)-- Reddit, along with Twitter, is very advertiser unfriendly. And Im not just talking about the users. I literally couldnt give them my money. I wanted to target a specific subreddit, but couldnt buy any impressions on it for 3 months. The app kept forcing me to advertise on /all, or all technology reddits, which wasnt what I wanted. I did buy $10 of ads, got zero clicks, surprise surprise. The thing was hard to setup, hard to run, hard to measure, not to mention, advertisers get treated like any other account. I was shadow banned because I was linking to one domain, and reddit considered me a spammer. But I was like, that *is* the whole purpose of advertising. I was forced to post a few cat pictures, just so I could run my ads. Never again. I note they have since revamped their ad site-- now there is a new site, but you have to reregister to run ads, and I dont want the hassle. Yes, everyone hates ads, but thats how free sites make money. Some redditors were hostile to ads, but the number isnt that big. Most users were indifferent. Such an ad-hostile company, I wonder how they make money.

entangledqubit 5y ago
I tried it recently (< 2 months ago) and the experience wasn't too bad. This was the first real ad "campaign" I had ever set up. The targeted group was pretty niche and while Reddit suggested going broader, I was able to stick with the subreddits that I considered relevant. The most annoying part was the rather opaque period between launching, approving, and actually running the ad. The first real confirmation I had that things were working was a bill.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
>Yes, everyone hates ads, but thats how free sites make money. Maybe a simple user forum site doesn't need to make mega valuation levels of money. Maybe it, and other low effort sites like Facecrook and Twatter, should be run as public benefit corps. These companies aren't selling state of the art tech here - why do they need to be such money makers??
- qeternity 5y ago
  > These companies aren't selling state of the art tech here - why do they need to be such money makers?? You’re thinking of the user facing element as being the thing they’re selling. That’s not what they’re selling. They give that away for free so they can sell extremely sophisticated data and targeting. You’re the product they’re selling. And the access is definitely cutting edge.
  - wintermutestwin 5y ago
    Yes, I get that the industry is leveraging its "best and brightest" on stalkertech and the users are getting pennies worth of value in trade for large dollars of value extracted from them in the form of data. The tradeoff is so ridiculous that it is essentially theft. Its like trading trinkets to native populations for land.
    - mrwww 5y ago
      trinkets to natives is a great way to clarify whats going on
    - patentatt 5y ago
      Side note: the whole trinkets for land thing is exaggerated. Native populations didn’t have any concept of land “ownership” similar to what the Europeans did. There is a strong argument that they perceived the trinkets as more of a friendly gesture, like a diplomatic gift. Then the settlers proclaimed they owned the land and ran the native populations off. Not so dissimilar than how you’re using the analogy, because users don’t really have a good concept of owning their data or metadata, while the social media empires expropriate it for their own immense gain after confusing the users into thinking they were getting something for free, all the while giving themselves the excuse that it was a fair trade because the users/natives accepted the pittance offered to them.
- erklik 5y ago
  > why do they need to be such money makers?? Because that's capitalism. Investors want "growth".
TheRealDunkirk 5y ago
If they were making money, they wouldn't have to keep taking VC money, and further diluting their ownership.
- id5j1ynz 5y ago
  Having 10% stake in a 10b company is often better than having a 15% stake in a 5b one.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    Now, question is does further investment on site like Reddit make them more valuable or just keep it running? This leads me to wonder if the stock market goes down and VC dries up how long will Reddit be around?
Ologn 5y ago
Similar with me. Also like you this was over 2 years ago. I looked to advertise on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Facebook didn't seem interested in SMBs and I didn't even advertise on them, it seemed very complex just to run a simple ad. Twitter didn't deliver good value per click etc., but I did get good demographic information on who was and wasn't interested. Google was the best value, especially if you look for bargains where one group of customers is cheap. Reddit had no offerings in the way Google had, or even Twitter had. IIRC I bailed on advertising with them at all. With Facebook it was just too complex for a simple ad, with Reddit it didn't even seem they were offering anything near what I wanted.
scambier 5y ago
if you want to advertise on Reddit, you gotta do it like everyone does it: hide your ads in normal posts and comments.

entangledqubit 5y ago

I tried it recently (< 2 months ago) and the experience wasn't too bad. This was the first real ad "campaign" I had ever set up. The targeted group was pretty niche and while Reddit suggested going broader, I was able to stick with the subreddits that I considered relevant. The most annoying part was the rather opaque period between launching, approving, and actually running the ad. The first real confirmation I had that things were working was a bill.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

>Yes, everyone hates ads, but thats how free sites make money. Maybe a simple user forum site doesn't need to make mega valuation levels of money. Maybe it, and other low effort sites like Facecrook and Twatter, should be run as public benefit corps. These companies aren't selling state of the art tech here - why do they need to be such money makers??

qeternity 5y ago
> These companies aren't selling state of the art tech here - why do they need to be such money makers?? You’re thinking of the user facing element as being the thing they’re selling. That’s not what they’re selling. They give that away for free so they can sell extremely sophisticated data and targeting. You’re the product they’re selling. And the access is definitely cutting edge.
- wintermutestwin 5y ago
  Yes, I get that the industry is leveraging its "best and brightest" on stalkertech and the users are getting pennies worth of value in trade for large dollars of value extracted from them in the form of data. The tradeoff is so ridiculous that it is essentially theft. Its like trading trinkets to native populations for land.
  - mrwww 5y ago
    trinkets to natives is a great way to clarify whats going on
  - patentatt 5y ago
    Side note: the whole trinkets for land thing is exaggerated. Native populations didn’t have any concept of land “ownership” similar to what the Europeans did. There is a strong argument that they perceived the trinkets as more of a friendly gesture, like a diplomatic gift. Then the settlers proclaimed they owned the land and ran the native populations off. Not so dissimilar than how you’re using the analogy, because users don’t really have a good concept of owning their data or metadata, while the social media empires expropriate it for their own immense gain after confusing the users into thinking they were getting something for free, all the while giving themselves the excuse that it was a fair trade because the users/natives accepted the pittance offered to them.
erklik 5y ago
> why do they need to be such money makers?? Because that's capitalism. Investors want "growth".

TheRealDunkirk 5y ago

If they were making money, they wouldn't have to keep taking VC money, and further diluting their ownership.

id5j1ynz 5y ago
Having 10% stake in a 10b company is often better than having a 15% stake in a 5b one.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Now, question is does further investment on site like Reddit make them more valuable or just keep it running? This leads me to wonder if the stock market goes down and VC dries up how long will Reddit be around?

Ologn 5y ago

Similar with me. Also like you this was over 2 years ago. I looked to advertise on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Facebook didn't seem interested in SMBs and I didn't even advertise on them, it seemed very complex just to run a simple ad. Twitter didn't deliver good value per click etc., but I did get good demographic information on who was and wasn't interested. Google was the best value, especially if you look for bargains where one group of customers is cheap. Reddit had no offerings in the way Google had, or even Twitter had. IIRC I bailed on advertising with them at all. With Facebook it was just too complex for a simple ad, with Reddit it didn't even seem they were offering anything near what I wanted.

scambier 5y ago

if you want to advertise on Reddit, you gotta do it like everyone does it: hide your ads in normal posts and comments.