7 ms·
Reddit becomes reddit Inc.
- pointyhat 15y agoPerhaps it's dying and they are trying to cut it loose first.
- cryptoz 15y agoI can't tell if you're serious or not. In case you are...what makes you think reddit is dying? All indications point to continued explosive growth. I've been on reddit for about 5 or 6 years and it's pretty clear the site goes through growing pains but consistently gets over them. Overall it is better and better every day, with more lively intelligent discussion than even in the beginning days.
- philwelch 15y agoThere might be a really cool cafe on my block, and I might go in there and have lively discussions with intelligent people, and there might be more and more people in that cafe every day, but if the cafe doesn't sell any coffee it goes out of business.
- cryptoz 15y agoSure. But to suggest that the site might be dying at the (so far) height of its popularity seems odd, which is why I was asking for clarification. Would you describe Twitter as dying? Or YouTube? Or any other sites that have been infamously unprofitable for years and years before eventually turning it around?
- philwelch 15y agoTwitter is well funded and big enough that there would be signs of collapse before it started to die. YouTube is owned by Google and has tons of advertising. I'm not worried about either of them. Reddit is owned by a publishing company that's lost interest in keeping it around, it's not nearly as big as Twitter or YouTube yet, and it has one of the worst audiences imaginable for monetization. I wouldn't say it's dying per se, but they have to start thinking about how they're going to pay for all those new servers and all that new staff.
- gigantor 15y agoThey're currently experiencing explosive growth: http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months/ http://soshable.com/reddit-traffic-has-exploded-in-12-months... They have also, in my opinion, implemented mainstream and niche news so well (via subreddits) that they're not in immediate danger of being replaced by another aggregate news and/or niche site.
- evan_ 15y ago>They're currently experiencing explosive growth so was Digg, and Fark before it, and Slashdot before that. Am I wrong? History shows that these sites are basically popular for a certain amount of time, and then they lose huge market share when they inevitably do something to sour the community-at-large (like trying to monetize).
- nir 15y agoAppropriately for a discussion about Reddit, downvoted for having a minority opinion :)
- emmett 15y agoThe thing is, Reddit started at the same time Digg did. It's been growing slowly and consistently ever since. Their growth rate actually hasn't changed much over time. Reddit figured out how to support subcommunities in a way that those other sites never did. In my opinion that's what's different. See also: social networks. Every social network was a passing fad...until Facebook wasn't.
- corin_ 15y agofacebook wasn't You meant it hasn't so far. That's not a dig at Facebook, or a prediction of death, but on the short timescale we're looking at (a few years really) it's much to soon to know whether they've stopped the cycle, or made it slower. And therefore you can extent that to Reddit, the fact that they've gone longer without decline doesn't mean they won't start their decline tomorrow, or the next day.
- dchuk 15y agoIn terms of traffic and user base, they're killing it. In terms of revenue (and most importantly, profit), I'm sure they've been a massive let down for Conde Nast. Now they spun them out so other people can finance it without it being their sole burden.
- pointyhat 15y agoThat summarises my point perfectly.
- thurn 15y agoCan someone with more business know-how tell me how a company like Condé Nast benefits from making Reddit an incorporated subsidiary? It doesn't sound like all that much is changing, honestly.
- mibbit 15y agoFrom the other posted article it looks like it will make it easier for them to start selling it off... "The move comes after Conde talked to several investors about selling off a chunk of the company as part of the spinout;"
- jacoblyles 15y agoSelling a minority stake to outside investors is a good way to capitalize the company and give it the resources it needs to grow. Reddit has been notoriously resource-starved. A few hundred million dollars in a partial equity sale fixes that without draining Conde Nast.
- mibbit 15y agoThe question is, does growing a loss making company make sense? Or should you solve the monetization issue first. Reddit doesn't need more money, it needs to be brave, slap up some real advertising, and start generating real revenue. A website that does 100m pageviews, but makes $10m/yr profit is better than one that does 500m pageviews but makes no profit.
- shoham 15y agoTheir ad system has great potential, but right now it's under-developed...
- gyardley 15y agoI suspect Condé Nast's advertising operations didn't mesh well with Reddit's audience. Within Condé Nast, they were likely just an irritating drain on resources. If Reddit's going to monetize effectively (and that's a big 'if'), it needs to be operationally independent so it can get creative.
