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Reddit's new paid ads look exactly like user posts

Calling them "free-form ads," Reddit said the new advertisements are its most native format ever, designed to look and feel like community content shared by real people.

The ads, meant to mimic the site's megathreads, will enable advertisers to utilize a variety of formats in one post, including images, videos, and text.

According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.

The next time you see an interesting post in your Reddit feed, take a closer look - because it might just be a paid advertisement.

GlassHalfHopeful ,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

/me giggles

cmrn ,

Clicking an image on Twitter and it actually being an external link was the last thing I ever did on that platform.

notapantsday ,

This feels like something that would be illegal in the EU. I have no idea if it actually is.

Ephera ,

It's illegal here in Germany. Ads need to be clearly recognizable as such.

Yamayo ,

It's an European law, thankfully.

Madeyro ,

So they will serve different frontend for different people based on location?

Ephera ,

Honestly, I expect them to just remain in violation, unless they get sued or reprimanded by one of our user protection organisations.

But yeah, they can serve different frontends or just with different configuration for different user groups. They probably do that already, e.g. to display a cookie banner for users in the EU.

Miaou ,

Yup. Just moving between German and French websites can be a pain in the ass. Default filters in shops, prices with or without taxes displayed first for professional things, different menus etc. They can be different in the most subtle ways, which is way worse imo.

Don't get me started on websites who think they know better than you which website you'd like to visit. Stop redirecting me based on my IP or language settings! OK now I'm just venting sorry

ilinamorato ,

Sounds like you need EXPRESS® VPN™! Use code LEMMY at checkout for 10% off!

(/s, but I hope that was obvious)

RampantParanoia2365 ,

Hmm, article seems to be broken? The picture of the ad format is missing.

degen ,

^Promoted

This is a great move! Facilitating a direct conversation between corporation and customer is great for all!

Sterile_Technique ,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

AnarchistArtificer ,

I honestly find it impressive how Reddit continues to find new ways to enshittify the platform

Qwaffle_waffle ,

It's like they're racing to the bottom with Twitter

AbidanYre ,

Steve does love Elon. It makes sense for Reddit to follow Twitter's lead.

jivandabeast ,

I honestly find it impressive how quickly the word "enshittification" is brought up in Lemmy comments

(/s, but we do talk about it a lot here)

Cold_Brew_Enema ,

You mean like Linux?

I use Ubuntu, btw

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Is it really enshittification if you can just turn it off if you don't like it? Adding useless features alone doesn't seem to be enshittification to me- it's when those useless features become inescapable where the problem lies.

Sterile_Technique ,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

I mean, I'm here specifically because of enshittification. Had reddit actually gotten better over time, I'd still be there; but every year came with another handful and anti-user bullshit. Finally threw my hands up, said fuck it, deleted my account, and started scouring the internet for an alternative. Eventually stumbled into Lemmy and haven't had a reason to look back.

......I don't think my story here is especially unique, either. Seems just about everyone here is a pissed off ex-redditer, so enshittification is hot on all of our brains.

lolcatnip ,

People who don't care about enshittification, or who don't think about it specifically in connection to Reddit, aren't here because they're using Reddit instead.

moon ,

Why does that dude have his own Wikipedia page lol, and why is it so long

AbidanYre ,

Because he's been a well known author for two decades?

ocassionallyaduck ,

First time I accidentally click on one of these I'm going to shit thst post up so hard.

DragonTypeWyvern ,

You could also just not do that

AstralPath ,

Just ditch Reddit. Seriously. Why bother?

ComplexLotus ,

Some nice communities are locked in that deepest level of hell & despair ...

Zedstrian ,

Gotta try to drag a few good people back from Tartarus...

phx ,

Yeah, I figure it does two ways

  1. They get called out quickly and result in a bunch of shitposts or actively blasting the product

  2. They block posting which makes it obvious they're ads and get little too no engagement anyhow

fosstulate ,
@fosstulate@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

Reddit will program new mod bots to deal with organic responses the advertiser doesn't consider constructive. That opens another revenue stream: charging advertisers for sub-specific bot tweaks.

The interesting question to me is, when does normie realize his sub has been co-opted to function as a focus group, and decide to look for a new forum.

phx ,

Oh, they'll try, but that just means trolling needs to get more creative, like certain Amazon reviews

altima_neo ,
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

Isnt that how they always looked?

DudeImMacGyver ,
@DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works avatar

Gross.

DaddleDew ,

Just deleted my Reddit account. I haven't used it in over a year now anyway. I was waiting for something like this to make a statement.

Krudler ,

It's been like one of those long running soap operas.

For at least the last 5 years "today's" front page is nearly indistinguishable from "yesterday's".

You can disappear for 6 months and come back and it's exactly the same. You've missed nothing.

Orange man bad, fascism bad, phobia bad, sexism bad, racism bad, bosses suck, inflation sucks, boomers suck, ooh a celebrity! Celebrity dead so sad.

sailingbythelee ,

That's most of the internet now. I mean, yay, we're calling bad stuff bad. I do it, too, and I'm also addicted to orange man news like all you other rubber-neckers, but yawn it's all getting a bit repetitious and homogenized. Unfortunately, as we get bored, the more these nutty politicians do crazy shit for the media to report on, all to keep our attention. It feels like a death spiral.

jaybone ,

That’s a lot like Lemmy though.

Krudler ,

That can't even be denied at this point. There was a small window before the Reddit API fiasco and everybody showed up here to post the same rat-shit they gobble over there. I had a mini-freakout over a "If your username was a username, what would username username username username?" type question in AskLemmy or something. The moronitude feels inescapable.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Congrats on your freedom

SomeGuy69 ,

Not surprised, after they declared hunting season open, in one of the latest business blogs.

ColeSloth ,

They had tons of covert "ads" before this, too. Set up like 100 fake accounts (commonly bought from people who create and fluff them up by posting and commenting for a while so they look legit) and then post your add and use like 20 or so of your Bot accounts to upvote and comment to get the ball rolling.

Then you have your add there, got it climbing a bit in "new" and didn't pay a dime for it.

FartsWithAnAccent ,

Sounds terrible, glad I'm on Lemmy!

seSvxR3ull7LHaEZFIjM ,

Early results suggest the effort is working. According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.

Yeah, because users get tricked into clicking and then immediately leave.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

But not before commenting, “fuck spez!”

TexasDrunk ,

Which counts as engagement.

merc ,

And doesn't bother Steve Huffman because you're using his Reddit username, and by doing that you're talking about Reddit, effectively promoting it. Stop using "spez" and start making it so Steve Huffman has trouble giving his real name to a real hotel, restaurant, etc. because they say "oh, that asshole?".

Wappen ,

That's illegal in Germany though, right? AFAIK all ads must be disclosed as such.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

They’re tagged as “promoted”

Ephera ,

Having seen previous lawsuits in this area, I doubt that's good enough. Like, it's still clearly designed to be deceptive.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

Oh, certainly. And I’m sure that the tag is designed to be difficult to differentiate from other tags and to go unnoticed.

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