Reddit’s revenue per user is much lower than that of other social networks

That’s a good thing folks.

Talking about the user being the product, I’d try to choose a platform where my value is minimal since I think it’s fair to assume that there’s less data collection and profiling going on.

My first inclination is to think this is a good thing. That it's a sign of a better customer experience. It's the cynic in me that worries this will be seen by some as an opportunity to increase RPU and screw up the site. (And the new UI supports that cynical take, at least somewhat.)

I 'grew up' in the era of USENET, which had a couple benefits over the forums and then social media sites that sprang up to replace it. It wasn't perfect, but it did offer more individual control over user experience and less dependency on a single corporate entity. It would be nice to find a way to get back to some of that.

Obviously. They practically promote throwaway accounts and don't require any real personally identifiable information through their registration process. Their users aren't nearly as attached to their account as, say, an Instagram user or Facebook user with a vested interest in keeping their account closely tied to their identity.

On the contrary, Reddit users typically don't want their Reddit activities tied to their identity at all. As such, Reddit accounts probably don't get used nearly as frequently thus aren't as lucrative from a data harvesting standpoint.

Although there's a special place in hell for a website with 17 cookies.

That makes me like Reddit more. I wish more social media would allow me to pay to access a version of the service that wasn't centred around advertising. Even with adverts Reddit doesn't feel like it's manipulating everything you see just to sell access to your eyeballs.

Reddit has an ad-free premium subscription, although at $5.99 a month it's obviously a lot more than the $0.30 they reckon each user is actually worth.

Reddit has some valuable users, but its poorly monetized. For example, I dont trust political support reddits... after 2016 they all feel gamed. I think a paid sub, a sub that has a monthly subscription which added an extra level of scrutiny to the users and posts might be interesting.

Alternatively, a revenue sharing model where I pay for a subscription to a sub, and I can read normally paygated links.

It makes sense when you consider how many "throw away" accounts are out there. You couldn't get away with creating those kind of accounts on other platforms.

Normal display advertising will not work on Reddit, but native ads will. Take content that already gets tons of comments (pictures of pets looking cute), add in one paid promotion item, like a dog jacket. Then get someone to innocently ask where they can buy the jacket, and reply in a link.

The meme of Reddit users is that they consider themselves to be harbingers of rational thought and logic, but they are easily influenced consumers just the same. As Amazon starts looking more like AliExpress, Reddit will become a place where Twitch/E-gaming/Cosplay personalities separate 'followers' from their money.

Are there any sources on the split of per-user revenue between ads, reddit premium and reddit gold?

I would've normally expected ads to be the bulk of it, but now that we have Fortnite with its strictly vanity merch... you just never know.

My view is that apps will evolve to be more user hostile, and there is no solution in the current internet landscape. Take the most snoopy internet corp, FaceBook - well above half their revenue goes to paying for infrastructure and salaries. Even if they choose not to build the technology (and hardware) that exists merely for user monitoring, a product working at that scale cannot exist without prying on user data and selling their privacy. Same situation with Google, and maybe Reddit eventually.

For a number of apps, a possible alternative is the P2P model - in which infrastructure costs are shared by participants and development is done by enthusiasts (either for free or with lifestyle-business sized incomes).

I'm not surprised to hear this.

I run a game server hosting company (primarily for Ark: Survival Evolved) and I buy lots of ads. My best sources for ads are Google and Bing, both of which have excellent conversion rates for relevant search phrases-- in other words, people who click the ads are very likely to ending up signing up for a paid plan with my company.

The reddit ads are very different. I bought ads on relevant subreddits and plenty of people clicked them, but no one ever signed up. After wasting thousands of dollars on this, I stopped advertising on reddit.

Do people who use reddit consider themselves part of a social network?

The revenue from Twitter and Snapchat is actually more fascinating.

I have no idea how Snapchat is making money. I know they have ads, I just don't know where, I've never seen one.

I thought advertising on Reddit must be really cheap then, compared to Facebook, Google et.al. But it seems I can not advertise on Reddit if I have an ad blocker ... !?

You don't need an email address to sign up, let alone anything else.

Personally identifiable information are more valuable than those that are not. That's not a surprise.

Not shocked honestly.

A lot of Reddit users are against the idea of being advertised to or having their data sold. In addition to this semi-anonymous and throwaway accounts are common which must lower the worth of any data collected.

I personally have 3 different accounts, One for work, one for politics and a final one for games. I'm more then happy to rotate (throw away and recreate) any of these accounts at any time.

call us poorly monetizable instead please

I wish the title included the word ‘commercial’.

I’m not a Redditer myself, but _some_ of the things to come out of various eclectic reddit communities have been amazingly valuable