This is a translation of an article I’ve just written in Spanish. If there is any error, let me know.
They really don’t. Yes. They did lose users and money in the last week but I doubt it will have any significant influence in the future. In half a year they’re back to normal
High doubtful.
A significant population have left for good. Sure more will take it’s places but it will get shttier and shittier. Just like Facebook before it.
This is reddits watershed moment.
Those that care will leave. Those that don’t will drive it down into the depths of hell. Remember reddit works because of content creators. As they leave or that content changes. It will slowly or quickly change.
It will slowly turn into only a stale repost-fest.
The front pages are already filled with content copy-pasted from instagram and tiktok and news repost bots. Once the small communities that bubble to the surface occationally are completely snuffed out reddit will be quora-level dead.
@zekiz the most significant impact will happen at the end of the month when the 3rd party tools that have been running the place quit working.
Don’t overlook what having an active alternative can do, too. If Reddit is the only place that is Reddit-like, and active, and well known, then it’s really hard to leave.
But multiple alternatives just had their profiles raised, and their activity levels skyrocket. If enough people stay on these alternative platforms, then it becomes easier for people to leave later.
There are two ways to increase evaporation: You can turn up the heat, which Reddit is doing itself right now, and you can reduce atmospheric pressure. This is what we’re doing by being active and engaging somewhere else.
Honestly, I’m a very active redditor with over 1000h on reddit and I will leave. However, I don’t think it will make such a major impact on the overall reddit experience when 3% are leaving. Even if they belong to the most active members on reddit. Sure we’ll definitely see a drop in users on the 1.7, but I don’t think it will have such a huge impact on the revenue.
I’m really hoping it does, but even then the question remains on how platforms like Lemmy or Kbin make money. They don’t have any ads and Lemmy and Kbin currently have about as many members as a large subreddit.
I was here before Lemmy blew up and I can say it definitely improved and it improved fast but well have to see how many actually stay here and stay active
If the company is already not profitable, losing some of the most active users can have a big effect. Every tick further away from profitability is huge, and a decline in content quality can absolutely produce such a downward tick.
Especially if that premium content doesn’t so much go away as move somewhere else.
Most people who have left don’t use the first party app, or don’t use the newer web UI, but some did. And more will follow as post quality suffers. And for each person tha leaves the default experiences, revenue will decline ever so slightly. In order to make up for that, the company needs to be more aggressive with its monetization, which makes the UX worse, which causes more people to leave. Then the cycle goes on.
This will be a slow process, but it’s the inevitable process of enshitification. Especially when you don’t already have a profitable business model. And Big Social is learning the hard way right now that community is profitable.
I think you are forgetting one thing: Reddit is the content, not the servers. If the most active members start to flee the rest will follow because Reddit won’t have content anymore. Or at least not the content that drags people and makes them stay.
It’s going to lose more after it turns into an even spammier shit show riddled with scam ads and bots.
