The next attention-grabbing post you see in your Reddit feed might just be a paid 'free-form ad'.

Calling them “free-form ads,” Reddit said the new advertisements are its most native format ever, designed to look and feel like community content shared by real people.

The ads, meant to mimic the site’s megathreads, will enable advertisers to utilize a variety of formats in one post, including images, videos, and text.

According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.

The next time you see an interesting post in your Reddit feed, take a closer look - because it might just be a paid advertisement.

  • londos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1001·
    8 months ago

    I was curious about the “Philly cream cheese” campaign example they mentioned. I assume it’s this post.

    The top reply is trolling them, which is awesome. So much for increased engagement.

    But even funnier is the next top reply, which seems sincere. But when you look at the user profile, almost all of u/sunshinedogger’s comments in the last year are on sponsored posts. So even the positive engagement is manufactured?

    • reflectedodds@lemmy.worldEnglish
      412·
      8 months ago

      Dang good catch on the second user, I wouldn’t have noticed since I usually don’t look at people’s profiles.

      It’s kind of funny that reddit will become this chamber of advertisers making posts and fake users “engaging” while the real people all migrate to lemmy.

      • londos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        8 months ago

        I’m also curious if the fake users are part of the campaign or if reddit is scamming the advertisers too.

      • slaacaa@lemmy.worldEnglish
        202·
        8 months ago

        Absolutely, you cannot trust reddit content anymore. If anybody wants to still visit the site, I recommend you buy and AdBlock Gold subscription, which you can get at half the price now. Link and discount code in my profile

        • Wiz@midwest.socialEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          Ublok Origin on Firefox works great, and is free.

          Discount code available for half the price of free!

      • Gestrid@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        8 months ago

        Weren’t they also caught using AI bots to drive up engagement in some subreddits, too? (I think it was supposed to be some of their subreddits in foreign languages or something.)

        • ilinamorato@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          I live in the Midwest, and I’ve actually seen a few of those on plates at potlucks. It is indeed disgusting.

    • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
      17·
      8 months ago

      Man, reading this post nearly gave me a headache. I hate it when brands try to act all ‘hip and cool’.

      Help us fill this thread with ways you use PHILLY Cream Cheese that shouldn’t be delicious✨ but are ✨

      Yes, something about cream cheese freshly squeezed straight from the brick really does hit different. Why let a little packaging get between you and your PHILLY, am I right?

      Shut up brand. Shut the fuck up brand. Jesus Christ

      • ilinamorato@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        8 months ago

        When it’s a social media manager acting like an actual human, it’s one thing (like when the person running the Moon Pie account roasted the guy for telling them they were wasting their life), and the non-profits are almost always awesome at this (follow libraries, seriously). But if you’re trying to write something relatable and your brand guidelines won’t let you write about it in the way a normal human would (all-caps “PHILLY,” writing “searching with Google” instead of “googling,” ©®™ spam, etc) you’ve already lost.