Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.

He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.

    • Chespirito@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      4 months ago

      I’ve switched to using this as well but it has very little user interaction. I hope it grows and is able to compete with Reddit one day. It would be nice to be able to go to a basketball or political subreddit (what do we call them here?) and actually be able to have a nice conversation.

      • clickyello@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        4 months ago

        they’re called lemmy communities, and there’s plenty of interaction! honestly it reminds me of the old days on Reddit before it ballooned into the monster it is today, I legitimately prefer it in every way other than lacking the niche communities (looking at you !2007scape@lemmy.world >.>)

        you can find good political discussion in !politicalmemes@lemmy.world or !news@lemmy.world

        dunno if there’s any good basketball communities tho, not my bag lol

        • Chespirito@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          Thank you! And I like the interactions I’ve had so far. It’s just that I’m a huge NBA fan and that’s where I spent most of my time on Reddit. The nba Lemmy community isn’t very big yet but I’m trying to change that by being more active here. I really enjoy this and it feels like actual discussions can be had here unlike on Reddit.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        4 months ago

        Where Reddit has “subreddits” Lemmy has “communities.” Which is a 4 syllable word with 9 or 11 letters depending on singular or plural and no convenient abbreviation so most of us especially the Reddit expats lapse back into calling them “subs.”

        • Chespirito@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          Thank you for information! I’m happy to have joined this community. For the most part there’s actual discussions here and not just meme answers at the top of every post

      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        4 months ago

        “Sub” is a generic term from the BBS days, short for “subforum”, “subcommunity”, whatever, so I just use that. I don’t like to use “community” because it’s long and clunky.