In the previous article, we had already discussed the extensive SWOT analysis of the most used platform for asking questions and discussing topics, Quora. Now, in this article, we will go through the detailed SWOT analysis of Reddit.
One of the most used web content rating and discussion websites – Reddit widely used to rate the web content by voting up and down by its members. It is the platform where people can share their views with the help of texts, images and videos. This platform is for the people and by the people. In 2021, Reddit is ranked as the 19th most visited website in the world and 7th in the U.S. as per Alexa Internet.
Reddit is a widely used platform for content rating but how it has achieved its target? The answer is quite simple, their strong strategy and uniqueness helped them to achieve this target. And, in this modern world or we can say that the world of digitalization, it is necessary to maintain the image of any brand and be viewed by everyone. This all can be possible today with the help of digital marketing, if you want to know more about digital marketing and its role then register for our Free Digital Marketing Masterclass by Karan Shah, who is also the founder and CEO of IIDE – The Digital School.
This blog deals with the SWOT analysis of Reddit, but before going there first learn about the company and its objectives.
About Reddit
(Co-Founder Reddit – Alexis Ohanian)
Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, with Aaron Swartz, the two roommates of the University of Virginia founded Reddit in 2005 which was later on acquired by the media company named Condé Nast Publications in 2006.
Reddit is a platform where people share their content in the form of photos, links, videos and texts where all other people rate it with the help of upvotes and downvotes and discuss them using comments. Reddit gets its name from the phrase “Read it” as its pronunciation is similar to this word. It is wholly managed by the Redditors or we can say members of Reddit as it is a people-oriented platform.
According to the data provided by Reddit, it had grown from 46 million users in 2012 to 430 million monthly users in 2019 with more than 138,000 categories which are known as subreddits. And, this all grew with 52 million daily active users and $10 million worth of the company. The U.S. people use Reddit as a majority of the whole world with 48% of the visitors. Also, ranked 6th in the U.S.as the most popular social media app list.
| Founder | Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian & Aaron Swartz |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2005 |
| Origin | The United States |
| No. of Employees | 700+ |
| Company Type | Private |
| Market Cap | More than US$10 Billion |
| Annual Revenue | US$100 Million (2021) |
| Net Income/ Profit | US$170 Million (2021) |
Services by Reddit
Reddit is a widely used platform and provides services on interfaces such as mobile apps as well as websites. Services provided by Reddit are
- Web Content Rating
- Discussion Platform
- Social News Aggregation
Competitors of Reddit
Reddit achieved the position of 19th most visited website and 7th in the U.S. by beating its competitors. The competitors such as
- Quora
- Tumblr
- Digg
- 9Gag
- Gizmodo
SWOT Analysis of Reddit
SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for developing business strategies for both new and current businesses. This simplified methodology is used to assess a company’s competitive standing. SWOT analysis of Reddit can help the organization develop effective and efficient business strategies.
Below is an extensive guide to the SWOT analysis of Reddit.
Strengths of Reddit
- People-Oriented: The platform provided by Reddit is totally for the people and by the people. Here, everyone shares their views and opinions. A free and open platform where authentic content is upvoted and discussed with the help of comments.
- Diverse User Base: It is used worldwide with 48% of visitors from the U.S. itself with more than 138,000 variety of categories. Reddit provides a huge platform where our content will be rated by visitors from all over the world.
- Reddit Karma: There is a feature of upvoting and downvoting the content according to authenticity. This voting system upvotes the useful and relevant content and downvotes the irrelevant ones.
- Variety of Topics: There are more than 138,000 categories available on Reddit which helps the users to discuss according to their topic. These all topics include the hot topics from all over the world that update all the users.
- Open Platform: It is an open platform where anyone can share their views and discuss them. It helps to analyze a certain topic by considering everyone’s point of view. Here, everyone is free to share their point of view.
- Customer Retention Features: Reddit is inbuilt with a feature in which a user will be gifted coins if the viewer of the post values the comment or post, generally due to high-quality content or humour. This feature leads to keeping the user happy and using Reddit again and again due to the desire of earning more coins.
Weaknesses of Reddit
- Not For Those Who Easily Get Offended: As it is an open platform, anyone is free to share their view whether it is good or bad. This makes the people angry who easily get offended by little things due to bad responses or downvotes in their posts. Due to the negative feedback on the post, the user or the person who posted blames Reddit and downgrades the ratings on Reddit.