- nohat 15y agoSounds like they may be making it more attractive as an aquisition target.
- citadrianne 15y agoYou underestimate the ability of a large media company to squash innovation and morale. They might get outside investment so they can iterate harder/better/faster but Advance wants to hold onto this goldmine. From http://www.betabeat.com/2011/09/06/a-startup-is-reborn-reddit-no-longer-part-of-conde-nast-seeks-ceo/ http://www.betabeat.com/2011/09/06/a-startup-is-reborn-reddi...: Greater independence will mean reddit can go to a new board, which includes reddit OG Alexix Ohanian, who had been serving as an “advisor,” as well as representatives from Conde and Advance, with proposals instead of jockeying within Conde’s budget. Reddit doesn’t plan to seek outside funding at this time, Mr. Martin said, but it’s not out of the question. “It’s a lot more more of a startup,” he said. “It’s able to happen faster with less overhead.”
- nohat 15y agoHmm, in that case they seem to be making a reasonable move: remove to some extent the overhead of Conde Nast. If that's the primary motivation, then I am impressed that Conde Nast can recognize it's limitations, and give reddit a chance to grow outside of their oversight. That being said, my impression was that Conde Nast was remarkably hands off.
- cowkingdeluxe 15y agoSeems like what happened to digg. Didn't Digg balloon to 75+ employees at one point? I wonder if Reddit is going to head down that same route.
- kn0thing 15y agoAs long as I'm on the board, I'll do everything I can to stop any nonsense like that.
- specto 15y agoGood luck, it looks daunting.
- staunch 15y agoMy first thought when they said you were on the board was "Well at least we'll have an honest witness to the train wreck that's likely to ensue." I really hope they actually listen to you. Would you consider taking the CEO job there? Best possible outcome.
- raldi 15y agoConde Nast buys reddit, and people predict a train wreck. Conde Nast spins reddit off, and people predict a train wreck. There's just no pleasing you guys...
- staunch 15y agoFor years the cat was bored with the mouse so it just kept it caged up and starving. But the mouse got fat and juicy anyway. Now the cat is licking its lips.
- mibbit 15y ago> Conde Nast buys reddit, and people predict a train wreck. Has it not been a train wreck in terms of profitability? Or is Reddit making a few hundred million in profit nowadays?
- 15y ago
- barredo 15y agoSo. Who will end up buying this new reddit with high traffic and lots of user affection? How much? I'd say 50M$ would be adequate.
- jkaljundi 15y agoWould be really amazed if Reddit would sell so low, considering their fast-growing visitor numbers. http://blog.reddit.com/2011/09/how-reddit-works.html http://blog.reddit.com/2011/09/how-reddit-works.html
- klbarry 15y agoHowever, Reddit users are notoriously cheap and anti-commercial.
- pygy_ 15y agoAs the user base grows there is a growing amount of thinly disguised commercial content that sneaks in, often through strategic product placement in pictures. Since the community is less vigilant than it used to, I assume that the newcomers are less concerned about commerce.
- sunchild 15y agoIt doesn't take much to send a fickle user base like Reddit's running for the next Internet hangout. There are plenty of examples from the recent past. Remember Digg?
- jkaljundi 15y agoSure, it´s not easy. But there are and will be many reveue sources. http://mashable.com/2011/02/08/reddit-hires/ http://mashable.com/2011/02/08/reddit-hires/ once said: "This kind of traffic growth has helped the site lure “big-ticket” advertisers, according to site admins; another rising source of revenue is the site’s sponsored link system, which is used to promote SMBs, startups, blog posts, YouTube videos and other kinds of content. And Reddit Gold continues to be a success, too."
- dotBen 15y agoThis change is all about setting up reddit so that it can better handle future growth and opportunities. FTFY: This change is all about setting up reddit so that it can be be sold.
- argus 15y agoMy thoughts exactly... Reddit is a misfit in the overall organization and with the current exponential growth it's experiencing, it's the best and most leveraged time to sell it off. Would be a strategically good decision IMO.. I'm surprised this comment isn't voted higher..
- emmett 15y agoSad to see them hiring an outside CEO instead of promoting from within. I don't think hired CEOs work so well for products that are still at the stage Reddit is at. They need someone with deep, intimate knowledge of the community and the product. The best source for that in my opinion would be internal.
