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For someone kind of out of the loop, can someone explain what they think reddit should do instead of charging for their API access? After all Reddit is a busine

by k2xl 3y ago

For someone kind of out of the loop, can someone explain what they think reddit should do instead of charging for their API access? After all Reddit is a business right? What alternatives do users want reddit to do instead?

Fauntleroy 3y ago
If they're going to charge for it, they should at the very least charge a reasonable price. They are not doing that, and are thus essentially extorting third party apps (who will not be able to pay the exorbitant fees).
danboy4 3y ago
Charge a reasonable amount instead of intentionally pricing third party apps out of business. Alternatively, make their official app as useful as the competition.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
reso 3y ago
Reddit has entirely failed at building their ad business, which every other major social site has done successfully. Reddit makes 1$ per user-month on ads, while Instagram makes $35. If they could even get to $2, they would be profitable. The API access issue is largely a side-show to this core problem. The challenge for this is that targeting on reddit is harder than other sites which have lengthy profiles and interaction statistics they can use to do targeting. An elegant solution to this problem would likely involve some product tweaks to incentivize users to tell reddit more about themselves, and a refocus on ad sales. Neither of these seem impossible to me.
- Legend2440 3y ago
  Also reddit users hate ads and widely promote adblock.
- lazycouchpotato 3y ago
  > An elegant solution to this problem would likely involve some product tweaks to incentivize users to tell reddit more about themselves, and a refocus on ad sales. How much more information do they need? They already take all that info [1]. I'm pretty sure 99% of the official app users did not turn these settings off. [1] https://i.imgur.com/VpWlCnO.png https://i.imgur.com/VpWlCnO.png
  - reso 3y ago
    It's the difference between a facebook profile and a reddit profile.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
as1992 3y ago
The issue isn't actually reddit charging for API access, its how much they're charging. $0.24c per 1000 api requests which for high volume apps isn't feasible. Heres a post by the developer of Apollo explaining his experience in detail https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_w...
flutas 3y ago
My best take? Make 3P API access require a reddit gold sub. $6/mo and it lets you use whatever client you want and reddit gets that $4, not a dev who has to pay it forward.
- nrb 3y ago
  This was my original take as well, but I now suspect the reason for all this and their refusal to accommodate the app ecosystem is that they don’t want third party apps at all. They want users on the official app where they can monetize the additional profile data in ways beyond their ad platform.
lazycouchpotato 3y ago
I don't think there are many claiming that the API needs to remain free - it just needs to not be so prohibitively expensive for the developers. Pretty much all third-party apps are run by individuals who are passionate about wanting to create a better Reddit experience, and not by some megacorp trying to fleece Reddit. Under the proposed API rules I would have had to pay twice for accessing both Apollo on iOS and Sync on Android, which makes no sense. To me, the most logical thing to do is make third-party app access a Reddit Premium feature. Reddit wins as they would make far more money from me as a paid user than a free user, third-party devs win as they no longer have the burden of coming up with the money to pay a potential $1.7 million bill a month [1], and I win as I get to use the app I want on whichever platforms I want. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_ca...

by k2xl 3y ago

Fauntleroy 3y ago

If they're going to charge for it, they should at the very least charge a reasonable price. They are not doing that, and are thus essentially extorting third party apps (who will not be able to pay the exorbitant fees).

danboy4 3y ago

Charge a reasonable amount instead of intentionally pricing third party apps out of business. Alternatively, make their official app as useful as the competition.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

reso 3y ago

Reddit has entirely failed at building their ad business, which every other major social site has done successfully. Reddit makes 1$ per user-month on ads, while Instagram makes $35. If they could even get to $2, they would be profitable. The API access issue is largely a side-show to this core problem. The challenge for this is that targeting on reddit is harder than other sites which have lengthy profiles and interaction statistics they can use to do targeting. An elegant solution to this problem would likely involve some product tweaks to incentivize users to tell reddit more about themselves, and a refocus on ad sales. Neither of these seem impossible to me.

Legend2440 3y ago
Also reddit users hate ads and widely promote adblock.
lazycouchpotato 3y ago
> An elegant solution to this problem would likely involve some product tweaks to incentivize users to tell reddit more about themselves, and a refocus on ad sales. How much more information do they need? They already take all that info [1]. I'm pretty sure 99% of the official app users did not turn these settings off. [1] https://i.imgur.com/VpWlCnO.png https://i.imgur.com/VpWlCnO.png
- reso 3y ago
  It's the difference between a facebook profile and a reddit profile.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

as1992 3y ago

The issue isn't actually reddit charging for API access, its how much they're charging. $0.24c per 1000 api requests which for high volume apps isn't feasible. Heres a post by the developer of Apollo explaining his experience in detail https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_w...

flutas 3y ago

My best take? Make 3P API access require a reddit gold sub. $6/mo and it lets you use whatever client you want and reddit gets that $4, not a dev who has to pay it forward.

nrb 3y ago
This was my original take as well, but I now suspect the reason for all this and their refusal to accommodate the app ecosystem is that they don’t want third party apps at all. They want users on the official app where they can monetize the additional profile data in ways beyond their ad platform.

lazycouchpotato 3y ago

I don't think there are many claiming that the API needs to remain free - it just needs to not be so prohibitively expensive for the developers. Pretty much all third-party apps are run by individuals who are passionate about wanting to create a better Reddit experience, and not by some megacorp trying to fleece Reddit. Under the proposed API rules I would have had to pay twice for accessing both Apollo on iOS and Sync on Android, which makes no sense. To me, the most logical thing to do is make third-party app access a Reddit Premium feature. Reddit wins as they would make far more money from me as a paid user than a free user, third-party devs win as they no longer have the burden of coming up with the money to pay a potential $1.7 million bill a month [1], and I win as I get to use the app I want on whichever platforms I want. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_ca...