Someone posted this over on Reddit right when it happened and I apparently saved it. I’m cleaning out my bookmarks and came across it. I hought you’d like to see why it’s good news that we found Lemmy.
Edit: I took a screenshot in case it gets deleted.
One of the main reasons people come to Reddit is to be informed by discussions they’re interested in, creating an environment of active discovery ripe for brands to show up and add value. Contextual Keyword Targeting places advertisers at the center of this journey, and at the heart of active conversations taking place, giving them the option to select specific keywords to associate with their brand, or even align keywords with their creative ad copy for added relevance. With so much direct traffic to Reddit conversation threads originating from high intent organic searches or research sessions, Contextual Keyword Targeting unlocks value for advertisers during and after discussions unfold, since we know Reddit threads live on as valuable, searchable resources for our users.
I threw up in my mouth reading this. I don’t think any community would enjoy being described as “an environment of active discovery ripe for brands to show up and add value”.
If you’re like me and haven’t deleted old reddit comments because of the valuable information they can give other people, now may be the time to reconsider. Being able to advertise on discussions that have already happened is one of the sales pitches Reddit makes to prospective advertisers.
Jesus, pure intentional enshitification. It’s so disgusting
Contextual Keyword Targeting unlocks value for advertisers during and after discussions unfold, since we know Reddit threads live on as valuable, searchable resources for our users.
They mentioned Ally Financial as one of the success cases so I did a quick search for recent posts about Ally and sure enough the very first result from outside their own sub has this user contributing to the conversation:
https://www.reddit.com/user/robbiedavissie
Somebody posts a question about Ally and this 11 minute old account comes along pitching all of Ally Bank’s features. Then a week later they’re making 3 posts in a row advertising some other brand.
Super sketch.
There’s a ton of these accounts. They gather karma with scripts that randomly repost top 100 all time posts on big subs and then delete them so their account looks clean. Then they sell it to ad companies that post client sanctioned posts and comments and get paid based on user engagement with the brand.
Check out r/hailcorporate. A huge portion of Reddit is just guerrilla advertising.
They didn’t even do that though. It was an absolutely brand new 1 karma account that somehow mysteriously didn’t get automodded to hell. Account created 09:00:27 UTC, then Ally Bank comment at 09:11:37 UTC
Wow I guess they’re not even trying to hide it anymore.
They also do it by copying text from comments that are getting upvoted in the same thread and then reposting it higher in the thread so it gets random upvotes. Caught the copy-bots doing it a bunch of times, got tired of reporting them since the reddit admins obviously weren’t interested in combatting the problem even if local moderators were (and I suspect they were in fact helping it along because it aligns with their goals for Reddit).
At least they’re really not good at it? That was so obviously an AI or pre-written.
“Hey there Reddit fan!”
Who would talk like that? lol
Hey there skin haver! Do you hate it when your skin or exoskeleton get dry and or crusty? Then try new Aveeno skin/carapace wax
The amount of buzzwords just to say “advertisers are a greater priority for us than our users” holy shit
The use of all the buzzwords actually works to show the advertisers in question that they understand what they’re doing and, in this case somewhat literally, that they “speak their language.”
Reddit’s recent monetisation schemes can all be summed up as “demanding a cut from people profiting off the site” and this is just more of that. They’ve done absolutely nothing to prevent astro-turfing and manipulation, now they’re just going to offer it as a service.
Omg, I just posted, I also threw up a little reading this.
Not sure anyone wants “advertisers to be at the center” of any experience.
Advertisers definitely want to be at the centre of your experience!
Continuing the trend, I also had to stifle my vomit while typing this out.
Come to !recommendations@lemmy.world so that people find content from Lemmy instead ads from Reddit
I’m so glad people like you are choosing to bootstrap the community’s they want to see instead of just hoping mods invested in there existing community’s decided to come over and working to try and connect with the people already on lemmy instead of just begging the people on reddit until the mods ban them for spamming
I wish there was an easy way to archive my old reddit comments. Anything older than 1000 comments seems impossible to access even though I made them.
You could do a data request, that should be everything they have on you
I did that when the API fees were first announced, and it took a couple of weeks for them to respond, but I got a full text file of my comments and posts.
