• birthday_attack@lemm.ee
    31·
    1 year ago

    I find it odd that they changed their tagline from “the front page of the Internet” to “the heart of the Internet.” Reddit is certainly a massive hub for discussion, but “compassionate” is not the first association I have with Reddit conversations. Smug condescension, certainly. Frothing mob mentality, often. But compassion? Rare, at best.

    I suppose that Reddit may be trying to simply manifest their hopes for the platform into a reality, but I don’t think it’s that easy. The Reddit welcome banner reads, “Come for the cats, stay for the empathy,” but most people probably know Reddit for the Boston Bombing debacle, r/theDonald trolls, and other nasty news items. It’s hard to believe the cushy corporate messaging when Reddit has so consistently allowed horrible shit on their site until the media fervor gets so intense that they can’t ignore it anymore

    • brax@sh.itjust.works
      24·
      1 year ago

      It used to be the heart of the internet, but they’re about 13 years too late for that now.

      They should consider rebranding to “another one of the Internet’s many assholes”

      • birthday_attack@lemm.ee
        2·
        1 year ago

        TL;DR yeah I think you’re right. The original announcement from the Reddit admin comment didn’t give any details, so I filled in the gaps myself and assumed “heart” would imply compassion, especially since I’ve seen that “stay for the empathy” tagline for so long. After all, why would the change from “front page” be necessary if “heart” of the internet gives a the same sentiment that it’s the core or cutting edge?

        The contracted marketing team’s writeup has some limited insight into the reasoning:

        …Reddit’s updated brand materials would all point back to four traits: inherently eclectic, positively different, delightfully absurd, and genuinely candid. These traits, along with the uniquely empowering foundation of Reddit as the best place to discover and participate through real conversation, led the team to a new, strategic description of Reddit as “the heart of the internet.”

        I’m not experienced enough in marketing jargon to understand if this is saying that “heart” only implies that there are lots of communities available on the platform, or if “genuine” and “real conversations” should be factored in to imply that these conversations and communities should be heartfelt.

        But all in all, it seems like the focus is on “you can discuss with lots of communities.” And since “front page” doesn’t imply discussion as much as it implies reading a newspaper, the change was needed.

    • centof@lemm.eeEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      Don’t you know that Marketing is just fancy lying? They have to be as unethical as all the other big companies to succeed. You can’t expect a company to succeed by being ethical. When has that ever worked?

    • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      “Heart of the internet”

      Looking at the controversies Reddit had over the years, especially the latest one regarding third party applications (which is what made so many of us migrate to Lemmy in the first place), I’m getting the vibe that this slogan is nothing more but sarcasm.

    • thorbot@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 year ago

      My brother in Christ you are commenting on a post in a community called “Reddit”