4 Comments

Given the activity reddit has, it has more knowledge about what communities we might find useful. 2020 saw a rise in use of group/community based interactions in everyone's life - nextdoor, Facebook Groups, whatsapp groups, and reddit got a lot of push as well. Though the problem is as Reddit tries too hard (shown by the notifications and constantly recommending you something), it has a hard time retaining users. 430M MAUs is the Dec 19 number. In Oct 20, they announced DAUs at 52M. 52/430 looks really bad in terms of stickiness, not even accounting for the increased MAUs in 10 months. Any theories on that? (also, they have strong SEO so a lot of traffic from Google. Infact Google search for reddit threads is more efficient than reddit search)

While the overall usage is high, and they have a basic product that works, I think none of the things they have added in the last few months increased or decreased my activity. The communities that work are of two kinds - where there is news everyday (r/wsb) or where there are stories to tell. First kind almost always has a set narrative and group think. Works spectacularly well though. Just a bit disappointed that while they changed the layout, the ux leaves a lot to be desired.

Expand full comment
author

that's a perfect quantification of my point - as a fairly active user, the product without all the heavy-handed engagement tactics is as perfect as can be. But like most good things - it's not for everyone, or there is genuine work involved in learning to use the platform in the best way possible. I can almost picture the MAU/DAU issue front and center at growth meetings as the core problem so keep firing away with group and content recommendations.

Expand full comment

Given the activity reddit has, it has more knowledge about what communities we might find useful. 2020 saw a rise in use of group/community based interactions in everyone's life - nextdoor, Facebook Groups, whatsapp groups, and reddit got a lot of push as well. Though the problem is as Reddit tries too hard (shown by the notifications and constantly recommending you something), it has a hard time retaining users. 430M MAUs is the Dec 19 number. In Oct 20, they announced DAUs at 52M. 52/430 looks really bad in terms of stickiness, not even accounting for the increased MAUs in 10 months. Any theories on that? (also, they have strong SEO so a lot of traffic from Google. Infact Google search for reddit threads is more efficient than reddit search)

While the overall usage is high, and they have a basic product that works, I think none of the things they have added in the last few months increased or decreased my activity. The communities that work are of two kinds - where there is news everyday (r/wsb) or where there are stories to tell. First kind almost always has a set narrative and group think. Works spectacularly well though. Just a bit disappointed that while they changed the layout, the ux leaves a lot to be desired.

Expand full comment

Given the activity reddit has, it has more knowledge about what communities we might find useful. 2020 saw a rise in use of group/community based interactions in everyone's life - nextdoor, Facebook Groups, whatsapp groups, and reddit got a lot of push as well. Though the problem is as Reddit tries too hard (shown by the notifications and constantly recommending you something), it has a hard time retaining users. 430M MAUs is the Dec 19 number. In Oct 20, they announced DAUs at 52M. 52/430 looks really bad in terms of stickiness, not even accounting for the increased MAUs in 10 months. Any theories on that? (also, they have strong SEO so a lot of traffic from Google. Infact Google search for reddit threads is more efficient than reddit search)

While the overall usage is high, and they have a basic product that works, I think none of the things they have added in the last few months increased or decreased my activity. The communities that work are of two kinds - where there is news everyday (r/wsb) or where there are stories to tell. First kind almost always has a set narrative and group think. Works spectacularly well though. Just a bit disappointed that while they changed the layout, the ux leaves a lot to be desired.

Expand full comment