In an interview with AdAge, Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman confirmed that starting on August 4th, Reddit will debut a new type of ad called Promoted User Posts.
“If someone creates a giant replica of a Taco Bell hot sauce packet, for example, and shares it on Reddit, the restaurant chain could step in and sponsor that post. In turn, Reddit will display it in different parts of its website and target specific users that the brand wants to reach.”
Source: http://adage.com/article/digital/reddit-let-marketers-sponsor-users-organic-posts/305115/
Unlike the beautiful thing we have going on at Steemit where the user gets the earnings, in this case the user who's post gets sponsored or promoted won't receive any share of the profit. Companies will have the opportunity to select posts at will and throw their logo on it per say. This I feel will not go over well with the Reddit community, since this isn't the type of stuff they are usually into. People my start gearing their posts towards trying to catch these companies in order to trend... That does sound familiar ;) "Whales". However without the prospective of actually earning from this promotion, it may get even more dicey.
How it works
- A redditor creates a post with brand-relevant content
- A brand notices the post and indicates to our sales team that they’re interested in promoting the post
- Our sales team reaches out to the author of the post to get explicit permission to use the post as part of a promoted user post
- If permission is given, a promoted user post is created by copying over the content and votes of the original post into a new promoted user post. (The comments will link to the same thread.)
- The original post will remain where it was originally uploaded. The promoted user post comment section will link to the original comments section.
A few years ago, there was a huge backlash when Instagram changed its terms of service to suggest the company was going to start monetizing user posts. With Reddit’s more militant community and lingering hatred of Reddit administration, this plan might not be the pure money-maker Reddit wants it to be.
Source: http://bgr.com/2016/07/27/reddit-sponsored-content-ads-roi/
Reddit is building an internal team to help flag posts that would be suitable for this kind of marketing, according to a report from The Verge. This group will seek out usable content, working directly with potential advertisers to ensure that the posts reflect their branding.
I guess we just have to wait and see how this rolls out... some are beginning to argue that Reddit may be dead. I know us here on Steemit have a particular prospective, but what do you feel will happen?
Blue