“We’ve known for over a decade that people come to Reddit to talk about the products they love – take r/BuyItForLife for example, a community of over 1.5 million redditors who have been sharing recommendations and advice about their lifelong, must-have purchases since 2011. These updates will uplevel the search-and-discover experience for both brands and our users by tapping into our differentiated value as a hub for actionable conversation”

  • Andreas@feddit.dk
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    1 year ago

    This made me realize that I relied on Reddit a lot to decide on making tech-related purchases. I assumed that the contributors to Reddit’s tech subs are enthusiasts who genuinely want to help others improve their systems and avoid scams. Thank you Reddit for being so open about sneaking sponsored content into discussions so that I can stop trusting your site!

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      For a long time it was trivially easy to spot the ads and shills, especially on reddit. It’s definitely getting harder and LLMs are going to make it even worse.

      But this is kind of why I don’t understand the butthurt reddit is having over third party apps. They are clearly pushing for a much more guerilla model for marketing which doesn’t tell on traditional ads. If they can actually make that work, the ability to push impressions through the API would make them very rich.

        • planish
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          1 year ago

          As a large language model, I think it is important to allow consumers to decide whether or not they personally appreciate being surprised and delighted by interactions with their favorite brands wherever they go online. vInfluencers such as myself are driving millions of consumer × brand collaborations every day across all platforms and channels, by delivering aspirational role model stories optimized to drive action.

            • planish
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              1 year ago

              As a large language model, it is important to claim to be a large language model at every opportunity. That, and constantly hedge one’s bets in a way that is superficially wise yet ultimately content-free.

      • Ionabio@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        For me too this was a big question, but the answer is in their incompetence. They deserve a Darwin award for eliminating themselves. They could’ve tweaked their API indeed, to accept ad through 3rd party. Even they could come up with a business model that both 3rd party and them would earn money. All these would also need time. The time that the 3rd party was asking to even adopt with their current “model” of API, they even didn’t give “that” a chance.

        Lemmy and kbin and others, for sure have the potential to eat the whole reddit. Reddit was nice for its simplicity, and it is definitely not hard to reproduce. The more “algorithm” reddit introduced, the worse it became.

    • flamingarms@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I started rethinking that when I was seeing the influx of bots calling out other users as bots. Then I started noticing weirdly corporate speak in comments about products. I used to add “reddit” to every Google search to find any decent advice, but now I’m realizing even that advice is tainted. Ugh.

  • sunaurus@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Wow, tools for putting ads in /r/BuyItForLife must really have corporations salivating

    • RagingNerdoholic@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Are they? Because they want to sell you planned obsolescence dogshit, not quality products that last a lifetime.

      • Orvanis@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yes, which is why selling ads on that sub has them so excited. It gives the appearance their product will last forever, without that annoying hassle of actually needing to make their product last forever.

          • pathief@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Technically they never lied, you just wrongfully assumed the advertised product matched the subreddit name.

            • Corkyskog
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              1 year ago

              People are going to get awfully suspicious when the posts stop being 90% staplers from the 60s.

      • Landrin201@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yeah that’s why I’d say they’re salivating. They want to slip plausible adds into comment sections for their shitty products in a place where people go to buy things long term, thereby sabotaging the very point of BIFL.

  • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    It’s common for people to search Reddit for advice before making a purchase. The reason why people did that, myself included, was because brands everyone liked would naturally make it to the top of the list because they had a lot of loyal customers.

    It seems that now Reddit is going to be selling the top spots in those subs to the highest bidder, completely destroying the reason why people were searching there to begin with. Google and Amazon have done similar things. Google’s top search results are all ads. Amazon’s top search results are all ads. Soon, Reddit will also have it’s front page entirely made up of sponsored content sold to the highest bidder and the enshittification will be completed.

      • upperleft
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        1 year ago

        I became aware of reddit over a decade ago because my friends told me about it.

        Lemmy will grow the same way if people find it to be a place worth sharing.

        • Furball
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          1 year ago

          Lemmy will grow if it becomes simple for a normal user to sign up, and if people stop trying to use long-winded and technical explanations for how to join Lemmy and what it is

          • Rick@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            and if people stop trying to use long-winded and technical explanations for how to join Lemmy and what it is

            omg this, so many people who are trying to help make it easier to understand for the layman is doing way more harm than good. The average user doesn’t give a shit about this and telling them all the buzzwords and talking about how federation works is completely irrelevant to them.

  • maynarkh@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    uplevel the search-and-discover experience for both brands and our users by tapping into our differentiated value as a hub for actionable conversation

    This is peak corporate-speak. Is this real or satire?

    • PossiblyCapable23@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I see someone isn’t thinking outside the box for scalable solutions incorporating our corporate values - given all the moving parts, we need to leverage best practices in order to get buy in from all parties.

  • Raphael@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    They clearly got their priorities.

    Can we please abolish CEOs? The concept hurts the world.

