5 ms·

It won by: - losing it’s most passionate advocates and users; - driving whole communities to its competitors (federated and discord specifically); - just utt

It won by: - losing it’s most passionate advocates and users; - driving whole communities to its competitors (federated and discord specifically); - just utterly shredding managements credibility with their users; - and inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs to engage in building platforms to supplant replace them that definitely would not otherwise exist. So much winning. Gold star for everyone involved. Case study on how to manage community forthcoming.

bt4u 3y ago
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LexiMax 3y ago
I know this is only anecdotal, but since the blackout started, my engagement with the site has plummeted to almost nothing. The few times I check my feed out of habit I simply don't see anything worth clicking on or engaging with in any of the dozens of subreddits I'm subscribed to. Old content also seems to take an absurd amount of time to be replaced with something new. The only traffic I send Reddit's way is through search engine SEO, and if I can't find a good enough answer I simply join a Discord instead of creating a post in the subreddit. I have a hunch that if Discord ever decides to prioritize its communities being discoverable through search engines, Reddit is in even deeper trouble than it already is.
- marssaxman 3y ago
  The blackout was just long enough to break my habit, and I found I didn't really miss it. I still drop by reddit every day or two, but there doesn't seem to be much going on anymore, and I don't stay long.
- LargeTomato 3y ago
  The blackout was the nudge I needed to finally break away. Reddit has been getting worse and worse and the blackout made me finally jump ship to lemmy.
SirMaster 3y ago
And yet I have not noticed any change in my subs or my usage of reddit.
- thoughtpalette 3y ago
  I personally still use old.reddit, but no longer browse reddit on mobile, which was by far the largest usage of my screen time.
  - fwsgonzo 3y ago
    Same here. I even uninstalled the apps - they don't work anymore. I installed a HN app instead. It's lowered my screen time. Win win, I guess.
    - SirMaster 3y ago
      I just modified the Apollo app with my own personal API credentials and went on my way as if nothing happened.
      - thoughtpalette 3y ago
        I was trying to figure out how to do that, any recommendations?
      - spott 3y ago
        Oh, is there a guide somewhere out there on how to do this?
P_I_Staker 3y ago
- losing it’s most passionate advocates and users; How many users left? It also might be filtering some of the more obnoxious users. Once a brand hits a critical mass that doesn't always matter. Think of everyone valve and facebook "alienated" over the years. Did it matter at all? Reddit quite literally wants it's users to be "alienated" like other social media sites, because it goes with the territory of making money. It's not like the reddit utopian dreams are still alive. Don't moderate, and you get racists, molesters, etc., and they tell everyone to drink the poison... what's the point anymore? - driving whole communities to its competitors (federated and discord specifically); Are these anywhere close to viable options? I haven't heard of federated, and discord is pretty bad for organizing public forums. It excels at group chat, not news discussions with very large groups. - just utterly shredding managements credibility with their users; I'm shocked it had any left to begin with. I suppose these are teh "noob users"? If you started ~2008-2012, none of this is surprising at all, and you have limited respect remaining for the platform... this was clear after the redesign, at the very latest. - and inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs to engage in building platforms to supplant replace them that definitely would not otherwise exist. How many new social media platforms have you seen of late? I wouldn't be surprised either way, but don't count on it. - So much winning. Gold star for everyone involved. Case study on how to manage community forthcoming. Case study that you should not try to be the good guy. These types of unpopular decisions should be made earlier. Reddit lost out on a lot of money by delaying the inevitable. Now it's very likely that it will take a greater reputational hit, because it didn't give up it's college fantasies quickly enough. We all know the least successful companies are the ones that make these unpopular decisions... you know like: Apple, Facebook, Valve, insta, twitter, etc., etc. Wouldn't want to be like those losers!
- LexiMax 3y ago
  Apple, Facebook, Valve, and most of those other companies you're outlining had successful business models built on their habitual users _before_ alienating a portion of their customer base. Reddit has never been profitable and was never able to properly monetize the userbase they had. Killing their mobile app ecosystem only makes sense if they not only think that most of those users will be willing to switch to the dire official Reddit mobile app, but that doing so will turn Reddit's horrendous reputation around in advertising circles in time for their IPO. I'm undecided on what the realistic attrition rate on the mobile side of Reddit is, but I think the chances of them becoming attractive to advertisers is almost nil. TikTok seems to be where social media managers are heading these days, and Threads/BlueSky are new opportunities on the horizon waiting to be pounced on. Meanwhile, Reddit is known as the legacy platform filled with users who hate advertising - why bother?
joshstrange 3y ago
10+ year old account, ~7K comments, ~1K posts, ~30K votes and I have no intention of going back now other than search engine results. I was a daily user and involved in a number of small communities but I'd feel so gross if I went back after what they did. Do I matter? Probably not but I'd go out of my way to reply to weeks/months/years old comments to give updates and hopefully help the next person than landed there via a google search and I won't be doing that anymore. I'm sure reddit will be just fine without me but at some point you have to draw a line and here is where I drew mine.
dmix 3y ago
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bt4u 3y ago

