• assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    On the one hand, this doesn’t seem like a lot. But on the other, this is just for June. A lot of people left or drastically cut down their usage at the very end of June, and we’re not seeing this reflected in the data yet.

    Even so, no company wants to say they’ve lost 3% of their customers. With 1.7 billion total, that’s still 51 million people. It’s a notable loss, especially for a company trying to become profitable and have an IPO.

    • Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I used Apollo right up until it shut down, and I haven’t touched Reddit since. I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

      • richard_wagner@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I was also an enthusiastic Apollo user.

        Other than Lenny, do you replace Reddit with anything else? This thread we’re in now is an exception - there are a lot of posts here. But most threads on Lemmy are pretty empty.

        • justhach@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Thats why its up to all of us to start participating.

          Protip: If you really want to start a conversation/get engagement, follow Cunningham’s Law:

          the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.

          So, fill those empty posts with confidently incorrect statements and watch that comment section fill up as people rush in to correct you.

          • goforliftoff@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Actually, Cunningham’s Law says nothing of the sort. If you look at the source material as I have done - and in the original Phoenician, because so much is lost in translation otherwise - you’ll quickly note that Cunningham is really attempting to convey the hopeless sense of man’s search for purpose in a cruel, unforgiving world. While some scholars debate the literal truth to this sentiment as expressed by the author, it is generally thought plausible if not outright likely that these writings followed a catastrophic life event of some sort - the loss of a child or death of a spouse, witnessing the end of a great civilization, a dick pic delivered to the wrong person. While the specifics aren’t known, what we do know about the author is that he would likely be further distraught at the loss of control and ownership experienced with a misattributed “law” on the internet should such a thing even be imaginable.

        • toxic@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Most people didn’t create content and don’t interact with it (ie most people are lurkers). Take it upon yourself to comment and interact with posts and others will almost always join in and have something to say.

      • TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I used sync up until the 13th or so, then started limiting my reddit usage, and increased my lemmy usage until July 1st. Now I’m solely on lemmy on mobile, and only see reddit on desktop when I come across a search I need.

      • skepticalifornia@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Same with me. I haven’t deleted my Reddit account yet, but will be doing that soon, after I delete or overwrite my comments of 10 years there.

        Between Lemmy, Kbin and Mastodon, I have plenty to keep me occupied in what used to be my Reddit-scrolling time.

      • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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        1 year ago

        Yep. Just check the site to see if my data request has been processed. Replied to a message in which someone was asking about Lemmy. But that’s it.

        • edwardbear@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          migrated to wefwef, would prefer a native app, but nevertheless i’m not even looking back. 13 year club.

      • FredericChopin@vlemmy.net
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        1 year ago

        Same. I still have the app as a reminder but this is my home now.

        Weekend I’m going to see about spinning up my own instance.

        I really missed Reddit at first and it took a while to get TestFlight on Memmy and figure this out but it’s looking good so far.

      • Resonosity@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Same, it took me to 7/1 for me to finally uninstall RIF. Let’s wait and see what July’s numbers look like

      • hansl
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        1 year ago

        I still “use Reddit” a lot, ie show up there. I’m in a domain where most of my Google search will end me up there. A lot of the domain specific knowledge are stored in comments on obscure threads. The blackout actually affected my job negatively.

        I’m not casually reading, commenting or posting anymore, and I’m only on desktop, but I probably still count as a 7DA.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Even if 3% is a low number, I guarantee that 3% were reddits more active users and content creators.

      If most of the quality content slows to a trickle users will continue to leave and look for more viable platforms.

      • rbhfd@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s not 3% of users, it’s 3% of traffic. This could be caused by 0.1% of power users leaving.

    • geissi@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      no company wants to say they’ve lost 3% of their customers

      Reddit doesn’t see users as customers.
      They are the product. A number that you can sell to advertisers and shareholders.

