Reddit started testing a new way of presenting posts, trying to expand the original text-based community content to broadcastable audio and video experiences. The user will be able to continue reading in part of the post or play the content directly.
Test small range first on the moving end
This test will first be carried out in some communities and will cover parts of the post in English and be made available through the iOS and Android applications of Reddit. The company indicated that it was still an early, small-scale experiment to observe which content forms were more popular to users and whether such products were suitable for expanded use on the Reddit platform.
User toggle reading or playing
According to Reddit, the new feature will not replace the original text. The content and comment areas will remain, and users can continue to browse and interact as they have done in the past.
In contrast, some posts add the option of “reading” or “playing”. Reddit aims to cover more use, for example, by allowing users to continue to consume community content through audio while moving, walking or doing routine business.
The press conference has been warned.
Reddit mentioned the project as early as the second quarter of July. Chief Executive Officer Steve Huffman said at the time that users were already consuming Reddit content in a similar way on other platforms, which suggested that “hearing Reddit” was attractive.
This is not the first time Reddit is betting on video content. In the past few years, the company has introduced primary video hosting and has tried several times to produce information streams similar to the short video platform. Recently, Reddit also went online with the comment area video. According to the company, this form now accounts for more than 10 per cent of the platform video posts.