Reddit Adding Interactive Advertising & Ad Voting

Steve from Reddit announced Wednesday on the Reddit Blog that Wired & Reddit will be adding advertising to the Reddit interface.

Part of the reason reddit was acquired was so that eventually it could be used to sell advertising….We’ve always held that content is our #1 priority, and that isn’t changing. Towards that end, we’ve specifically asked for ads with no moving parts, and we’re not rearranging any content to make room for them.

Plus, I think we found a way to track the ads so we can let you vote/comment on them.

The ability to vote on ads will be a breath of fresh air, if it does not backfire, for Reddit – say the users vote negatively for all of the ads.

Reddit’s largest competitor and Google AdSense partner, Digg.com, has not integrated advertising into their “Digg” and “Bury” model, probably for the same reasons. Instead, Digg blasts banners and box ads above and to the right of their content.

Other social sites have experimented with alternative forms of advertising which add to their community appeal.

ThreadWatch, the SEO blog community, started serving interactive advertising in posts where readers and community members could comment on the products advertised. This model never really worked as well as TW (under previous ownership) had expected due to the honesty of the comments – both positive & negative.

ThreadWatch’s idea did however lead to the launch of other alternative forms of ads, such as the now defunct Performancing ad network and the paid review model used by ReviewMe.

A more recent and successful form of alternative 2.0 advertising are the sponsors at TechMeme, where the advertiser blogs and blog posts are featured on the site, instead of simply a link to the advertiser homepage. The sponsored posts, differentiated by background colors and full disclosure, have however brought about controversy since sometimes they appear listed with regular content.

More coverage on Reddit Advertising:

New to Reddit: Ads and Voting Capability

Written By:
PG

Loren Baker | Founder | @slobodanmanic

Loren Baker is the founding editor/creator of Search Engine Journal and remains an advisor and Editor In Chief to this publication.

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Comments

  1. Also – don’t forget about Kuro5hin. They were one of the first (that I can remember) to allow discussion on ads. Advertisers have the option to allow comments.

    There really isn’t any good coming out of it now but at one time there was..

  2. Mert Kumru says:

    Advertising started to rule the web as well. I think some of the important self sufficient websites must disallow them. Money talks is always the issue.

  3. Advertising started to rule the web as well. I think some of the important self sufficient websites must disallow them. Money talks is always the issue..great

  4. Europe says:

    “Plus, I think we found a way to track the ads so we can let you vote/comment on them.” I guess it is a good idea, although only for some niches, as there are many in which this won’t be very suitable…

  5. Joel Chue says:

    Almost any top websites are going for ads now. Internet has become an ads world! I was just wondering if I should put ads on my blog. Feel free to drop me a email. Thanks.
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  6. John Demin says:

    I was wondering that too.
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  7. Andrew says:

    Sounds a bit misleading to me

  8. Vijay says:

    Advertising on a site is an eventuality and is to be expected.. I just hope that the user experience doesn’t wane due to this

  9. Alfred says:

    Digg’s advertising is intrusive as well, however the content is grudgingly accepted by the users!

  10. sachi says:

    even facebook is excellent and cheaper if used properly

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  11. Advertising has always ruled the web..just like any other media and its totally normal. The problem is that last years there are way toooo much ads.

  12. Maria says:

    I’m really skeptical on all this ads stuff. To make things right with ads, you need to be an artist.

  13. Actually, advertising is a GREAT way to earn extra income from the internet, by making it a passive income stream…

    I always use advertising to drive traffic and if this is another way, I’ll use that too!

    - Chris

  14. sylvan says:

    This will be an interesting addition, the traffic may be untargeted, I wonder what the price will be for advertising.

  15. azraai says:

    ad voting is some revolutionary today. it give user some recommendation to ads itself.

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  16. taukey says:

    advertisement ….. a really big source of income for blogger

  17. Great News article..

  18. daun1919 says:

    I am ok with anything… Nothing is bothering me either with ads or no ads..

  19. Big Man says:

    Online ads help me to gain my pasif income.

  20. Dereck says:

    I really would like to know what’s better on longer terms. I always have used adsense, but I’m open to review other options.

  21. robert says:

    ads is a great way to earn extra income from blogger..thanks

  22. John says:

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  23. Most of blogger get income from online ads.

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  24. Online Ads definitely produce results when done right! And the amount that comes in depends on what type of ads your running and what kind of marketing you do, or target.

  25. azman says:

    Now i have many idea to get extra income

  26. from the blog we can grow up.. thanks to admin for this article

  27. Advertising is important weapon to spread the world!So we have take it the chances wisely.

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  32. PLR Seeker says:

    Now, another thing to consider is about the conversion rate when advertise on reddit.

  33. meezwan says:

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  35. qaz says:

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  36. juanmraz says:

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  37. sanji-kun says:

    sad to hear Performancing had stopped..:(

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  39. mabuhai says:

    i use reddit.com.to promote my blog

  40. Prasys says:

    I read your article and it seems to be a good one. But sadly , even though people advertise its very hard to find people who write great content such as yourself. As said by a poster above , money changes all

  41. a@ron says:

    ads is a great way to earn extra income!

  42. Mia says:

    I don’t know, it looks like a little forced too much

  43. Tarik says:

    Thanks for the information.

  44. George says:

    I never used reddit but i can use it in the near future. Thanks.

  45. Linda says:

    Awesome article , Thank you

  46. Nice share. Thanks for your info of reddit. I like that.

  47. Melayu Boleh says:

    i use reddit.com.to promote my blog

  48. Bokbong says:

    Nice info….reddit is rock.. :)

  49. I think it is a great information.Thank you because i already to use reddit for promote my blog.

  50. i think it is a great information. Thank you because I already to use reddit.com for promote my blog.

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  51. John says:

    Maybe an update will be interesting about final outcome.

  52. Royancy says:
  53. wboleh says:

    facebook myspace and friendster also useful

  54. Feller says:

    Reddit nowadays is place where gangs decides what is popular and what is not.

  55. mie84 says:

    reddit is something new to me..reddit have a nice trademark

    have a nice day cichearingaids

  56. faris says:

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    http://belgian-chocolate-collection.blogspot.com/

  57. faris says:

    i used reddit.com too.. to promote my blog, but i still confuse to use it…

    http://belgian-chocolate-collection.blogspot.com/