Submitted 8 months ago by catculation@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.world
Organic advertisements that looks similar to user post on reddit? How could they do such a thing?
Anyways, fellow lemmings, for no apparent reason, Today I Learned that Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated movie, “Barbie”, is now available on Blu-ray and select streaming services.
All I know is, they pay me every time I say it. Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
Fuck you! I’m eating!
I was about to tag Margot Robbie, but of course it’s you
The subreddit /r/hailcorporate has existed for ages pointing this out. Shills have been around since forever and buying upvotes is trivial.
[Authorized by the mods] I’ll be giving away 2 sets of these cool gamer keyboard and mouse with neon lights that I just happen to like and have no affiliation whatsoever with the company at all
45k upvotes #1 on r/all
Very natural
Eh, no shame in self promotion lol
I doubt the movie companies would ever try patronizing to Lemmy. The select streaming services will be links from division by zero users to pirate streaming sites.
In early testing of the new format, Reddit found that free-form ads outperform all other ad types in average click through rate (CTR) by 28%, along with increased community engagement when comments are enabled
so they’re bragging how much more misleading the new format is, gotcha.
I don’t believe that number, the average reddit clicks one if every 4 ads shown?
No way.
Careful, they didn’t claim to be getting 28% engagement from users… Just that this ad format performs 28% better than other as types. We have no idea (from this article, at least) how that translates to actual usage.
It’s just 28% more than the CTR of the other ad methods. It isn’t necessarily 4ish times. Let’s say before they were getting 100 clicks per ad with the old format. With the new format they’re getting 100*1.28=128 clicks.
They might not click it on purpose, but that’s beside the point.
What, are they gonna, pfft . . what, like . . make it up since there’s nobody watching? Like, oh yeah we’re saying way more people like ads just to, what, make more money?! As if! Pssh! Noooo. That’s . . that’s just crazy talk.
I bet the “community engagement comments” are just people warning others that it is an ad
Uhmmm based on my behavior before I left, the engagement is probably “click the three dots, hit report, select spam and block user”. That worked at least for a short while before they got rid of that feature…
Advertising plateaued in terms of effectiveness a long time ago, so now it’s gotta be about fraud.
So if ads are just like user posts, why would companies pay for advertising when they can just have an intern, paid in “experience and exposure”, make regular posts and maintain any different aliases?
Ads get shown because they’re paid. Regular posts compete with all other posts, and user filters and subscriptions.
Eh, not too hard to fix. Make it so that paid ads will automatically get 10,000 up votes, that would do it.
Why are people still using Reddit ?
Why are people still using Reddit?
Looking at the first page of my latest comments on reddit, I have some from /r/Wichita, /r/dndmemes, /r/titanfall, /r/KSPMemes, /r/wendigoon, /r/HeyRiddleRiddle, /r/DungeonMeshi, /r/Mythbusters, /r/TheLastAirbender, /r/gurrenlagann, /r/astrophotography, /r/haibanerenmei, /r/yourlieinapril, and /r/LandOfTheLustrous. There are far more, but that’s just the first page.
A few of these have fediverse equivalents, most of them don’t. None of them ever see active discussion on this platform. Even the ones that do get posts about once a week. Contrast that with /r/Wichita, which let me know 6 hours in advance that a capsule returning astronauts was going to fly over us at 4:38 AM. Being able to see that made using reddit that day absolutely worth it.
Why is any one at all using FaceBook Inc.?
If you can answer that question the yours swallows the crumbles falling out the mouth.
Artificial ranking. Without an API it’s much less reliable for botnets to astroturf; now they’re said “if you can’t beat em, join em” and closed the API and everything is for sale: Even the honesty of the site.
This is the exact same thing Digg did when they released 4.0, which caused the huge Reddit migration almost 15 years ago.
the problem is companies have weaponised complacency, there’s too many people that don’t care and that’s why they keep getting away with it. do it enough times and people will begin to think it’s inevitable and just put up with it.
