4 ms·

> It's because the Reddit users that are actually bothered by this are unmonetizable and everyone knows it. Yes, this is exactly the same as the Netflix accoun

by isykt 3y ago

> It's because the Reddit users that are actually bothered by this are unmonetizable and everyone knows it. Yes, this is exactly the same as the Netflix account sharing controversy. People who aren’t generating the company any profit are shouting the loudest. I don’t think there’s much of a loss here. The era of free money was always going to end and now it’s over.

organsnyder 3y ago
But those people are also generating a large amount of the content that is being used to monetize users.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  That's a claim, but only time will tell to what degree it is accurate. Some people certainly want to continue continue creating content and we will see the degree to which they figure out alternative subreddits if the blackout continues
- isykt 3y ago
  It’s not clear there’s anything “unique” about the set of users that both generate the content and will leave the site because of the API changes. From an investor standpoint, content is content and monetizeable users are monetizable users. Both are replaceable, and it’s better to have monetizable users that generate content than non-monentizeable users who generate content.
  - xen2xen1 3y ago
    I go to Reddit to look for information on specific things. People talking about Med interactions, app support, very specific things. I don't interact with Reddit because it's a cesspool, and very politically slanted. I'll probably go wherever real people talk about real stuff, and it's almost always reddit. I wonder what percentage are like me, who have no value in "community"?
  - HWR_14 3y ago
    Most mods (who oversee the generation of new content) use the API because third-party apps offer superior mod tools. Instead of thinking about "shutting down third party apps" think about it as "asking your volunteer labor to do the job on hard mode". You can see why those people might get pissed off.
    - edgyquant 3y ago
      Do you have a citation for the claim that most mods use third party apps?
      - HWR_14 3y ago
        Ironically, the only citations I recall are on reddit, and I believe from blacked out subreddits. And I should have added some cutoff there. It's mods of large enough subreddits. But why else would the mods be so up in arms?
    - isykt 3y ago
      I understand why they’re pissed off, it’s just not clear to me that they are irreplaceable. Lots of people here are talking about their favorite niche subreddit but is that really where the value is derived, advertising wise? I doubt it. I’m fairly certain that the top 25 or so subreddits drive most of the revenue, and they have no dearth of people willing to mod them. Hell, if Reddit Inc just in-housed moderation of the the top 100 subs they’d probably be fine.
- mvdtnz 3y ago
  I keep seeing people make this claim and frankly I don't buy it. While I think it's true that a minority of users produce a majority of the content, I don't think it's necessarily the people on third party apps. I think it's total speculation that there's a large overlap. My own speculation is that a majority of the content is produced by people using Reddit in a browser on a laptop/desktop machine. It's much faster and easier to produce content in this mode.
- edgyquant 3y ago
  People keep saying this, do you have any proof?
TeMPOraL 3y ago
Who else is making Netflix money? Their catalog is currently so small and bad that it makes no sense to keep an account per person. Proliferation of streaming services doesn't help - individually, none of them is worth paying full price per person or household.
- isykt 3y ago
  Netflix grew 4.9% YoY in Q1. They have introduced an ad-supporter tier, so it’s now advertisers that foot some of the bill for content in addition to subscribers and investors. To your point about paying full price —- it would be interesting to have a breakdown of the number of “evergreen subscribers” vs “fair weather subscribers,” but I’m not sure Netflix would be willing to share such a breakdown. This would tell us whether a majority of its subscribers think of the basic value of the service.
lenerdenator 3y ago
The loss is that those people might not be generating content, but they do have eyeballs and those eyeballs aren't looking at the content generated by the monetizable people. That means they're also not looking at the ads Reddit wants to serve to users in exchange for payment from advertisers. You're right about the era of free (well… really, really cheap) money being over. I think we're going to see that social media as we know it (which has _only_ existed in the era of cheap money) isn't nearly as sustainable without a bunch of VCs willing to shovel money into a furnace in hope for unknown future returns. There's going to be a contraction.

by isykt 3y ago

organsnyder 3y ago

But those people are also generating a large amount of the content that is being used to monetize users.

s1artibartfast 3y ago
That's a claim, but only time will tell to what degree it is accurate. Some people certainly want to continue continue creating content and we will see the degree to which they figure out alternative subreddits if the blackout continues
isykt 3y ago
It’s not clear there’s anything “unique” about the set of users that both generate the content and will leave the site because of the API changes. From an investor standpoint, content is content and monetizeable users are monetizable users. Both are replaceable, and it’s better to have monetizable users that generate content than non-monentizeable users who generate content.
- xen2xen1 3y ago
  I go to Reddit to look for information on specific things. People talking about Med interactions, app support, very specific things. I don't interact with Reddit because it's a cesspool, and very politically slanted. I'll probably go wherever real people talk about real stuff, and it's almost always reddit. I wonder what percentage are like me, who have no value in "community"?
- HWR_14 3y ago
  Most mods (who oversee the generation of new content) use the API because third-party apps offer superior mod tools. Instead of thinking about "shutting down third party apps" think about it as "asking your volunteer labor to do the job on hard mode". You can see why those people might get pissed off.
  - edgyquant 3y ago
    Do you have a citation for the claim that most mods use third party apps?
    - HWR_14 3y ago
      Ironically, the only citations I recall are on reddit, and I believe from blacked out subreddits. And I should have added some cutoff there. It's mods of large enough subreddits. But why else would the mods be so up in arms?
  - isykt 3y ago
    I understand why they’re pissed off, it’s just not clear to me that they are irreplaceable. Lots of people here are talking about their favorite niche subreddit but is that really where the value is derived, advertising wise? I doubt it. I’m fairly certain that the top 25 or so subreddits drive most of the revenue, and they have no dearth of people willing to mod them. Hell, if Reddit Inc just in-housed moderation of the the top 100 subs they’d probably be fine.
mvdtnz 3y ago
I keep seeing people make this claim and frankly I don't buy it. While I think it's true that a minority of users produce a majority of the content, I don't think it's necessarily the people on third party apps. I think it's total speculation that there's a large overlap. My own speculation is that a majority of the content is produced by people using Reddit in a browser on a laptop/desktop machine. It's much faster and easier to produce content in this mode.
edgyquant 3y ago
People keep saying this, do you have any proof?

TeMPOraL 3y ago

Who else is making Netflix money? Their catalog is currently so small and bad that it makes no sense to keep an account per person. Proliferation of streaming services doesn't help - individually, none of them is worth paying full price per person or household.

isykt 3y ago
Netflix grew 4.9% YoY in Q1. They have introduced an ad-supporter tier, so it’s now advertisers that foot some of the bill for content in addition to subscribers and investors. To your point about paying full price —- it would be interesting to have a breakdown of the number of “evergreen subscribers” vs “fair weather subscribers,” but I’m not sure Netflix would be willing to share such a breakdown. This would tell us whether a majority of its subscribers think of the basic value of the service.

lenerdenator 3y ago

The loss is that those people might not be generating content, but they do have eyeballs and those eyeballs aren't looking at the content generated by the monetizable people. That means they're also not looking at the ads Reddit wants to serve to users in exchange for payment from advertisers. You're right about the era of free (well… really, really cheap) money being over. I think we're going to see that social media as we know it (which has _only_ existed in the era of cheap money) isn't nearly as sustainable without a bunch of VCs willing to shovel money into a furnace in hope for unknown future returns. There's going to be a contraction.