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Why do so many tech companies, like Reddit and Twitter are making their platforms worse for their users all of a sudden? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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[–] 32 points 3 years ago (4 children)

Capitalism. Monetise everything no matter the cost to the users

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    To expand on this, it's not just capitalism - it's greed.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago

    I don't think "greed" is quite the right word. "Greed" would be the right word if they were trying to make themselves more profitable. But they're not: they're trying to make themselves profitable at all. That's not about greed, but about surviving. You can't survive unless you stop hemorrhaging money at some point.

    Maybe the question is "Why do investors invest so many hundred of billions of dollars into companies that cannot be profitable without becoming super-shitty? And why do users join them knowing that they're going to become super-shitty one day?"

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago

    To expand on this, it’s not just capitalism - it’s greed.

    No it's just capitalism lol. Every company has to continue reaping in profits for capitalists or else it dies. This is just Reddit's way of doing that.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    do you think this move will be good for their business?

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Exactly -- this is almost certainly bad for Reddit's business at this point. The problem here isn't necessarily capitalism so much as it is a egocentric CEO gone mad with power.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I don’t even think it’s a bad business decision.

    Most people didn’t use 3rd party apps to begin with. I’d guess about 75% of the vocal minority who protested, will continue to use Reddit.

    And a very small % of people will quit Reddit in favor of Lemmy.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago

    I’d argue it is, because of the damage they’re doing to their brand.

    I’ve said it in a couple other threads, but Reddit has other ways they can monetize their 3rd party app users, such as requiring subscriptions to use third party apps, or even by simply giving third party app devs a longer lead time to change to a paid model. Instead of doing either of those things, the CEO had a tantrum and alienated a bunch of people.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Doesn't have to be Lemmy, they just have to stop using Reddit. If the power users (posters, content creators, mods, etc) really do leave, then the regular users will likely lose interest and leave as well. It doesn't matter if they go to Lemmy, TikTok, or start spending time with their loved ones again.

    There are rumors that Reddit will start using (more) bots and AI to generate content, which is certainly not beneath them at this point. The tech equivalent of a lava lamp.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I suspect that power users, like mods, are more interested in the “power” they have on Reddit than standing up for anything.

    I’d love to be wrong though. Reddit can’t die fast enough.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    Some definitely are. They're the ones that folded as soon as Reddit threatened them. Others are holding strong, knowing they will be removed. Others, like the ones posting John Oliver memes, are really just trying to feel like they're in power. They won't do anything to actually get in trouble

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    What’s good for making more money is not always or even often good for what we would think of as customer-friendly business. If you can wring more money out of a few whales at the expense of pissing off customers who don’t create as much revenue, then in our current system that’s what shareholders apparently want.

    Reddit wants more users in their official app where they can target them for ads, sell NFTs, and whatever other bullshit they want to sell. It doesn’t matter if the experience is worse, and it probably doesn’t really matter if a couple thousand 3PA users split for good. As long as they can tell investors that the official app use is growing and that they can target a greater percentage of users with ads and data, they feel like they won.

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