Reddit Made the Mistake of Ignoring Its Core Users
The social-media platform needs a path to profitability that recognizes the commitment of its moderators and volunteers.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman needs to keep both investors and core users happy.
Photographer: Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Reddit has mostly come back to life after a multiday protest by moderators took thousands of forums offline. But whether the freewheeling site has addressed the deeper tensions tugging at the company is another matter.
More than 8,000 subreddits, the specialized forums that make up the platform visited by almost 60 million people daily, went dark earlier this week to protest Reddit’s decision to impose expensive conditions on the creators of third-party apps. The move angered power users who depend on those apps to make Reddit easier to use.