In early testing of the new format, Reddit found that free-form ads outperform all other ad types in average click through rate (CTR) by 28%
Translation: users mistakenly click it 28% more, before realising that it isn’t actually content
along with increased community engagement when comments are enabled.
Translation: more “fuck your ad” complains in the comments.
More importantly, I predict that the move will increase the usage of ad blockers within the site. Dressing ads as content feels like a bad idea - I feel like users interpret this as a sign of hostility, trying to “deceive” them. I’m not sure on that though, I’m half-drunk through the whole day and I don’t have data to back me up.
That’s a fair point, but: if you drop the distinctiveness between ad and content too low, phoneposters go elsewhere. Because not even phoneposters want that noise. So it’s still a bad idea.
Does that stop the promoted posts though? Which are paid reddit posts. I have my phone going through adblocker dns and I still see promoted posts but I don’t see any traditional ads between posts.
I’m happy for you, but that just isn’t the average user experience. The crushing majority of people aren’t tech-savvy enough for that. And Reddit, relies on that majority.
For better or worse for everyone involved, it’s their experience that makes or breaks the site, and it’s them that enshittification takes advantage of.
They been doing these ads for ages, sometimes they would leave the comments open and I’d google a better competitor and advertise them in the comments.
That’s also a common strategy. Someone will ask about a product that is actually the competitor’s product, and then they’ll reply to that post with a bunch of shill accounts saying “actually Acme doodads are better. Get them on the official website because Amazon is evil”. Then a bunch of people get duped into thinking they’re reading legitimate reviews from real people.
The remaining users on Reddit don’t care. They’ve intentionally dumbed down the site to get rid of people who do care, and attract more people who don’t. They can’t even be bothered to understand how things work.
Well, they’re pretty much the same thing anyway. I just felt that it wouldn’t be honest to pretend that I have knowledge that I don’t; and knowledge comes from data, so…
(Another cool word to use this way is “to hypothesise”.)
Translation: users mistakenly click it 28% more, before realising that it isn’t actually content
Translation: more “fuck your ad” complains in the comments.
More importantly, I predict that the move will increase the usage of ad blockers within the site. Dressing ads as content feels like a bad idea - I feel like users interpret this as a sign of hostility, trying to “deceive” them. I’m not sure on that though, I’m half-drunk through the whole day and I don’t have data to back me up.
Sadly a lot of Reddit’s traffic comes from mobile, which now only allows the official app that Reddit can fill with however many ad posts they want.
That’s a fair point, but: if you drop the distinctiveness between ad and content too low, phoneposters go elsewhere. Because not even phoneposters want that noise. So it’s still a bad idea.
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Not when. your DNS is a piHole, even when on mobile I use PiVPN to route all my traffic at home and not get ads whatsoever.
Does that stop the promoted posts though? Which are paid reddit posts. I have my phone going through adblocker dns and I still see promoted posts but I don’t see any traditional ads between posts.
It, sadly, will not. The promoted posts come from the same domain as the content (meaning block the ads, block the legitimate content).
That doesn’t stop ads that reddit is serving from the same URL as the rest of the content.
Correct, which is why it also can’t block YouTube ads.
Still helpful though for devices that you can run an ad blocker on (like a “smart” TV/ streaming stick)
I’m happy for you, but that just isn’t the average user experience. The crushing majority of people aren’t tech-savvy enough for that. And Reddit, relies on that majority.
For better or worse for everyone involved, it’s their experience that makes or breaks the site, and it’s them that enshittification takes advantage of.
I have pihole as well and I find it doesn’t block the promoted posts / reddit ads on mobile. But revanced fixes that.
They been doing these ads for ages, sometimes they would leave the comments open and I’d google a better competitor and advertise them in the comments.
That’s also a common strategy. Someone will ask about a product that is actually the competitor’s product, and then they’ll reply to that post with a bunch of shill accounts saying “actually Acme doodads are better. Get them on the official website because Amazon is evil”. Then a bunch of people get duped into thinking they’re reading legitimate reviews from real people.
But then you watch the username and it’s like u/definitelyNotAnAcmeShill and it’s exclusively pushing their items
u/slapenplop53839
That’s the formula I’ve seen. Babble words followed by numbers.
Ah lol like my username
The remaining users on Reddit don’t care. They’ve intentionally dumbed down the site to get rid of people who do care, and attract more people who don’t. They can’t even be bothered to understand how things work.
Nah, you right tho
I like “I don’t have data to back me up”.
I’m gonna try to remember to use that whenever I doll out my feefee based opinions.
Well, they’re pretty much the same thing anyway. I just felt that it wouldn’t be honest to pretend that I have knowledge that I don’t; and knowledge comes from data, so…
(Another cool word to use this way is “to hypothesise”.)
Why only half?
Gotta leave room for later
Not enough booze.