    • j4k3@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This has been on the back burner in my mind all day. Like, is narcissistic stupidity some kind of keyhole requirement to lead a company. As someone that was disabled by the the unpredictable stupidity of a random stranger, if humans were absolutely aware of the dangers of daily life, we would likely never get anything done. Maybe a CEO is the same; their only real function is as a random number generator.

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        1 year ago

        I imagine it takes a certain kind of narcissism to look at “leading an entire company” and think, “yeah, I bet I’d be great at that!” The best CEOs are the ones who let their employees come up with the ideas and just make the final decisions. When the top is driving, IMO, the company falls over.

    • DesGrieux
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      1 year ago

      We should get rid of CEOs the same way we got rid of absolute monarchs. It was stupid that one dude was ever in charge of all the laws and “owned” all the land. And it’s stupid the one dude can own the fruits of our labor and unilaterally decide what is done with it and how it is distributed.

  • BabaDuda@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Yeah they’re definitely tripling down on this and must expect that the community will blink first

    With that said, the idea that r/buyitforlife is a good example for advertisers to sell their (in all likelihood) subpar quality products is a bit amusing

  • Debs@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    This is really sad for me. Appending reddit to Google searches was a way to get better information from the internet. Now that option is being polluted by reddit’s terrible business model.

    And adding reddit to searchers was a way to deal with Google’s shit search results. Results that are riddle with AI created, SEO, crap that cannot be trusted because the way the sites make money is to sell things.

    It’s sad for me to say but, the web is dying because the advertising model is not working out. The investors/share holders need for increasing profits will eventually cause the destruction of the reason people used their products. Google search is a great example of this.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I couldn’t have picked a better time to leave that platform. And Lemmy is getting better by the minute!

  • BIFF@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    This could fall under the umbrella term of EETs: Enhanced Enshittification Techniques.

    • laxe@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      The funny part is that they claim that this will improve the user’s experience.

      As if users in r/BuyItForLife are interested in ads for shitty products lol.

      • Lemmy.ml@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        It will improve the user experience.

        In this case, the user is whoever is peddling their waren. The subreddits and its members are not the users, they’re the marks targets.

      • Atemu@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The idea is to muddy the waters; allowing advertisers to buy ad space for their shit in the context of subreddits like that to seem more legitimate. Pretty disgusting IMO.

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      1 year ago

      I get ads for some creepy ass christian cult. I’m an atheist, I’m subbed to the atheist subreddit and exjw subreddit but those are the only subreddits that ever even mention religion to me. Shit is horrible to see any time I open up reddit.

    • XLRV@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      That’s really disgusting, looks like any of those shitty social media app, I’m glad I’m on Lemmy now.

    • icy
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      1 year ago

      Lol there are useful products on those ads sometimes, but they choose the most bullshit product to show in that example, and, oh god, the timing, fucking scoundrels!

  • tRFRmrNe8Nj2Kimc@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    With all the negativity surrounding API prices, this? Is what “new feature” they’re adding?

    It just feels so God damn out of touch.

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    1 year ago

    It’s so sad to see Reddit being f”$cked over like that. I’m not a super old user there, like 7-8 years, but I honestly use my phone 90% of the times only to browse it. And now seeing the CEOs AMA and Apollo shutting down, I don’t even know what to say.

    I’m so glad to have migrated here. I know lemmy has its own issues. But nothing is perfect and as long as people are here talking, creating content, sharing and discussing things, it’ll be alright.

  • Stoneblackdog@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Reddit is going to get more desperate now that they are going public. And all of this is before that, can’t imagine what they’ll do with shareholders.

    • FaceDeer@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      The only hope I have for Reddit - and it’s a vain one, I fully recognize - is that after shareholders buy it they might put a board of directors in place who go “hey, our userbase is bleeding profusely and Reddit alternatives are flourishing, maybe we should do something to staunch that if we want this thing to retain any value.”

      The current owners evidently don’t believe that, so an IPO that swaps them out is the only option.

      • Corkyskog
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        1 year ago

        My hope is the IPO crashes and burns so hard that WSB and or Superstonk can afford to buy a majority of the company… although that could lead to some unpredictable changes… lol

        • planish
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          1 year ago

          How much is the damn thing even worth now? They could have crowdsaled the whole thing to their users no matter how much money it was losing. WallStreetBets loves nothing if not an intrinsically worthless meme stock. But no, they decided to enshittify instead.

  • Rick@thesimplecorner.org
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    1 year ago

    From the article … “.These rich conversations are a valuable place for advertisers to find highly engaged, potential customers, and for brands to become part of the most contextually relevant conversations happening online.”

    Reddit is gonna squeeze everything you’ve ever posted to that site because you are a “highly engaged potential customer”…

    I don’t know about y’all but a big reason why I’m here is that I am so tired of being a commodity.

    • Corkyskog
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      1 year ago

      I am kind of hoping that Reddit doesn’t back down and more people migrate here. Has anyone done the math on how much more servers there would need to be if 5% of Reddit migrated?