Ask HN: Can you create a Reddit competitor by acquiring Apollo app? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can you create a Reddit competitor by acquiring Apollo app?

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According to an article in Techcrunch [1], the developer stated his app has over 900K daily active users. Isn't getting this critical mass of active _mainstream_ users the main hurdle none of the "Reddit-likes" are able to overcome?

Building a backend that can handle comparable amounts of traffic to Reddit is of course non-trivial - but definitely solvable with investment and the right team. Whereas getting a critical mass of mainstream users seems like a much harder nut to crack.

The dev has stated that he has no interest in pursuing this route himself, but it seems like a lot of value being dropped on the floor by letting all those users disperse to other places.

What are your thoughts on this HN?

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/31/popular-reddit-app-apollo-may-go-out-of-business-over-reddits-new-unaffordable-api-pricing/

I think a proper reddit competitor will go the Mastodon/Pleroma route. The "value being dropped on the floor" isn't worth much in the first place if Reddit failed to monetize them - so why subjugate them in the first place? These people just want a dependable platform they control, and a federation/shared identity solution seems like the shortest path there.

There are indeed people investing and trying to find the right team (see: Meta[0]), but I think the best route is to let these users find a new platform. Forcing your idea of community on a group of people who like you for your interface design might not work as well as you think.

[0] https://twitter.com/aakashg0/status/1659938015576473600

> These people just want a dependable platform they control

Are you referencing Apollo/Reddit users? If so, I'm not convinced that 'control' is their main concern. I would guess that most users outside of the HN crowd care more about a nice UI, and of course being wherever all the action is. Both points do not seem in focus in any of the federated platforms I've seen so far. The UI is usually a carbon copy (at best) of whatever platform they're trying to replace, and the federation makes it less obvious for users where and how they get access to most engaging content. I am happy to be proven wrong though. The federated route is appealing to me on paper, but I'm not yet convinced it has good product/market fit with the general population on the internet.

> I'm not yet convinced it has good product/market fit with the general population on the internet.

I mean, neither is the internet. Give them a few more "Twitter" and "Reddit" scenarios and they'll start looking for alternatives, though.

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