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rootfs.ext2.gz (@rootfs)
calckey.worldI don't know if anyone has seen this blog post on Reddit:
https://www.redditinc.com/blog/investing-in-what-makes-reddit-unique-introducing-contextual-keyword-targeting-and-product-ads
It seems to me that Reddit is trying to heavily pivot to being an advertising platform, like Facebook and Google. It sort of makes sense, even though it seems to be the worst time for such a move (GDPR cookie law, Apple and Google and their "privacy labels", etc)
If *this* is the reason why they are killing off third party apps (now that they've stopped pretending they are), then it makes sense. They want to kill off third party apps to get people using their app so they can harvest data from them and then advertise heavily.
It also makes sense why their mobile website, despite visually being *far* better optimised for mobile viewing (unlike old.reddit.com), is so artificially broken and constantly asking users to download their app (if I had to guess, the app is easier to collect data as the native app has more "signals" than the browser version).
It also explains why they are implementing this change so quickly and not allowing third party apps to catch up (Reddit has their own app, they know the rules when it comes to IAP, and they know how difficult they are making these changes to third party app developers).
The big question is why all the drama??
* Why not just shut off APIs for third party apps, full stop??
* Why constantly make it about the Apollo app when it affects *all* third party apps like Reddit is Fun, Sync for Reddit, narwhal for iOS etc??
* Steve Huffman said before that these apps were using significant API resources and they were "inefficient" (implying lots of users use the app). Now he says that 95% of users use the Reddit app. Which is it????
* Steve Huffman promised better moderation tools in his AMA. Why not deliver the tools now??
* Why hasn't the official Reddit app improved its accessibility if Reddit wanted to capture a large audience in the first place (for ads and such - Facebook and Google *hammer* accessibility down devs skulls)??
* Why all the lies?? Why change the story *all* the time???
This whole thing has been a comical shitstorm and could've been avoided had Steve Huffman been honest about the whole situation.
#reddit #stevehuffmann #spez #apollo #redditisfun #syncforreddit #redditblackout
The thing is, I don’t think that most third party app developers would have really been against this. Give them enough time (say a year) and they’d probably get on board and do this, such as showing ads and sending back to Reddit whatever “signals” Reddit requires to use the API for free.
I think this is definitely part of the story but if this was the only problem, then I think negotations would have gone differently. There’s probably more to it than just this, though this is undoubtedly a big part of it.
I heard elsewhere that the app store doesn’t allow you to renegotiate an app contract that you have on an annual basis mid-contract, which is why Apollo suffers from such huge loses. But Relay, an Android app, is going to try to work with the new pricing. I wonder if it’s only the Apple App Store that has this requirement then and if only iPhone apps are affected?
That could be. The people at Apple probably can’t imagine anyone wanting to use a product not made by them.