Oh thanks, I’ve just done that. I wrote a LOT of stuff in my time. I always thought it’d be good to look back and see how my positions changed and how I felt about my old thoughts. It was pretty annoying not to have a way to go back and actually read my stuff, even though they’re still hosting them and profiting off of them.
I’ll be honest most of it is anarchist propaganda so I’m in two minds as to whether or not to remove it. I’ll definitely get rid of the fun games stuff I posted and find a place here for it.
Even without the gdpr, if you wait a couple days after deleting that first 1000 you’ll start seeing older comments again.
Of course it’s not ideal, just pointing it out.
Okay but that sounds too much like work to me.
get a GDPR request
Same, we’re all prostitutes for Reddit in the end.
TBH, they’re already doing it a little here, but at least we’re not being sold to the highest bidder by Reddit. Here, they get ignored and/or downvoted.
So fucking brazenly perverse.
The window of success for trusting reddit for product recommendations was just destroyed. What fucking idiots. They can’t seek out clients instead of posting to the world that they try to manipulate their users?
They are trying to point to subs dedicated to making smart purchases as an opportunity to advertise for whoever pays? Good fucking luck. They are going to crash their whole model into the ground and they don’t care. This is an IPO play to get rich and RUIN the site.
Can you TLDR it cause i don’t want to change my DNS rules to allow reddit for this.
TL;DR enshittification. Lots of targeted ads and corporate newspeak.
Thx.
Fuck reddit.
TLDR; remember how you liked putting site:reddit.com at the end of searches for specific product recommendations because it seemed like the last place left on the internet where you can get recommendations which weren’t blatant ads? Well fuck you, we gonna use the question context when choosing ads.
Example: Looking for headphone recs and go to a reddit post? You’re gonna see a headphone ad.
Oh, I assume the majority of us here use ad blockers. This seems like something that won’t effect us
And, if a non adblock user sees these ads, that’s on them. Ad blockers have never been easier to get running
Except they’ll make them normal reddit posts through bots.
Nah, i never did that, when i want to know a product i buy it and if its shit i send it back.
But sound idiotic.
You should check with a doctor to see if they can help with your “I’m just an asshole unprovoked for no reason” problem.
TLDR: They’re selling keywords and organic advertising (I think that’s the name) from their official blog.
Full text:
Investing in what makes Reddit unique: Introducing Contextual Keyword Targeting and Product Ads Announcements Staff • June 9, 2023
Reddit is the place the world turns to for advice, recommendations and honest conversations. Every day, Reddit users contribute to more than 400,000 conversations on the platform, and with each passing second, an average of two questions are asked on Reddit that receive an average of 19 responses – from real people (helpful, anonymous strangers no less!). And, with over 13 billion posts and comments, Reddit has become one of the internet’s largest open archives of human experiences. These rich conversations are a valuable place for advertisers to find highly engaged, potential customers, and for brands to become part of the most contextually relevant conversations happening online. As we continue to invest in advertising solutions that bring the best of Reddit to businesses, and vice versa, we are excited to today announce two new Reddit Ad Products that harness the value of Reddit’s communities for advertisers: Contextual Keyword Targeting and Product Ads. Introducing Contextual Keyword Targeting
One of the main reasons people come to Reddit is to be informed by discussions they’re interested in, creating an environment of active discovery ripe for brands to show up and add value. Contextual Keyword Targeting places advertisers at the center of this journey, and at the heart of active conversations taking place, giving them the option to select specific keywords to associate with their brand, or even align keywords with their creative ad copy for added relevance. With so much direct traffic to Reddit conversation threads originating from high intent organic searches or research sessions, Contextual Keyword Targeting unlocks value for advertisers during and after discussions unfold, since we know Reddit threads live on as valuable, searchable resources for our users. Introducing Product Ads
Research shows that redditors are higher-value customers; they make 2x more category purchases and spend 2.5x more per purchase, are +56% more likely to talk positively about a brand online and are +46% more likely to trust a brand that advertises on Reddit. To address this unique mindset, Product Ads are aimed at seamlessly connecting brands with consumers when they are already in research mode and primed to make a purchase decision. Integrated into the shopping journeys already happening on Reddit, Product Ads are a natural next step in the consideration process as users gear up to make a purchase. Product Ads feature information like product description and pricing in local currency, as well as a call-to-action button that sends users directly to the brand’s product page. And, as part of our wider commitment to making it even easier for advertisers to set up and manage their campaigns on Reddit, Product Ads enable advertisers to quickly and easily build ads directly from their existing catalogs with no need for additional creative resources. If an advertiser is already activating shopping campaigns on other platforms, they can easily import those same catalogs to the Reddit Ads Manager.