- Outdated Design: Today, in this new world that is full of designs and creativity, Reddit is still using outdated design. This keeps hindering their audiences which leads to changing of platforms or shifting from Reddit to any other platform like Quora whose user interface is far better than Reddit.
- May Deviate User From Path: The variety of categories in Reddit often divert their audiences from their original motives of using Reddit. Suppose, they are on Reddit to find something relevant to them but the irrelevant things on Reddit make them explore such things more at an increasing pace than the irrelevant posts, in other words, we can say entertaining posts seem more attractive and eye-catching.
- Every Subreddit is Not Monitored Properly: There are lots of Subreddits present on the Reddit platform and many of them are not monitored properly which leads to the passing of wrong information to the viewers and the promotion of unusual content.
- High Traffic Load Often Leads to a Server Crash: As Reddit has a large viewer base, the ads on Reddit often crash due to the high traffic load on it. Accessing the site once by a large number of people crashes the site or causes slow loading of it.
- Rules not Followed: On Reddit, there are strict rules prohibiting harassment but somehow such type of content still occurs on Reddit and this is due to leniency in Reddit’s system. Reddit is working on its administrations to moderate the communities and close or restrict the prohibited content occasionally.
Opportunities for Reddit
- Have a Chance to Become the World’s Homepage: Reddit has the slogan of “The front page of the internet.” So, it has the power to create a new homepage and become the world’s homepage.
- Can be Merged by Top Search Engines: It even has an opportunity to merge with top search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc., work together and be viewed by most of the people in the world.
- Become a Social Media Platform: As it is a platform for sharing opinions with the people of the world so it can also become a leading social media platform for sharing thoughts and views like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Bonus Tip: The user base on social media platforms is increasing day on day and businesses are taking advantage of it to advertise and promote their business. Instagram which was once known as an entertainment platform is now becoming a prime platform for marketers to pitch products to their target audience.
If you want to learn the latest tricks on how to create targeted organic & paid social media marketing campaigns to boost brand awareness, then do check out our short term course on social media marketing, that duration is only short but will give you immensely and roundabout knowledge of social media marketing. So do check out for your benefit…
- Can Transform Itself Into an Easily Customizable Option: If it converts itself into an easily customizable option then it will be more liked by people as they can use Reddit according to their tastes and preferences.
- Bring Back Popular Event: Reddit should bring back its ever-popular art experiments – r/Place board which in 2017 got widely popular and attracted some 16 million tiles from more than 1 million users. Sources say that Reddit is bringing back r/Place on this April Fool to increase users’ engagement.
Threats to Reddit
- Dynamic Design Websites can Overcome Reddit: In this modern world, there are lots of websites that come with lots of design and features which can easily overcome the sites like Reddit having outdated designs.
- Freedom of Reddit Was Gone Due To New Censorship Laws: Due to rules and regulations of the new censorship laws, Reddit is now limited to certain sections and people are no longer able to take advantage of the freedom provided by Reddit.
- Blocking of Reddit by Certain Countries: There are some countries such as Indonesia, Russia, China and India that block Reddit or certain sections of Reddit that ultimately downgrade the goodwill of Reddit in other countries.
- Truth is Misled by Upvotes: Due to the voting feature of Reddit some people believe in the things that are upvoted by most of the users without verifying the facts and this misleads the person from the truth.
- Promotion of Unusual Content: There are various subreddits on Reddit that even promote unusual or unethical content. Improper monitoring of the subreddits leads to the promotion of such things.
Here, we come to the end of the SWOT analysis of Reddit. And, learn the overall picture of the growth and downfall of Reddit.
To Conclude
Reddit is one of the widely used platforms which is open to all to share one’s views and opinions. Reddit continued to be among the top of the platforms and even rose with time. This is all due to the growth and development that are done by its developers and members of the company who are working every day to make it as best as possible for us.
And, this blog on SWOT analysis of Reddit provides a glimpse of where the company has to work and the opportunities that it can exploit.
Today, by taking advantage of IT, any company can reach and attract customers using digital marketing. Digital marketing helps the company to promote the company using digital platforms. So are you curious about digital marketing? Check out IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Online Digital Marketing Course to know more.
We hope this blog on the SWOT analysis of Reddit has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
If you enjoy in-depth company research just like the SWOT analysis of Reddit, check out our IIDE Knowledge portal for more fascinating case studies.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and do share your thoughts on this case study of the SWOT analysis of Reddit in the comments section below.
0 Comments