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What does that have to do with using their web site versus their app

It increases engagement metrics, which is the most important thing for an ad company looking to raise more money in the future.

you put it so simply i almost missed it: they are an ad company

"Apps increase engagement metrics" seems dubious to me. Maybe for certain companies and products it is true, but the norm is to have a website and app experience. It is not necessarily the norm to have the website aggressively drive people to the app to the extent Reddit.com does.

I imagine Reddit's website gets tons of traffic from "non users" coming in on shares and searches who will never consider installing a Reddit app no matter how many modals they put up but nevertheless driving ad impressions.

> "Apps increase engagement metrics" seems dubious to me. Maybe for certain companies and products it is true, but the norm is to have a website and app experience.

A product that is entirely based on user generated content is exactly the type of thing that requires active rather than passive users.

Mobile websites are generally optimized for passive consumption, and mobile apps – for active creation.

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