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With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit

With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit remains in red even after nearly a decade of its inception[1]. Reddit CEO once said, that ads are the reasons Digg failed[2], so I believe the site would be wary of using ads to the fullest. How do you think Reddit would become profitable and would be able to sustain itself? [1]: http://www.businessinsider.in/Reddit-CEO-Admits-Were-Still-In-The-Red/articleshow/21148326.cms http://www.businessinsider.in/Reddit-CEO-Admits-Were-Still-I... [2]: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/08/reddit-digg/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/08/reddit-digg/

GolfyMcG 12y ago
Also, if you don't use Alien Blue (the mobile app for Reddit) then you might not know they have been testing "Sponsored" posts. It didn't take a genius to know people would complain, but the ads are getting A LOT of pushback from users. I supposed you can put this in context and look at how Facebook gets crap for changing anything, but is this really the most creative idea Reddit can come up with to generate more revenue?
- sama 12y ago
  I don't use it (I just read reddit in mobile safari) but I will pass this along to the reddit team.
- minimaxir 12y ago
  Context: http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2znkjk/i_paid_for_no_ads/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2znkjk/i_paid_for...
- freehunter 12y ago
  A LOT of pushback? That link in another comment is the only pushback I've ever seen, and I use Alien Blue (having purchased it). I haven't even noticed sponsored posts on the mobile version (I have on the desktop site though), and they hardly bother me. I've never seen anyone else seriously complain about them either. Sam, if you're passing along GolfyMcG's feedback, please pass along mine as well. I run Ad Block, but reddit ads are the least of my worries. Maybe I just don't use reddit as seriously as some other people do.
  - daxelrod 12y ago
    Here's the current status of ads, as I understand it: On iPhone, you only see sponsored posts if you have not purchased Pro. When they rolled out ads initially to iPhone, Pro users saw them and complained, Reddit said it was a bug, and fixed something on the backend to prevent them from being shown to Pro users. On iPad, you see sponsored posts even if you have Pro. As far as anyone can tell, this is intentional. From the first 10 posts on /r/AlienBlue: ---------------- How to: Refund Alien Blue after Sponsored Ads Decision I paid for no ads! Has anyone else gone back to the old app? Why are they monetizing the app before it even works properly? They have to know what the userbase thinks of this... No ads! No test ads, no real ads, NO ADS!
    - koko775 12y ago
      No, Alien Blue on iPad has not had a 'Pro' version in months.
      - daxelrod 12y ago
        Thanks for the correction. I don't have the iPad version myself, so I was going off of comments made by other users. It sounds like people who did pay for Pro when they did offer it in the iPad version are upset, then.
  - GolfyMcG 12y ago
    Yes - A LOT of pushback. I didn't purchase it, and I don't complain about the ads because I understand they have to make money. I do read the comments on them and they are exclusively sarcastic comments/complaints about the ads existing. My complaint isn't about the ads existing - it's more a disappointment in Reddit/Alexis Ohanian/YCom/etc in not being able to produce a more interesting business model. There is always so much talk about being "thought leaders" and focusing on really game changing technologies. This is the opposite of that : /
- stesch 12y ago
  Or put it in context and see that people are pissed that bugs aren't fixed for months but instead you get ads now.
sama 12y ago
I am an extremely patient investor. I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work. If reddit gets to a billion users, which I believe it will, the company will have many, many interesting monetizations opportunities. It's on its way to become one of the great monopolies of the web.
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  > I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work. How do you conceptualize investments on that sort of timescale? 20 years ago was 1995, and 30 years ago was 1985. So much has changed between then and now. I understand that broader market trends can sometimes be predicted, but when you invest, you're betting not only on a market trend but on a specific instantiation of that trend. How do you conceptualize an investment in a specific team and company on that sort of a timescale, when there's already so much uncertainty around what markets will even exist in 2045?
  - sjg007 12y ago
    Reddit is the meta-web. It is probably also flexible enough to be the backbone (aka platform) of other businesses in the future.
    - dfinninger 12y ago
      Yeah, just look at Reddit Gifts. I can totally see more stuff like that pop up.
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Access to research prototypes?
- ryanSrich 12y ago
  > If reddit gets to a billion users What makes this number significant? Can you talk about some of those opportunities that aren't available to reddit now, but will be when they reach that scale?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