A core principle of enshittification
Yep, I’m a former Digg user who left at the v4 launch because of this exact thing - they made ads indistinguishable from normal user posts.
People are saying this isn’t that big a deal, that Reddit won’t just die after this. The thing is, Digg still exists but it’s a shadow if its former self and nobody cares about it. It’s present, but its presence isn’t relevant. This change is likely to push more of the users who submit quality content to Reddit away from it, degrading the site community even more than last year.
Lesson not learned, apparently.
Digg still exists but it’s a shadow if its former self and nobody cares about it
As far as I’m concerned, so is Reddit. The only reason to go there anymore is for Q&A that get SEO spammed on Google. All the communities I was a part of either died after they changed the API (the only people left are the lurkers and low-effort posters) or had their mods replaced by boot lickers who immediately proceeded to not moderate the subs (which made them dead or full of spam).
But hey, now it sure looks like Reddit is alive and well! Just look at all those ads, bots, AI replies, totally legit user posts!
Right, but weren’t there a bunch of other changes at the same time that other people didn’t like? This seems like more frog boiling.
Plus digg wasn’t as ingrained and established as Reddit is now.
Plus Reddit had some really clear things about it that people liked better.
And while there are some actually really good Reddit alternatives now, most don’t have a BIG draw for most people. And a bunch of people still complain about lack of content being the big problem (same with why millions of idiots are still using Twitter)
I mean, look how few of us actually moved over permanently after the Great Migration last July, and that pissed off way more people than this probably will (with mass protests and everything).
Prepare the instances!!!
Digg was also much smaller than reddit is today, with an even smaller amount of content contributors. Once the contributors moved to reddit, Digg was all but dead and everyone followed suit.
If the ads allow me to comment and say “your product sucks” then I don’t mind.
They delete those
There’s probably even a ‘sentiment’ tracking system to automatically remove negative comments at this point.
I still use it for some of the niche communities I can’t get here but I’m more than happy to drop it if these new ads somehow manage to get past uBlock
They probably will. The next evolution in ads is going to be serving them within other organic content, your browser can’t block them if it can’t tell the difference. Now you can just pay Reddit to astroturf for you.
Drop them, they’re literally QVC.
Haha that’s such a great point. I love your comment almost as much as plants love Brawndo. It’s what plants crave. You can get Brawndo at every major retailer by the way and President Camacho fully endorses Brawndo.
I remember when blog network Federated Media pulled this and it didn’t work for them, it was a straight march into an acquisition.
the platform’s most popular post types, the megathread, which is a sort of one-stop-shop for discussions about popular topics. Similar to megathreads, free-form ads are meant to help readers get the information they need quickly. The company says the new ad format would be a good way to do things like launch a product or introduce a brand to a new audience.
imagine seeing a new mega thread each time a brand releases a new flavor of deodorant or something
flavor of deodorant
Something isn’t right about that…
Edible deodorant of course.
I don’t know about the people still on Reddit, but I personally do not eat my deodorant.
That’s because you haven’t tried cool ranch yet
Your missing out. Old Spice is like a pumpkin pie.
How long before the new wave of reddit immigrants here lol
Realistically, this likely won’t piss off their userbase nearly as much as the API fiasco last summer. A significant amount of users stayed in light of a number of subs going dark, so I have a feeling an influx in ads won’t really grind too many gears (or they will but will just bitch and nothing more).
Reddit is much more mainstream these days, and your average Melvin is just used to ads at this point.
Well, I wasn’t pointing directly at this change, it’s just like they’re on a train to make reddit insufferable for profits.
Oh, woe 🙀 It’s bad enough that we’re stuck with me (ba-dum tssh, self-deprecating humour there :D ) but now we’re gonna get even worse critters from Reddit because it’s gonna be ones who stayed with it during the previous exodus. Bleh!
“If your username was a username, how username would username username?”
They’re here.
Pretty sure ads have to be identifiable as ads almost everywhere, against misinformation (because ads usually lie).
I cannot wait to see this Reddit IPO fail, it will be the fucking most glorious thing when fuck face spez has to face the music.