- lobster_johnson 15y agoReddit is currently a small team of developers, so there's really no "within" to promote from. I don't know them personally, but I somehow doubt any of the developers wants to be CEO.
- emmett 15y agoWho says developers can't be CEOs? Zuckerberg, Gates, Page, ...
- lobster_johnson 15y agoI didn't say they can't. But the guys you mentioned showed clear signs of wanting to lead right from the start. Zuckerberg and Gates in particular started off with big egos, big ambitions and a clear desire to spearhead a technological vision. Again, I don't know the Reddit team, but have you seen any of their developers taking any kind of leadship initiative?
- jedberg 15y ago
- joshklein 15y agoThe question for reddit isn't whether or not people enjoy it and want to spend time on it, but whether or not the owners can make money selling those people's attention. The traffic to reddit - while admirably large - is relatively unattractive to most advertisers. "Reach" (impressions/eyeballs) are only important insofar as you're talking to someone who might buy what you're selling (see "relevancy"). The sub-reddit system could theoretically segment the audience in interesting ways, but other than r/gaming, there aren't many natural industry fits amongst popular sub-reddits. Anecdotally, the audience would also seem to be advertisement-averse. An advertiser should be willing to pay network prices for the audience (i.e. pennies CPM), which makes it a nice living for a small group of folks living off their passion, but pretty useless to a Condé Nast trying to run a media empire. I think the business model in a reddit-like site could be selling curated content in other media, e.g. a meme-series of coffee table books. Think Harry Potter, not Oprah. If you're in the content game, your business's value is in having the attention of a group of people. Your first attempt to monetize that asset needn't be to sell your audience's attention to someone else, in this case undermining your ability to keep their attention. Instead, you should focus on bringing things your audience wants - and would pay for - to them. Sometimes that means you need to make the things they want to buy instead of shilling them for someone else, because no one sells what your people want. Condé Nast isn't built to do this.
- kn0thing 15y agoNailed it, joshklein. In fact, publishing xkcd and SMBC (along with the other breadpig products) has taught me a few things about that world. I'm hoping reddit makes good use of them.
- twidlit 15y agoHere are a bunch of monetization ideas that wont divert too much from their culture: 1. paid mobile apps 2. paid API access 3. build an internal Flattr like service 4. offline events 5. go compete with Disqus
- epicviking 15y agoI can't even begin to imagine what Reddit would be like if Karma had a monetary value. Karma whore-ier I'd presume.
- krashidov 15y agoI've mentioned this before in a different comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2948396 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2948396 I would like to see reddit release a product where I, can implement a forum system much like reddit but completely autonomous and hosted on their own service - basically a replacement to the dreaded phpBB. Hell, I'd pay for it.
- mason55 15y agoThe reddit code is open source
- scottmcf 15y agoThat's true, however it's not really in a highly usable state. I believe it's one of their aims (although, that's been the case for a while) to remedy that situation, but you'd have a tough time using it in this way at the moment.
- jedberg 15y agoYou can already do that. You can assign a domain name to a reddit and they style it, which basically gives you exactly what you want.
- fecklessyouth 15y agoReddit could become an email replacement. My college campus has all-campus email that anyone can send to. Discussions in email simply don't turn out well, there's no good way to respond to just one person while letting everyone view it, there's no good way to voice agreement or disagreement, and it's mixed in with much more important information. Reddit would be perfect for it, and for campuses with less generous email policies. It doesn't interfere with work communication and its better suited for the sort of discussions and arguments that email often plays host to. As a student, I can't speak much for companies. And I'm aware of Reddit's recent College promotion and how easy it is to make, moderate, etc a new Reddit. But a dedicated Reddit integrated with college websites or email could be a profit stream.
- ck2 15y ago3M pageviews per hour? Whoa, that's staggering.
- garydevenay 15y agoI have to say, although Reddit is a large and possibly even influential service. I can't agree that they will be able to influence the news industry greatly (I use greatly loosely as the industry is so large). I think an online service could revolutionise the way we all read and digest news, Reddit is the first stepping stone in this revolution but I expect it to be overtaken soon by a superior service (The same way Facebook has MySpace).
- IAnsari 15y agoReddit is cool. Get a CEO who is cool.