“We’ve known for over a decade that people come to Reddit to talk about the products they love – take r/BuyItForLife for example, a community of over 1.5 million redditors who have been sharing recommendations and advice about their lifelong, must-have purchases since 2011. These updates will uplevel the search-and-discover experience for both brands and our users by tapping into our differentiated value as a hub for actionable conversation” said Reddit Chief Revenue Officer, Harold Klaje. “Our approach to this next phase of our Ads Product offering is to help brands help people make informed decisions, find answers to their questions, and discover products they care about – while in the process enabling advertisers to build connections with new and valuable new audiences.” Client success so far
Reddit partners have already begun tapping into the potential of Contextual Keyword Targeting and Product Ads as part of our early testing process.
“We are very excited to see Reddit’s ads product suite expand. Contextual keyword targeting is a fit with the inherent nature of Reddit users, as well as discoveries of Reddit content via search queries,” said GroupM Vice President and Global Head of Social, Amanda Grant. “Connecting that high intent user behavior with Product Ads gives our clients more full funnel opportunities on the platform, and more commerce considerations in the arsenal that is especially meaningful as teams prepare for 2H activation."
As a Financial Services disruptor brand, Ally Financial sought out Contextual Keyword Targeting to run contextual ads along relevant conversations on Reddit. By aligning their ads with suitable keywords, Ally was able to drive cost efficient down funnel sign ups from Reddit users.
Liquid I.V. came to Reddit looking to boost consideration and sales for their line of hydration products. As part of our Product Ads beta testing, the brand saw substantial performance relative to internal metrics for Return on Ad Spend.
Contextual Keyword Targeting and Product Ads are available in Beta to all qualified Reddit advertisers globally from today. To run your own ads on Reddit, and learn more about our other advertising options, contact us.
Sound like greedy spez 🐖
Hope he chokes to death on the money knowing not a single person will feel sorry for him.
Cmon, spez has done a lot of good. Nobody else has done more for the growth of the fediverse than he has.
So I am not the only one? :)
Context needed please. Reddit is blocking themselves?
Nope. I’ve seen myself visiting Reddit through Google search a bit too much, so I blocked it in DNS settings just like the other guy.
The priority of advertisers experience, over user experience, should say it all
Looks like they don’t just put off their users, the also screw over their customers. Good job!
That’s step 2 on the path to enshittification.
I threw up a little reading this. Gross.
So the one remaining way to search the internet that would give me the results I needed is disappearing? Time to head back to the library I guess
I bought a technical book for the first time in 10 years because searching sucked soooo bad. Articles start with monotonous life stores, videos that waste time (but don’t forget to click like and subscribe!), or just straight up product ads and SEO spam.
Analogue to the rescue.
I don’t think they’ll delete this. This is their future.
Bleh, you’re probably right.
I mean that was possible before but on a whole new level. It’s actually in Reddits interest to get rid of more sceptical mods who stick tightly to rules, because they’d delete an obvious ads thread.
I don’t want to hear from products. I want to talk about nothing with people.
Nothingness is pretty crazy if you think about it
It IS kinda crazy. If you try to create “nothingness” (create an enclosed space and suck out all of the air to have as little as possible), the nothingness actually tries to become full of something again, because of pressure difference.
If you think of nothing, then it becomes something
Consciousness is a crazy thing. It’s such a unique state of being for matter to take, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Consciousness was, itself, a force that could be measured. After all, we as conscious beings can alter the world around us in everyway, only limited by our physical bodies. Perhaps Consciousness is it’s own universe, that we have only begun to understand. In my life I’ve experienced things I can’t explain, but I’d call much of it extreme empathy, like Consciousness is all linked, where with practice, thoughts, feelings, and vibration can be transmitted through it, like radio signals. Perhaps it’s more simple than that, or not at all, but I enjoy dreaming (:
This checks out in my addled thought experiments.
