Marketplaces Satire
Reddit Goes Logged-In Only; Lurkers Asked To Introduce Themselves
Reddit's ad revenue rose 54%, but U.S. daily users fell to 50.7 million. Its plan now asks every visitor for a name.
Based on real news: What Reddit's Q3 earnings mean for marketers amid major traffic shift (Marketing Dive)
SAN FRANCISCO—Reddit is moving to a logged-in-only experience, the company said, and the platform's estimated tens of millions of silent readers have been asked, for the first time in many of their lives, to share a little bit about themselves.
Reddit's third-quarter ad revenue rose 54% to $847 million and total revenue climbed 53% to $895 million, Marketing Dive reported. But U.S. daily active users fell to 50.7 million from 53.2 million, and the company said referrals from search were dropping by more than a million a week in October. CEO Steve Huffman said Google's AI Mode does not send people back to Reddit. The company also said about half of U.S. shoppers check AI recommendations against Reddit threads.
"I have read 41,000 threads. I have never typed," said a fictional user who goes by QuietCart88. "Now it wants my name. My name is the one thing I was saving."
I have read 41,000 threads. I have never typed…
| Q2 | 53M |
|---|---|
| Q3 | 51M |
Source: Reddit via Marketing Dive; the lurkers declined to be counted, which is how they were counted
A seller I trust says the change has already reached the marketplace boards, where lurkers who log in are greeted by a pinned post titled Welcome, Please Do Not Explain Your Situation (seller forum, 2:47 a.m.). Within an hour, 300 new accounts had explained their situation.
Brands trying to learn which threads AI assistants are reading instead can follow daily notes on that, which no one has asked to log in.
Day 2,507 since my suspension. At 4:11 a.m. Monday, 72 hours after Appeal No. 44 was marked Seen, I sent the one reply I had not deleted. It read, in full, "Thank you for reviewing." It was marked Seen at 4:12.
"Logging in is a commitment," said Ines Haverford, a fictional community analyst in Austin. "Lurking is a lifestyle. You are asking people to leave a lifestyle for a commitment, and offering a username."
At press time Reddit said lurkers who log in will be welcomed warmly and shown, for the first time, how many ads they had been missing.
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Riffing on: What Reddit's Q3 earnings mean for marketers amid major traffic shift, Marketing Dive