They don’t even want you to use the website I don’t think. They’ve even done experiments where they blocked people from using the mobile website. The more they want me to use their app, the more I want to avoid Reddit all together.

  • Glunkbor@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 years ago

    If they streamline how users get access to Reddit, then they get to determine what they see. Now the third-party apps will get killed, the access through mobile browsers will be limited with the idea to force users into the app, old-reddit will be gone at some point as well. And then Reddit can spam users with ads and also force users into buying premium services to see no/less ads. Since all alternative ways of using the website will be gone, people have to swallow that pill no matter how big it is.

    • darius@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 years ago

      To quote ljdawson, the dev of Sync for reddit: “Apart from crashes I don’t track shit.”

      He was asked how many API calls Sync’s users have on average. He simply couldn’t answer. That’s why we loved 3rd party apps.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.ml
    1·
    2 years ago

    The third-party API doesn’t let them see how people interact with the app, only what the user is accessing.

    It’s just to further monetize the user’s interactions and sell the data, because the executive team are greedy little pigboi.

  • mikebehzad@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 years ago

    I see it as a good old Foucault problem of Knowledge/Power… By using their app, more knowledge can be visualised about the subject. More knowledge - > more power. Which in turn makes them more interesting to investors.

    • kadu@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 years ago

      Not only ads, but their app is the only one that supported their NFT system. And their Twitter Spaces clone. And their upcoming shorts feature. And so on. They desperately want to be every other social network, and that means copying features that are mobile-centric.

      • kalipike@lemmy.one
        2·
        2 years ago

        I really don’t get why all these social platforms try so hard to just be copies of each other. I like having diverse and different platforms for different things. Once they all started homogenizing, I really stopped using most social media.

        And when LinkedIn added their ripoff of Instagram Stories I was like…aaaaand that’s it for me. Why does a professional site need a stories feature?

        • Kempeth@feddit.de
          0·
          2 years ago

          Because companies don’t want money. They don’t want a lot of money. They want ALL the money. If another company has a feature that people like and use, then this company wants that money as well. So they either buy that other company or copy and push the feature in the hopes of converting users.

          This is why YouTube has these asinine shorts shoved into your layout. They know YT users don’t want them. This is why you can’t disable them. They know that another company makes money with shorts and they want it - so YOU are gonna use them goddammit.

          A third party YouTube app doesn’t have to show these shorts so YT wouldn’t be able to pressure their users into consuming that format.

          • kalipike@lemmy.one
            0·
            2 years ago

            I happen to like the shorts. I only wish your shirts subscriptions were separate from your regular subscriptions. Otherwise I don’t have any issues with it.

            However, I do know a lot of people do take issue with it, and that’s okay!