7MMO
Moderator
I'm no stranger to slapping "Reddit" on the end of a Google search about a product to see what the unwashed masses (myself included) think about it. Assuming we're not reading bot comments, it's a great way to get a feel for a product you've not tested yourself. That's traditionally involved trawling various threads yourself, but now 'Reddit Reviews' is launching, which will collect user opinions on products and use them to inform dedicated reviews for them on Reddit's site.
"Today, we are starting to test Reddit Reviews, a new experience that organizes product conversations from across Reddit into dedicated reviews and highlights the most important takeaways from across our communities. With Reddit Reviews, people can now more easily understand what a product is really like and feel confident deciding whether it’s right for them."
AI is involved, of course: "Reddit Reviews uses AI to both organize these conversations where people describe their product experiences, and to surface the nuance, context, and connection to the original conversation."
Once it rolls out to you, you'll be able to search Reddit for reviews or for categories of products, and you'll also be able to navigate to relevant categories and similar products from the review you're looking at. In each review, you'll be shown the ratio of positive, mixed, or negative conversations about the product, as well as peoples' likes and dislikes, and you'll be able to filter in/out what's most relevant to you.
There's another aspect to this, too—a monetary one: "Many reviews also include images, prices, and purchase links where supplied by brand and retailer catalogs."
Presumably that will be an affiliated link that gives Reddit some small percentage of of any money spent, though I can't say for sure. If so, this could be another crucial revenue stream for Reddit.
While Reddit Reviews is only rolling out to US iOS users over the coming weeks and will cover around 10,000 products, the company says, "Throughout 2027, we plan to add more products and categories to Reddit Reviews and expand beyond the US."
(Image credit: Reddit, Karbon Audio)
Speaking of the elephant in the room, though—the possibility that people could be steered to Reddit for these amalgamated reviews rather than to sites like yours truly—I'm not too concerned. People already go to Reddit to check out user opinions on products; I do the same. I don't think collecting all those opinions up will change much in that regard, only make it a bit easier to do. It's a good move, I reckon.
Though how it pans out in practice is an open question. There's a chance, for instance, that it could open the door to review bombing. If enough people hate a company, for instance, they could band together to write badly about a product and then get its 'official' amalgamated Reddit review looking negative.
I'll be interested to see how (or if) Reddit deals with such things, as well as the opposite: companies using bots to speak highly of their own products.
Continue reading...
"Today, we are starting to test Reddit Reviews, a new experience that organizes product conversations from across Reddit into dedicated reviews and highlights the most important takeaways from across our communities. With Reddit Reviews, people can now more easily understand what a product is really like and feel confident deciding whether it’s right for them."
AI is involved, of course: "Reddit Reviews uses AI to both organize these conversations where people describe their product experiences, and to surface the nuance, context, and connection to the original conversation."
Once it rolls out to you, you'll be able to search Reddit for reviews or for categories of products, and you'll also be able to navigate to relevant categories and similar products from the review you're looking at. In each review, you'll be shown the ratio of positive, mixed, or negative conversations about the product, as well as peoples' likes and dislikes, and you'll be able to filter in/out what's most relevant to you.
There's another aspect to this, too—a monetary one: "Many reviews also include images, prices, and purchase links where supplied by brand and retailer catalogs."
Presumably that will be an affiliated link that gives Reddit some small percentage of of any money spent, though I can't say for sure. If so, this could be another crucial revenue stream for Reddit.
While Reddit Reviews is only rolling out to US iOS users over the coming weeks and will cover around 10,000 products, the company says, "Throughout 2027, we plan to add more products and categories to Reddit Reviews and expand beyond the US."
(Image credit: Reddit, Karbon Audio)
Speaking of the elephant in the room, though—the possibility that people could be steered to Reddit for these amalgamated reviews rather than to sites like yours truly—I'm not too concerned. People already go to Reddit to check out user opinions on products; I do the same. I don't think collecting all those opinions up will change much in that regard, only make it a bit easier to do. It's a good move, I reckon.
Though how it pans out in practice is an open question. There's a chance, for instance, that it could open the door to review bombing. If enough people hate a company, for instance, they could band together to write badly about a product and then get its 'official' amalgamated Reddit review looking negative.
I'll be interested to see how (or if) Reddit deals with such things, as well as the opposite: companies using bots to speak highly of their own products.
Continue reading...