Like before or during the creation of the universe, there was matter, and it’s opposite. They canceled each other out, but there just so happened to be a tiny tiny bit more matter than anti matter, so we have a universe largely made of matter. Would we even be able to tell a difference if it was anti matter that won out? -my vague recollection of a science channel show.
Creation itself is the battle between nothing, and everything, like a battery, it is one thing. Duality is an invention of man.
It’s my favorite thing to think about.
As my uncle used to say, who just died the other day and who’s body is stuck in Mexico lol:
“There is no duality Baba!”
Sorry for your loss! He sounded like quite the interesting fellow.
Not regretting deleting my 10+ year old account one bit.
Same here, 10 years, over 600k comment karma, all power deleted.
Is there an easy way to delete or rewrite all my comments in bulk? I looked up something when ask this started, but the resources I found were too complicated
Power Delete Suite… but it only works from the comment lists on your profile on old.reddit, which are limited, so it may miss some.
There is a script that’s supposed to run through the comment IDs from the GDPR export, but I haven’t managed to run it successfully (yet).
I used Redact on android to delete all my reddit comments just before RIF shutdown
I thought we needed to rewrite them instead of deleting for some reason
If you delete comments, they still exist (but are hidden from the public) so reddit can still sell the content/conversation to 3rd parties, eg for training language models. If you edit the comments first, it makes the conversation nonsensical and reddits “product” is less valuable
Ok yes! How do I do this? I’m decently technically savvy, but the last time I looked this up, it was more than I was willing to mess with outside of paid hours
I used Nuke Reddit History (Google it)
I’m so glad I purged all my crap off that network. If you wrote about a brand, your content will be used to show that brand as an advertisement. Now your content will appear like an endorsement and Reddit will definitely laugh to the bank off your words.
The only good news is I’m racking my brain and I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned a product of any sort by name that I wasn’t bashing it. Sorta the economic version of survivor bias? If it’s good, I have no reason to bring it up.
I hope those slip through so someone can see an ad that says:
Zoloft
“It never did shit for me”
— N.It’s going to be something like this:
u/RandomRedditUser29473:
Comcast is a piece of shit, I was put on hold for 3 hours to reach support.
(Promoted) Comcast plans for you starting from $2999.99/mo! Like you have any other choice HAHAHAHAHA
If it’s good, I have no reason to bring it up.
This describes my relationship with Dell perfectly. I never buy anything from Dell, and I always tell other people to avoid them. The best thing I can say about most of their products is “at least it’s not HP”, and the few decent things they sell tend to be massively overpriced.
Despite that, I have a ton of Dell products that I’ve either saved from the trash or have been given second hand over the years, and my experiences with many of them have been just fine, maybe even bordering on pleasant in some cases. The monitor I’m looking at right now is a Dell, and it’s pretty good.
On the other hand, I’ve spent afternoons ripping my hair out trying to adapt power supplies for their stupid proprietary motherboards, or figuring out how to compile a fan controller driver for Linux, because their laptop fans won’t fucking spin until a proprietary driver is loaded in the OS.
Guess which Dell products I tell people about when they ask me what computer to buy? It’s sure not the ones that are decent, but otherwise unremarkable.
Edit: I took a screenshot in case it gets deleted.
I wonder if the “400,000 comments per day” and “2 questions per second” figures are still true (if they ever were).
Those numbers are likely only mildly inflated. Advertisers would raise hell if they were off significantly. Now, how many are Reddit personnel or bots? That’s the real question.
Unfortunately, there are many people still on Reddit. I predict that this is going to be like the Twitter migration, where more and more people join alternatives with every bad decision the company makes
I used to be the only one of my friends that use reddit. Around the start of the pandemic some of my more “normie” (for lack of a better term) friends started signing up as well.
I think a lot of the old guard has left/is on the verge of leaving, but I don’t think there’s any shortage of new users that don’t know what a 3rd party app is, only ever used new reddit, etc.
I love it! Having my decision to leave reddit justified again, and so quickly, gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
