• Mereo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    94
    ·
    1 year ago

    sigh, it’s hopeless, it will not happen. Reddit is now looking to fill a “Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Targeting” position (https://boards.greenhouse.io/reddit/jobs/5009252). Which means that it wants people to use its app so that it’s machine learning algorithm can target ads to users and make money for its future investors.

    We’re talking about a capitalist platform. Reddit’s whole purpose right now is to go public (IPO). Lemmy/Kbin are the only free platforms.

    • wvenable@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      They have hundreds of mobile developers and can’t make a decent app or features anyone wants – I’m going to guess that whatever executive pet project that one is won’t ever see any reasonable output either.

      • Boz (he/him)@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, it is kind of shocking to think the company has been around for 18 years, and their app is still so bad people will pay for third party apps instead.

        • Buck Fucket@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Reddit would’ve been better off buying out the most profitable/popular third party app, making minor housekeeping changes (app name, app logo, etc) and moving on. Instead they show themselves in the foot a little.

          • Boz (he/him)@lemmy.one
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            I agree, assuming their goal was to have an app that appeals to users. Possibly the one they have appeals to advertisers, although even advertisers probably prefer an app people use willingly.

          • Followupquestion
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            They already did that with Alien Blue, except for the part about using the app’s features. Reddit clearly has zero desire to make a great app; their priorities lie elsewhere.

        • SkyNTP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          It’s a “bad” app to you because you are not the paying customer. For the paying customer (advertisers), it’s a great app.

          Even here on Lemmy people seem to be in denial about Reddit’s intentions. Just follow the money and everything becomes crystal clear.

      • Jongaros
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        There is no use for having a good first party app when you can just kill all competition. Reddit does not need to care anything other than making money through their apps.

        • NightOwl@lemmy.one
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, and the end game is data collection. Doesn’t matter if users complain. As long as the users of the official app grows it is a success.

        • jarfil
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The 3rd party apps were never a competition; Reddit could bind the developers to any kind of ToS they wanted, including running Reddit’s ads, forwarding usage data, and anything else they wanted.

          What Reddit has done instead, is total nonsense.