Amid rising debate around the potential benefits and harms of algorithmic recommendation systems on social media apps, Reddit is rolling out its own algorithm-defined For You feed as a means to improve in-app discovery.
As shown in these example screens, Reddit users will now be able to catch up on the communities and discussions they’ve already found in the app via the Following feed. Meanwhile, Reddit will provide them with recommended updates and subreddits to join in a secondary For You stream.
Which, interestingly, has been given the primary slot as Reddit attempts to drive discovery by showcasing this feed up front. That said, Reddit is not making the For You feed the default and the app opening to whatever feed each user last viewed.
As explained by Reddit: “The new feed experience gives users a clearer choice between discovering new communities and conversations or catching up on the communities they’ve already joined, empowering the user to decide how they want to experience Reddit.”
Using Reddit’s established audience understanding and engagement insights to predict likely topics and posts of interest for users could be a good way to enhance engagement in the app.
Of course, that is also dependent on Reddit’s prediction models, and how good the platform is at making the For You feed a compelling experience. But based on usage data, the platform should be able to correlate relevant notes of interest with each user.
Reddit said the addition is part of its ongoing experiments around making the Reddit experience more valuable and compelling for users.
“We will continue experimenting with ways people can more intentionally explore Reddit — from new ways to navigate based on their interests to more controls that help them shape their feed, like hiding posts and indicating what they’d like to see less of,” Reddit said.
This could end up being a valuable addition, although it might also be short-lived if proposals to provide algorithm opt-outs gain more momentum.
Reddit said that the For You feed will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks.
