Reddit Blames Google Algorithm Changes For Not Hitting User Growth.
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Huffman and Co. are apparently oblivious to the fact that Reddit is and has always been a niche "social media" platform. They're more closely related to forums than mainstream social media.
I'm just making wild assertions here but somehow I think that the thing I liked about Reddit is also the thing the average TikTok/Insta/Snapchat/Facebook user does not like. That being that Reddit is mostly text based and requires lots of reading and writing (if you want to interact on any meaningful way). The only other thing they offer is meme scrolling and that can be done pretty much anywhere.
Adding any substantial user growth would require basically abandoning their entire format and would have a minimal chance of success at best.
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My browser extension that forces old Reddit is essential for this reason. The new UI is a cluttered mess
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I think we are the primary alternative platform. We really need to improve ui/ux if we wanna keep tightening those screws. And for fucks sake can we get fediversal accounts already. We had 1 job (inter operability) and we failed with the most important part of that.
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I mean that is why the new reddit page is so less information dense and image-heavy. The app also implemented swiping to get you to mindlessly scroll through memes, often into algorithm-recommended subs you're not even subscribed to. It's all an attempt to move the average content toward low-barrier slop thats easy to consume and pad their engagement numbers.
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I refuse to use the new site, its crap. And on old. from mobile, it always opens images and videos in a new tab with the new interface, its worthless!
if I have to use a reddit page from work, I always change it to old.
when that old. stops working, I will never visit that site again
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They would like to have you call that the "golden parachute".
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Lemmy devs specifically spent very little time developing the UI because they wanted other devs to step in, and indeed they have with frontends like Photon and Voyager, which both basically couldn't be any better. They're awesome.
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If you think about it:
- Reddit gives Google access to everything so that Google can train their AI
- Google is now showing AI generated snippets on every search page and is pushing its own AI chatbot everywhere
- Users are getting the answer they want from those AI generated answers Google generated from Reddit comments
- Traffic to Reddit is collapsing
In the meantime, spez totally trashed his site, destroyed valuable communities and pushed away the mods that keep the place clean. Really, really great business strategy there.
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The really amazing thing is that spez's planet-sized ego created the whole user exodus. People were willing to pay a monthly fee to continue to use the site ad-free via our mobile apps. Hundreds of other companies remove ads when people pay fees, but all of that revenue is just gone along with a big chunk of contributors because spez had a tantrum.
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Ah. So they do recognize the problem and are going with the worst possible strategy.
Trying to compete in the field of "digital landfills", which is already completely saturated, seems like an incredibly stupid idea but what do I know.
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Voyager also has a web ui and not only the app?
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Yep! In fact there was no app for a good long while.
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This is just attention grabbing language for something that really isn’t even a problem for Reddit. The longer recent trend of stunted growth could be cause for concern, but the actual numbers are something like they got 101.6 million unique visitors instead of their projected 103.4. That’s nothing. They’re talking like they’re in free fall. It could be the start of a trend that could be bad for a public company, but realistically, what we’re all hoping to see isnt what this article is actually telling us. Unfortunately.
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Maybe instead of blaming Google, Reddit should stop pandering to Nazis and condoning zionists committing genocide.
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Reddit: Let's act like trash, basically be the reason Trump became president in the first place by letting his toxic subreddit take over /r/all (seriously, the entire /r/all was filled with that one goddamn subreddit full of lies and bullshit), and allow mods to make bots that silence actual discussion on subreddits by silencing any dissent, no matter how rational or well-intentioned, as well as disallow anyone who is new and has no karma to post, thus making any new user unable to post, period.
Fuck reddit. Fuck reddit up its garbage pile of trash ass.
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Orrrrrrrr, and hear me out......you decided to do AI banning, where bots ban humans, with no human oversight, and you assume that somehow the humans will flock to this platform that becomes increasingly hostile towards it's users.
Then you sit back and wonder why you're not growing.
Humans like staying where they're appriciated. You're showing that you appriciate money over humans. Now you blame google. I'm not one usually to root for google, but I hope they pimp slap spez across his stupid little face.
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I like the regular web UI better than the alternatives. It's really pretty good.
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It still grew 39%, that's crazy growth. Their users do not care.
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At this point Spez's idiocy is common knowledge.
The whole 3rd party app debacle cemented it.
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Reddit gives Google access to everything so that Google can train their AI
Reddit sold access. For short term gains. Because the quarter needed more money to beat the previous quarter.
If this isn't a leopard eating their face moment, I don't know what is.
