this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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The premise of the question is flawed in my opinion. It only needs to be profitable because they put themselves in that situation by going public.
A social platform run by users should only need to break even. I have no idea why a web forum needs to be on the stock market.
Now it's another example of Enshittification of the internet.
That's why I said given where they are now, how would it even be possible. What can they do outside of raise prices of reddit stickers or ad-free reddit.
Yeah that's fair.
Merchandising is the only palatable idea I can think of.
More likely to happen:
Twitter's verified user subscription strategy
More ad posts with paid-priority (priority hidden from users)
Layoffs with AI as miracle cure
Selling user data for AI training (check)
Paid API access (check)
But it's really hard to ignore that its function isn't really designed for profit and it's wacky that we have to humor the idea.
Ironically, if they charged moderators to be moderators, theyd probably pay for it. Some of those people were nuts.
It needs to become profitable because it was unprofitable for 20 years. Would you dump millions into something that doesn't even have the chance to make you money in the first place? Reddit wouldn't even exist anymore.
And not follow the quest for unending profit no matter the consequences? That sounds like some socialism shit /s