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LexiMax 3y ago

I know this is only anecdotal, but since the blackout started, my engagement with the site has plummeted to almost nothing. The few times I check my feed out of habit I simply don't see anything worth clicking on or engaging with in any of the dozens of subreddits I'm subscribed to. Old content also seems to take an absurd amount of time to be replaced with something new. The only traffic I send Reddit's way is through search engine SEO, and if I can't find a good enough answer I simply join a Discord instead of creating a post in the subreddit. I have a hunch that if Discord ever decides to prioritize its communities being discoverable through search engines, Reddit is in even deeper trouble than it already is.

marssaxman 3y ago
The blackout was just long enough to break my habit, and I found I didn't really miss it. I still drop by reddit every day or two, but there doesn't seem to be much going on anymore, and I don't stay long.
LargeTomato 3y ago
The blackout was the nudge I needed to finally break away. Reddit has been getting worse and worse and the blackout made me finally jump ship to lemmy.

SirMaster 3y ago

And yet I have not noticed any change in my subs or my usage of reddit.

thoughtpalette 3y ago
I personally still use old.reddit, but no longer browse reddit on mobile, which was by far the largest usage of my screen time.
- fwsgonzo 3y ago
  Same here. I even uninstalled the apps - they don't work anymore. I installed a HN app instead. It's lowered my screen time. Win win, I guess.
  - SirMaster 3y ago
    I just modified the Apollo app with my own personal API credentials and went on my way as if nothing happened.
    - thoughtpalette 3y ago
      I was trying to figure out how to do that, any recommendations?
    - spott 3y ago
      Oh, is there a guide somewhere out there on how to do this?

P_I_Staker 3y ago

- losing it’s most passionate advocates and users; How many users left? It also might be filtering some of the more obnoxious users. Once a brand hits a critical mass that doesn't always matter. Think of everyone valve and facebook "alienated" over the years. Did it matter at all? Reddit quite literally wants it's users to be "alienated" like other social media sites, because it goes with the territory of making money. It's not like the reddit utopian dreams are still alive. Don't moderate, and you get racists, molesters, etc., and they tell everyone to drink the poison... what's the point anymore? - driving whole communities to its competitors (federated and discord specifically); Are these anywhere close to viable options? I haven't heard of federated, and discord is pretty bad for organizing public forums. It excels at group chat, not news discussions with very large groups. - just utterly shredding managements credibility with their users; I'm shocked it had any left to begin with. I suppose these are teh "noob users"? If you started ~2008-2012, none of this is surprising at all, and you have limited respect remaining for the platform... this was clear after the redesign, at the very latest. - and inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs to engage in building platforms to supplant replace them that definitely would not otherwise exist. How many new social media platforms have you seen of late? I wouldn't be surprised either way, but don't count on it. - So much winning. Gold star for everyone involved. Case study on how to manage community forthcoming. Case study that you should not try to be the good guy. These types of unpopular decisions should be made earlier. Reddit lost out on a lot of money by delaying the inevitable. Now it's very likely that it will take a greater reputational hit, because it didn't give up it's college fantasies quickly enough. We all know the least successful companies are the ones that make these unpopular decisions... you know like: Apple, Facebook, Valve, insta, twitter, etc., etc. Wouldn't want to be like those losers!

LexiMax 3y ago
Apple, Facebook, Valve, and most of those other companies you're outlining had successful business models built on their habitual users _before_ alienating a portion of their customer base. Reddit has never been profitable and was never able to properly monetize the userbase they had. Killing their mobile app ecosystem only makes sense if they not only think that most of those users will be willing to switch to the dire official Reddit mobile app, but that doing so will turn Reddit's horrendous reputation around in advertising circles in time for their IPO. I'm undecided on what the realistic attrition rate on the mobile side of Reddit is, but I think the chances of them becoming attractive to advertisers is almost nil. TikTok seems to be where social media managers are heading these days, and Threads/BlueSky are new opportunities on the horizon waiting to be pounced on. Meanwhile, Reddit is known as the legacy platform filled with users who hate advertising - why bother?

joshstrange 3y ago

10+ year old account, ~7K comments, ~1K posts, ~30K votes and I have no intention of going back now other than search engine results. I was a daily user and involved in a number of small communities but I'd feel so gross if I went back after what they did. Do I matter? Probably not but I'd go out of my way to reply to weeks/months/years old comments to give updates and hopefully help the next person than landed there via a google search and I won't be doing that anymore. I'm sure reddit will be just fine without me but at some point you have to draw a line and here is where I drew mine.

dmix 3y ago

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