It’s so annoying when your reading a comment and realize your reading an add god loved so wash feet add you are making me hate Jesus
The worst thing is when you open the sidebar. If you click too fast on a sidebar item it registers as a click on the first ad in your feed.
I report the ad as offensive every time this happens which is almost every time.
The site has so many ad posts and shilling mods that this is basically no change at all
All those moderators spent all those years fighting bot spam, and now the admins are deliberately opening the floodgates for the IPO.
I wish I could say I was shocked, but this was 100% foreseeable given their behavior since the third party app fiasco.
There’s absolutely no fucking way CTR for those is 28%.
I do not believe that.
Posts don’t even have a CTR that high, that would mean the average user goes no further than 4 ads before clicking one.
Now I wish I bought some stock so I could get in on a shareholder lawsuit about them cooking the books on this shit.
"Piss on my leg once, well… you pissed on me. Piss on my leg three times? Well… Well… maybe I like getting pissed on"
Its like still being on Twitter. All the data you need is there. If you are still using these platforms, you support these kinds of polices and behaviors.
People who still are there kinda deserves it.
New? There used to be a whole sub dedicated to calling out astroturf ads on Reddit. We always got shouted down lol
Hot garbage site does hot garbage stuff. Reddit makes it too easy to take dumps on itself.
They have been trying SO hard lately. A featured section on After Midnight, absolutely riveting, totally 100 percent factual posts being discussed by very real unpaid people on Tiktok and Instagram.
Real glad I’m here instead.
Is this something that uBO can detect?
There’s nothing stopping anyone from shitposting all through the comments of these ads, is there?
Didn’t they already have that?
'Course they do
So reddit is going to start selling the thing literally every company has been doing for free?
We should start a viral campaign promising to boycott anything advertised on Reddit just before the IPO
anyone have a good estimate for how long it will take for these ads to become more numerous than actual posts, at least in terms of visibility. I’ve got to imagine the impact is going to be spectacular since they are doing this desperate IPO as their fall from grace accelerates.
Earlier I was wanking for no reason, but now I get to showcase my c*m to investors - yaay
orangeNgreen@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I don’t visit Reddit much anymore, but isn’t that they way ads have been for awhile over there?
chakan2@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It is…but they need to highlight it to investors now.
db2@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Yes, they’re taking from the Apple playbook so people who don’t know will think they actually do things that don’t involve leather or sheep at Reddit HQ.
STOMPYI@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Reddit is a pot of boiling cat piss…
GlitterInfection@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s totally possible to hold a negative opinion of something and not bring up your unrelated distaste for Apple.
brbposting@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Do you have time to find a screenshot of the worst offending example?
wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
It used to be, they were called sponsored links, but the comment sections got filled with angry comments about the ads and people would downvote the shit out of them, then they removed comments, and after the redesign ads didn’t have threads/engagement but now they do.
One of my friends tried advertising that way and it went poorly, and the ads weren’t even for a real product just a test balloon for the concept.
Pepe also got very mad when your ad replaced the moose in the sidebar.
Ironically, it was spez who introduced sponsored links with comments then, so what’s old is new again! I wonder if this time will be different.
Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
When I was still using Reddit, I would report those ad posts for terrorism, inappropriate content or whatever term like that.
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
The difference is companies used to just run their own super cheap bots to spam fake “engagement” to the site. Now since the API is gone they have to pay Reddit directly for the privilege.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 8 months ago
On “old reddit” the posts were highlighted so you could tell
I think with the new Facebook style feed it might not be.
KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Yes, but reddit wasn’t getting paid for it
FenrirIII@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I just go to freegamefindings
linearchaos@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think the differentiation is in who’s placing the ad.
There were sponsored ads before where a company reached out to Reddit and bought advertisements and read it took the money for them and posted them. They were labeled as sponsored.
But since the beginning of Reddit, advertising firms have just posted nearly blatant ads without notifying anyone.
Sounds to me like reddit’s just removing he sponsored indicator from their sponsored ad sales.