9 ms·

IPO doesn't have to mean ads, though. There are other ways to monetize a user base and to generate money based off of a 'community'. They're just ways that requ

IPO doesn't have to mean ads, though. There are other ways to monetize a user base and to generate money based off of a 'community'. They're just ways that require more time, more concerted effort and planning to execute.

Workaccount2 3y ago
As a shareholder I don't want "instead of ads we have", I want "On top of ads we have"
- _v7gu 3y ago
  On top of ads, you can have a dead website :^)
djbusby 3y ago
So, impossible.
Xelbair 3y ago
so they give lower ROI. therefore they don't exist after IPO.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
CivBase 3y ago
Many platforms have recently shown how you can monitize an audience without ads. It's weird to me that Reddit hasn't pursued something like that. Discord and Twitch have a funding model that would probably work great for Reddit. Allow users to pay a small fee to upgrade their subscription to a subreddit - maybe $1.50/mo per sub or $15/mo for all subs. The upgrade includes access to special emojis for the sub, a special flair or re-colored username, and no ads on the upgraded sub. A portion of the money would go towards funding moderation for the sub, and Reddit could pocket the rest.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  > A portion of the money would go towards funding moderation for the sub That creates bad incentives, though. A streamer I mod for once suggested something similar, I told them I’d quit modding in that case. If it’s a job, it stops being a hobby.
  - mwexler 3y ago
    Cognitive dissonance in action. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      I disagree
    - gota 3y ago
      I think you are confusing OPs point. If he is a volunteer moderator he gets to set his own expectations and efforts. By introducing a financial component it could disrupt his incentives, make him feel like he has to put X hours, and change the spirit/community of the people that now volunteer (but would then "work") with him There is a name for this effect (it's no cognitive dissonance) I think - I recall reading about it in Freakonomics, wherein they discuss it in the scope of parents being "fined" for picking up their children late. The fine actually validated the tardiness as part of a business transaction - instead of being a social imposition - and actually led to more delays, not fewer
      - mwexler 3y ago
        The early Festinger (1959) studies are basically this exact point. Getting paid or paying transforms an internally driven experience into an externally driven one (get paid or deal with fines). Later studies generalized, but the idea that "external reward or punishment is involved" changes perception of the task from internally reward driven to external, due to the dissonance of "why I'm doing it." The economists have their own name for many phenomena that come down to the same thing that the psychologists would predict. Hence the rise of "behavioral economics" to converge the fields.
lkrubner 3y ago
"More time" would equal "lower ROI" unless there is some magic inflection point that would cause a dramatic upward leap in gross margins. Gross margins, in this case, is mostly cost-per-user-acquisition. But "this new social network is amazing, I love it, and you should join" mostly happens when social networks are new, young, and small. It would be difficult to bring back the days of triple digit growth for a network the size of Reddit.

Workaccount2 3y ago

As a shareholder I don't want "instead of ads we have", I want "On top of ads we have"

_v7gu 3y ago
On top of ads, you can have a dead website :^)

djbusby 3y ago

So, impossible.

Xelbair 3y ago

so they give lower ROI. therefore they don't exist after IPO.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

CivBase 3y ago

Many platforms have recently shown how you can monitize an audience without ads. It's weird to me that Reddit hasn't pursued something like that. Discord and Twitch have a funding model that would probably work great for Reddit. Allow users to pay a small fee to upgrade their subscription to a subreddit - maybe $1.50/mo per sub or $15/mo for all subs. The upgrade includes access to special emojis for the sub, a special flair or re-colored username, and no ads on the upgraded sub. A portion of the money would go towards funding moderation for the sub, and Reddit could pocket the rest.

Semaphor 3y ago
> A portion of the money would go towards funding moderation for the sub That creates bad incentives, though. A streamer I mod for once suggested something similar, I told them I’d quit modding in that case. If it’s a job, it stops being a hobby.
- mwexler 3y ago
  Cognitive dissonance in action. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    I disagree
  - gota 3y ago
    I think you are confusing OPs point. If he is a volunteer moderator he gets to set his own expectations and efforts. By introducing a financial component it could disrupt his incentives, make him feel like he has to put X hours, and change the spirit/community of the people that now volunteer (but would then "work") with him There is a name for this effect (it's no cognitive dissonance) I think - I recall reading about it in Freakonomics, wherein they discuss it in the scope of parents being "fined" for picking up their children late. The fine actually validated the tardiness as part of a business transaction - instead of being a social imposition - and actually led to more delays, not fewer
    - mwexler 3y ago
      The early Festinger (1959) studies are basically this exact point. Getting paid or paying transforms an internally driven experience into an externally driven one (get paid or deal with fines). Later studies generalized, but the idea that "external reward or punishment is involved" changes perception of the task from internally reward driven to external, due to the dissonance of "why I'm doing it." The economists have their own name for many phenomena that come down to the same thing that the psychologists would predict. Hence the rise of "behavioral economics" to converge the fields.

lkrubner 3y ago

"More time" would equal "lower ROI" unless there is some magic inflection point that would cause a dramatic upward leap in gross margins. Gross margins, in this case, is mostly cost-per-user-acquisition. But "this new social network is amazing, I love it, and you should join" mostly happens when social networks are new, young, and small. It would be difficult to bring back the days of triple digit growth for a network the size of Reddit.