      • galloog1@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That model started with literal radio. It’s not a new thing. We are the consumers and the advertisers are the customers. It’s kinda like how children are the consumers of toys but the parents are the customers. It actually makes business much harder because you have to keep two groups satisfied. The product is still airtime(radio), and nobody likes ads but they are sharing the space and funding the transmitter.

        Don’t forget to donate to your local independent stations, folks. Radio is not free! Neither is Lemmy.

      • jarfil@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No company wants to say they’ve lost 30% of their top development, marketing and QA personnel.

        They can still sell the raw product numbers, for as long as advertisers and shareholders don’t realize the product has turned to shit.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think this an overly simplistic way to look at the dynamic. Users are the primary customer, and they don’t provide any direct revenue to the company. Their value is in attracting the secondary customers though, who directly pay the company to access the users. Bring a primary customer implies that the company still needs to treat you as a customer and at least not openly antagonize you. They can’t take you for granted as a product. There is no secondary customer without you.

        It’s like bars that advertise free drinks for women on certain nights. The women aren’t directly paying the bar, but the men who come to the bar because of them makes it a net profit. I’m sure there’s other examples of this primary/secondary customer dynamic. Anything cheap for kids that sells expensive stuff to parents for instance.

        • geissi@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          overly simplistic way

          It was hyperbolic of course. But really,

          Users are the primary customer, and they don’t provide any direct revenue

          How can someone who doesn’t provide revenue be the primary customer of a profit oriented company? Ahead of others who actually do, like advertisers?

          • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It might be better if the terms are swapped. I’m only calling them primary because they have to come first before the secondary, and they’re the foundation for everything. There’s probably a better way to term them.

            • geissi@feddit.de
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              1 year ago

              Oh, I’m not denying that the users are the foundation for the business model but when Reddit makes business decisions, they first listen to those who pay them.

    • insomniac@vlemmy.net
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      1 year ago

      How many people are less engaged in the internet at the beginning of summer because they’re on vacation or partying? I would think drops like this as the weather improves are pretty normal.

      • Kanzar@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Alternatively, people with more time sign up and shitpost. I recall every summer break Redditors would complain. 🫣

        • insomniac@vlemmy.net
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          1 year ago

          That’s a good point although with smart phones, I wonder how much of the teenager traffic is baked in year round now. Summer Reddit was terrible but then it just became Reddit.

    • keeb420@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      spaz: were not profitable, heres ways were gonna become more profitable.

      redditors: ugh leaves

      spaz: your small protest from the landed gentry cant hurt me.

      redditors: ok, bye.

      spaz: jgvbefgbaegbeQANGBLEw

    • ElleChaise@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      In history terms, 3% is everything. I remember seeing a documentary where a guy claimed that every coup in history, in which 3% of the population were ardently dedicated to the cause, has been successful.

    • toxic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Think of how many ‘users’ are bots that likely won’t continue to work since no one would pay the monthly sub to bot Reddit like in the past.

    • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, I was using Lemmy and Reddit in parallel throughout June (aside from the blackout days, where I stayed off of Reddit out of solidarity,) and only really drastically reduced my Reddit usage this month.

      • TassieTosser@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Same. I spent most of June trying to find a lemmy instance to join. Quit cold turkey on 1st July along with nuking my post history. Keeping my account till 31 July just in case they decide to revert my deleted posts.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I am wondering how user count is calculated.

      I guarantee you that a huge percentage of Redditors have multiple accounts. Many of which might be inactive. Are all accounts ever created on Reddit still considered part of their current total or are only accounts active in the 6 or 12 months count? If people are legitimately leaving Reddit, I think their losses are going to steamroll because they won’t just lose one user, but instead they will lose that one user and their 2 or 3 alternate accounts as well.

      Next month or three are going to look like a bloodybath for Reddit.

      Can’t wait!

    • kautau@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Also, this data isn’t from Reddit. It’s from SimilarWeb. They track browser access to websites, not API calls. Reddit absolutely won’t report their drop in API access, which is where the largest drop will be.