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I don’t think Reddit has the strong position it thinks it has. Ultimately, Reddit is a waste of time for many people. Sure, there are helpful aspects of the pro
by rcme 3y ago
I don’t think Reddit has the strong position it thinks it has. Ultimately, Reddit is a waste of time for many people. Sure, there are helpful aspects of the product, but ultimately engagement is mainly driven by smartphone addiction and peoples’ impulsive nature to consume content. The helpful aspects of Reddit are being increasingly served by Discord communities. If Reddit is going to be so user-hostile, why not switch to a more user-friendly platform? Is that not how Reddit gained popularity over Digg?
As a side note from someone who has developed nascent products: a user is a precious thing. Having even a single individual spend their time using your product should be considered an honor. Nothing good comes from disrespecting that.
- xg15 3y agoMy suspicion is, reddit leadership wants to cash in even more on the smartphone addiction - hence the ongoing tiktokification through r/all and the heavy push to control the UX (first by promoting the app, now by locking out 3rd-party clients). From the UI changes and priorities I've seen so far, I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame is to just have a tiktok-like stream with a mix of cat pictures, cyclically repeated rage-inducer questions from r/askreddit, r/amitheasshole or r/relationship_advice, mixed with some tabloid news and shitposts/memes. Never mind the quality of the content as long as you have eyeballs. For that you don't need any actual communities either.
- leobg 3y agoOut of curiosity. How is Discord a more helpful platform? I find it odd since it’s a more synchronous medium. Also, finding stuff from the past or adding thoughts to an older thread “for posterity” is a lot harder. So why do you think has it gotten so popular for these use cases?