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by INGSOCIALITE 1099 days ago
But then they don’t get the sweet sweet tracking metrics from their app. Once you pay for Reddit , you don’t see ads in the OEM app either, they can squeeze more value out of people by forcing their app and sucking as much data and analytics about you as possible. They’ve already begun A/B trials of disallowing mobile browsers to access their website, and forcing the app download.

This is less about ad revenue than it is jealousy over closed communities like Instagram and tiktok where you are locked into their app.

2 comments

What tracking metrics do you get from the app that wouldn't get by logging API calls? It can't be the valuable to track metrics when you aren't serving ads (since if you have Reddit Premium you don't get ads).

I don't see the point.

I think things like time spent looking at an ad, time spent in comments, time spent replying. Capturing all entered data even if its deleted prior to send, etc.....

Everything you can do on the web I guess.

Damn, living in the future is wild.
I agree this is why they are doing it, but they cant be blind to how bad their app is in comparison to what their power users are using? Is an exodus worth it if you keep 25% of the people in the app and the remainder move on? I think you can get metrics via the api, maybe not apples to apples but it can be addressed in the future.

Right now they are sticking their head in the sand, middle finger in the air and daring people to leave. Poor community relations and messaging for a community based website.

They made their bed by accepting VC money. There is more than one way to skin a cat and I think they choose poorly.