Some subreddits could be paywalled, hints Reddit CEO - 9to5Mac
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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise...

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.

He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    …He does realize this isn’t going to work on a platform that bans you for breathing the wrong way right?

  • DudeDudenson@lemmings.worldEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I know the lemmy hivemind jumps at any opportunity to trash reddit, but if properly implemented (which to be honest they probably won’t ) this could be the same as paid forums back in the day. It just depends on how much of a cut they get and how do they manage revenue share. If you could have your own private forum for free and have people subscribe to it for 2 bucks a month and you get 75% revenue of every sub it would probably spring a lot of high value forums, I’m mostly thinking like car forums used to be but it’d probably be used as another only fans

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 months ago

    Why “some”? It should be “all”. Select the subs you want to subscribe to and get billed monthly.

    I don’t see what could go wrong.

    • Chespirito@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 months ago

      I’ve switched to using this as well but it has very little user interaction. I hope it grows and is able to compete with Reddit one day. It would be nice to be able to go to a basketball or political subreddit (what do we call them here?) and actually be able to have a nice conversation.

      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
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        3 months ago

        “Sub” is a generic term from the BBS days, short for “subforum”, “subcommunity”, whatever, so I just use that. I don’t like to use “community” because it’s long and clunky.

      • MataVatnik@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        3 months ago

        Try posting on asklemmy, it may not be big enough for individual communities but I think you could bring in a crowd on a post about a particular episode, game, or event if you posted there

      • clickyello@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        3 months ago

        they’re called lemmy communities, and there’s plenty of interaction! honestly it reminds me of the old days on Reddit before it ballooned into the monster it is today, I legitimately prefer it in every way other than lacking the niche communities (looking at you !2007scape@lemmy.world >.>)

        you can find good political discussion in !politicalmemes@lemmy.world or !news@lemmy.world

        dunno if there’s any good basketball communities tho, not my bag lol

        • Chespirito@lemmy.worldEnglish
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          3 months ago

          Thank you! And I like the interactions I’ve had so far. It’s just that I’m a huge NBA fan and that’s where I spent most of my time on Reddit. The nba Lemmy community isn’t very big yet but I’m trying to change that by being more active here. I really enjoy this and it feels like actual discussions can be had here unlike on Reddit.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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        3 months ago

        Where Reddit has “subreddits” Lemmy has “communities.” Which is a 4 syllable word with 9 or 11 letters depending on singular or plural and no convenient abbreviation so most of us especially the Reddit expats lapse back into calling them “subs.”

  • friend_of_satan@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 months ago

    “How DARE you take your subreddit private? Then Google can’t index it and people can’t access it! I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THAT!” - spez

  • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    3 months ago

    I think this comes down to what the intentions are

    Paywall /r/videos? Fuck off.

    But create a system like Patreon where a content creator can put their own content and interact with their own users and there’s a revenue share between reddit/creator that doesn’t sound terrible.

    If they’re gonna do it on Patreon, why not try and lure them to reddit?

    • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 months ago

      Totally. This could be reddits premium answer to a Patreon community with an exclusive Discord server.

        • Tilgare@lemmy.worldEnglish
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          3 months ago

          I can’t tell of you’re just joking or not - so no, just straight up as a replacement for both, Patreon+Discord. You have a creator you like on YouTube let’s say, and so you sign up for their premium subreddit to support them. You get the community on reddit as a replacement for how creators use Discord, and then if they integrated Patreon-like features such as a host for members only videos or premium podcast feeds from the creator, and giving the creator a place to upload and share members only photos or polls. Meanwhile it operates just like any other subreddit operates for community discussions. No need for multiple services integrated, if reddit offers an all in one solution.

          • Gestrid@lemmy.caEnglish
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            3 months ago

            Reddit is not a great replacement for Discord and its live chat features IMO.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      3 months ago

      Just had some more thoughts on this as well.

      If Reddit can lure Patreon users, they could also likely protect that content creators data from being shared on the platform. The creator uploads a commissioned drawing for it’s paid users, and then someone tries to copy it and show it in /r/pics. But since reddit has the source image, they could be scanning for identical images by hash, or matching images via AI and then prevent it from being posted outside the community.

      It definitely isn’t THAT easy, but it opens up the potential, and being able to tell your potential customers you have tools to help prevent unauthorized sharing on a prolific platform probably has some merit.