Reddit, AI spam bots explore new ways to show ads in your feed

#For sale: Ads that look like legit Reddit user posts

“We highly recommend only mentioning the brand name of your product since mentioning links in posts makes the post more likely to be reported as spam and hidden. We find that humans don’t usually type out full URLs in natural conversation and plus, most Internet users are happy to do a quick Google Search,” ReplyGuy’s website reads.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    “With Dynamic Product Ads, brands can tap into the rich, high-intent product conversations that people come to Reddit for," Reddit EVP of Business Marketing and Growth Jim Squires said in a statement.

    Gross.

    • AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 months ago

      Jfc people came to Reddit because up until now they were getting replies from real people with that have no financial interest in the outcome. This completely subverts everything people valued about Reddit. This fucking guy.

        • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          Nothing. Social media (and social-ish media like Reddit) have a strong, strong hold on people. Facebook is still an incredibly popular site. People don’t abandon social media sites until they literally have to, like in the instance of MySpace, vine. A company definitely contributes to that by tanking their own UI and making people leave, which in turn causes a downward spiral of the company grabbing on harder to the dwindling user base, trying to monetize them harder and harder, until they company itself bottoms out and shuts down the servers.

          Those of us that left Reddit willingly when we were tired of being used by them are in the very small minority. They lost, what, like 1-2% of their user base when nearly every single comment in any thread about the API debacle that said, “this is the last straw, I’m leaving and deleting my comment history” was getting massive amounts of support? People on the internet talk a big game, but ultimately are hopelessly addicted to their routines.

          This is all by design, of course. We’re conditioned to open their apps and sites by reflex when we turn on the phone or computer. It fuckin works. But dammit if it doesn’t feel good breaking that spell. But it’s super disappointing others are willing to take every slap to the face and simply say “thank you sir may I have another.” Those people contribute to enshittification as much as the companies, honestly.

          • SSTF@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            People on the internet talk a big game, but ultimately are hopelessly addicted to their routines.

            • Audacious@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              Nice pic to visualize every modern boycott. Aggravating to see people lie about their morals, and then keep eating the shit they are being fed.

          • nytrixus@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Lot of truth to this.

            Facebook users know very well that Mark has spent the last 10 years, bastardizing Facebook in every way he can. It’s not a good place for security. He doesn’t give a shit about your privacy. He no longers rely on actual people to help step in and resolve on-site problems, rather rely on a stupid hub system and he’s high on his stupid metaverse shit.

            Yet, billions are still there.

            Reddit, same way. The worst part about Reddit and even Twitter users is the mental gymnastics they’re willing to go through, to justify and rationalize why they’re staying.

          • someacnt_@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            It’s so interesting, how so many people did not leave? Well I guess many prolific posters have left but

      • slaacaa@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yes, but by completely destroying that they can make the line go up for 2 quarters, so worth it. Also, corpos would actually prefer users not having access to these discussion spaces and the free information they provide, so you would have to rely on overSEOd shit content and ads. I hate what the internet has become

    • _number8_@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      rich, high-intent product conversations

      these people make me so fucking sick i cannot

      i cannot believe this site i spent so many sad years posting on in high school, with pure heart, posting purely out of a desire for interesting interactions and the potential to make insightful, peer-reviewed contributions that others could enjoy, has turned into such fucking dead-eyed garbage.

    • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It makes me so mad…it’s like a company butting into a conversation me and a friend are having in person.

    • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      What research is telling them that people come to Reddit to talk to corporations about products? Where was the survey? And what the fuck is a “high-intent product conversation”? These people are making shit up.

      Edit: so, I looked up what a “high intent product conversation” is, and this is the answer I got.

      A high-intent product conversation is a conversation with a customer who is actively looking for a solution to a problem or desire and is ready to purchase. High-intent customers are more likely to convert into customers than low-intent customers, who are just browsing or exploring.

      So this man really thinks that people come to Reddit looking for shit to buy, because we have problems and desires and they want companies on Reddit to be right there hawking their snake oil cures to all our little problems via their AI marketing reps?

      Where did he get that idea? Did he ask actual Reddit users? Was a survey mailed out? What was the sample size? What were the questions on the survey? Did they do a focus group?

      • Screamium@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I remember seeing threads like “What was the best purchase that you made for under 100” or some variation every once in a while. I’m sure those got corpo eyes real interested if they weren’t advertising in them already.

    • Hello Hotel@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yes, because insert smoking company name here are all having an intense beutiful pipedream relationship with the nice folks at those pro-smoking subreddits.

      hey, this is a joke btw