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by dejawu
1098 days ago
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I feel like it's worth comparing Reddit to another thing that went from being free to paid - Dwarf Fortress. They built up a great rapport and trust with their user base, and in return their user base happily paid for a product they'd been using for decades for free. They made millions over the span of a few days. Someone asked in the forums if people really want to pay for this and the replies are just thousands of people saying "yes". Compare that to Reddit's adversarial history with its user base and the backlash they're getting now. It's completely possible to make money off Reddit without resorting to measures like these. I'm a better person today because of Reddit, which is something I can't say about any other social media. It deeply hurts my heart to see such a valuable and meaningful space possibly die due to just simple greed. That, to me, is a far greater loss than anything else mentioned in the threads about this impending disaster. |
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This is almost entirely a "management / PR debacle". A very easily avoidable debacle, I'm fairly sure, if they had simply brought in the right people or person (even) to help them through the process.
A number of Huffman's statements, seemingly tinged with bitterness / resentment and broadcasting a sense of "unfairness" (i.e., that third party apps have been profitable but Reddit itself has not), have been laughably unprofessional. And I'm not even writing about the tit-for-tat potentially libelous completely lacking in understanding of relevant LAWS crap.
This is not remotely 'C-suite' 'level' messaging / behavior. Particularly for a company that put in a target of $15 billion valuation back in 2021.
Honestly, I will say, I feel a little bad for Huffman, at this point. He's clearly out of his depth. I suspect there is some pressure that has shown up / backstory that created a sense of serious urgency starting some months ago, and the management team at Reddit figured they could handle this process &/ want(ed) to demonstrate competence. So, they have been forging ahead w/ trying to line everything up. Some have cited "ChatGPT", and, of course, there's always the rising interest rates being a potential issue ... nevertheless, they've created substantial bad sentiment among some of the most important users & devs at a particularly BAD time.
Of course, this may well not derail an IPO, the site too much, etc., in the short run. But, it's ludicrously bad management - examples more likely by the day to show up in future business courses. A SOCIAL MEDIA site bungling MESSAGING, possibly catastrophically, and pissing off some of the people MOST WILLING to contribute to financial health (almost certainly) and MOST INTERESTED in the site continuing to be viable!
They really ought to consider, if they haven't done so already, getting some small team of 'crisis PR' or 'management advisors' or something in, with expertise in the various areas they are clearly having massive issues with right now. Simply doing that, and having Huffman indicate (externally) a degree of 'stepping aside' so that things can be righted, could defuse some of the serious negative sentiment they have now generated.