3 ms·
> What's odd is they haven't stopped growing. It's just been linear user growth Most growth is driven by Google Search. It accounts for almost half of their tr
by ankit219 5y ago
> What's odd is they haven't stopped growing. It's just been linear user growth
Most growth is driven by Google Search. It accounts for almost half of their traffic. At this point, SEO is their moat. The problem they have had is that they cant get most of the traffic to convert ie. create accounts and engage in those subreddits. That is still done by a small fraction of the traffic.
As an experiment, if you create an account on Reddit, you see that you are automatically added to r/announcements. (It does not even offer you a choice). That sub has grown very slow compared to their DAUs and MAUs. It still has about 127M subscribers (lifetime)
- initplus 5y agoIf I want to search reddit content on my phone, I use google search because reddit's search sucks. But then I look like a non-converted user because I'm only logged in on the app not the mobile site.
- ankit219 5y agoyou also count as one of the DAUs and MAUs - minimum 2, as one logged in and one not logged in, and maybe more if you use incognito to search for those comments, because reddit will treat that as a separate visit from a separate user I guess.
- emodendroket 5y ago> The problem they have had is that they cant get most of the traffic to convert ie. create accounts and engage in those subreddits. That is still done by a small fraction of the traffic. Is that really a problem? Any site like this is going to see the same dynamics. e.g., the vast majority of Stack Overflow users never make an account either.
- ankit219 5y agoA definite problem from a company's perspective when their model is ads and gold/donations, both of which require users to be logged in. This directly affects the number of users willing to participate in discussions - both in big subreddits and niche ones - and it risks some active users becoming dormant because they dont see enough reaction/response to what they have posted. Stack Overflow is not the best comparison. In some cases yes, they are very similar, but mostly the reason for users to land on stack overflow is very different (solving a problem while working) than for users to land on a subreddit/post (looking for more info and satisfying curiosity via Google search - not always solving a problem)
- emodendroket 5y agoI think it is similar in this sense: those users are in a funnel as long as they visit regularly. Not everybody who walks into a store buys something, but if the store is busy that’s a good sign.
- ankit219 5y agoThere is a distinct possibility that those users arent visiting regularly. They visit via Google search, explore a bit, don't create an account. Next time they come in, it's again via Google search. Reddit may or may not be able to track them. And again, you cant see that they are even visiting a page. All the signals - upvotes, comments, etc. are only available when logged in. (except for video views)
- emodendroket 5y agoRight. My point is that after you get there by search results or shared links enough times some percentage of users will create an account.