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Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

Looks like they just came on board as Reddit debuted the new user profile format [0]. I just got a message to turn it on as a user this past week. It seems like it'll be a nice feature for not just users, but brands/organizations as well. I hope it sticks to user engagement/meta-type posts (IAMAs) rather than being an account that acts as an auto-submitter of WaPo headlines to r/news/politics/worldnews.

That said, one of the challenges of having an official Reddit account that constantly engages with users (it's been actively commenting and replying to users), I would imagine, would be having to be in IAMA mode 24/7. That's fun until something a controversial question/challenge comes up, in which case hours/days of silence will be seen as an admission of guilt/coverup (see r/AMADisasters).

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/6bu4vg/what_a...

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I happen to have a spreadsheet of all Reddit AMA backfires (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DTCRqeQvjOZAyngC31kn...), and the common thread among AMA disasters is the original poster being genuinely unaware that they might be received negatively (or they are just trolls). I don't think that will be the case with the WaPo, anyways.

(For posterity, here's a spreadsheet of all Reddit thread backfires in general: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bUSN7-nocMJz2Wo1KTIn...)

There is also some discussion of these posts at https://www.reddit.com/r/AMADisasters/

AMADisasters was the reason I made the list. (it turns out the mods would not let me post it there because it would make finding AMADisasters too easy)

Another commonly seen trend is actors coming on Reddit to promote a movie, rather than to engage with fans.

/r/IAmA as a subreddit is mostly self-promotion nowadays, but there's usually a decent amount of give-and-take.

The Rampart Effect.

The ones that try that tend to quickly have users take the piss of ask mock question about ramapart etc. after Woody Harrelson went too far that way.

I would certainly hope the Washington Post is aware that not everyone likes it.

> I hope it sticks to user engagement/meta-type posts (IAMAs) rather than being an account that acts as an auto-submitter of WaPo headlines to r/news/politics/worldnews.

A friend of mine is the lead mod for the /u/washingtonpost account, and his primary goal for that account is engagement. Even as far as submissions go, they are trying to create content crafted for reddit, such as those news rollups they're experimenting with. His personal goal is for the account to become like the Wendy's Twitter of Reddit--a bit more irreverent and conversational, and willing to joke around with users. So far he's gotten a generally warm reception, especially when he pops up in unexpected places like TIL.

Part of the opportunity for them with reddit is that it's a bit less ephimeral than Twitter or Facebook, which creates new opportunities. As long as a piece of content is relevant, it stays on top of people's front pages, and WaPo can jump into the thread to answer popular questions, which then everyone can see. In a way, this actually gives them an incentive to not auto-post and let stuff rise organically, so they can engage in the right places.

As an avid redditor, I really feel like they have the right idea (it helps he's into the same things as reddit in general) and I feel like good things are gonna come of this over the next few months.

/r/HailCorporate

> That said, one of the challenges of having an official Reddit account that constantly engages with users (it's been actively commenting and replying to users), I would imagine, would be having to be in IAMA mode 24/7

Is that really different from Twitter?

At first, for the first organization that does it, maybe. I have to believe that over time people will get over organizations' inability to respond immediately to things on Reddit just because it's Reddit.

Yeah, I think community conventions are definitely a factor. But main differentiator will be the tone of the account, and the more personal/thoughtful it is (as it is now), the more users will expect it to be forthcoming when there's some controversy to answer for. I think interface plays a big deal too, though. Twitter threaded conversations/replies are still quite difficult to follow, and individual queries are easy to ignore/miss. Whereas in Reddit, top-upvoted replies (which is frequently calling-out-your-bullshit type questions) are going to be the first thing users see when reading your threads by default.

As a news organization, I would hope they understand the implications of PR and how silence can be very damning. I can't see them falling for it especially considering how many times they have sen others do it and it not go very well for them.

For regular users it's bad. Not worth turning it on

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