GolfyMcG 12y ago

Also, if you don't use Alien Blue (the mobile app for Reddit) then you might not know they have been testing "Sponsored" posts. It didn't take a genius to know people would complain, but the ads are getting A LOT of pushback from users. I supposed you can put this in context and look at how Facebook gets crap for changing anything, but is this really the most creative idea Reddit can come up with to generate more revenue?

sama 12y ago
I don't use it (I just read reddit in mobile safari) but I will pass this along to the reddit team.
minimaxir 12y ago
Context: http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2znkjk/i_paid_for_no_ads/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2znkjk/i_paid_for...
freehunter 12y ago
A LOT of pushback? That link in another comment is the only pushback I've ever seen, and I use Alien Blue (having purchased it). I haven't even noticed sponsored posts on the mobile version (I have on the desktop site though), and they hardly bother me. I've never seen anyone else seriously complain about them either. Sam, if you're passing along GolfyMcG's feedback, please pass along mine as well. I run Ad Block, but reddit ads are the least of my worries. Maybe I just don't use reddit as seriously as some other people do.
- daxelrod 12y ago
  Here's the current status of ads, as I understand it: On iPhone, you only see sponsored posts if you have not purchased Pro. When they rolled out ads initially to iPhone, Pro users saw them and complained, Reddit said it was a bug, and fixed something on the backend to prevent them from being shown to Pro users. On iPad, you see sponsored posts even if you have Pro. As far as anyone can tell, this is intentional. From the first 10 posts on /r/AlienBlue: ---------------- How to: Refund Alien Blue after Sponsored Ads Decision I paid for no ads! Has anyone else gone back to the old app? Why are they monetizing the app before it even works properly? They have to know what the userbase thinks of this... No ads! No test ads, no real ads, NO ADS!
  - koko775 12y ago
    No, Alien Blue on iPad has not had a 'Pro' version in months.
    - daxelrod 12y ago
      Thanks for the correction. I don't have the iPad version myself, so I was going off of comments made by other users. It sounds like people who did pay for Pro when they did offer it in the iPad version are upset, then.
- GolfyMcG 12y ago
  Yes - A LOT of pushback. I didn't purchase it, and I don't complain about the ads because I understand they have to make money. I do read the comments on them and they are exclusively sarcastic comments/complaints about the ads existing. My complaint isn't about the ads existing - it's more a disappointment in Reddit/Alexis Ohanian/YCom/etc in not being able to produce a more interesting business model. There is always so much talk about being "thought leaders" and focusing on really game changing technologies. This is the opposite of that : /
stesch 12y ago
Or put it in context and see that people are pissed that bugs aren't fixed for months but instead you get ads now.

sama 12y ago

I am an extremely patient investor. I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work. If reddit gets to a billion users, which I believe it will, the company will have many, many interesting monetizations opportunities. It's on its way to become one of the great monopolies of the web.

chimeracoder 12y ago
> I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work. How do you conceptualize investments on that sort of timescale? 20 years ago was 1995, and 30 years ago was 1985. So much has changed between then and now. I understand that broader market trends can sometimes be predicted, but when you invest, you're betting not only on a market trend but on a specific instantiation of that trend. How do you conceptualize an investment in a specific team and company on that sort of a timescale, when there's already so much uncertainty around what markets will even exist in 2045?
- sjg007 12y ago
  Reddit is the meta-web. It is probably also flexible enough to be the backbone (aka platform) of other businesses in the future.
  - dfinninger 12y ago
    Yeah, just look at Reddit Gifts. I can totally see more stuff like that pop up.
- walterbell 12y ago
  Access to research prototypes?
ryanSrich 12y ago
> If reddit gets to a billion users What makes this number significant? Can you talk about some of those opportunities that aren't available to reddit now, but will be when they reach that scale?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]