I have next to zero experience with Reddit, but as I understand it, it was at one point pretty freewheeling as far as topics go, much like 4chan. So why is it that site is much more able to attract business? Obviously, Reddit was set up from the start to be a for profit venture, while 4chan was not. But with the ownership change and talk of the site's long term sustainability and how that may affect moderation policy going forward, this topic should be explored.
So all the start up/venture guys, what is 4chan doing wrong? What can/should it be doing that would interfere least with the board's "culture"?
(I'm asking this as someone who had used 4chan's advertising services extremely briefly right after 4chan's first revival, and also had a role in getting a retail partner to become a long term 4chan advertiser.)
Watch my films.
Mostly its history and reputation. 4chan is pre-net 2.0, predating YouTube, existing alongside sites like Newgrounds and Homestar Runner. It was also a niche site specifically for anime despite the presence of all the random elements. Combined with the anonymous culture, the bad press from all the raid shit, bigotry etc. It's not a place advertisers want to go. In fact even though Reddit is a lot more advertiser friendly a lot of content on the site is getting purged because it turns advertisers off, like how r/cuckservative, r/jailbait and r/fatpeoplehate got too popular and started fucking up the site's image.
It also has to do with size. Reddit is a huge social media site. 4chan is a relatively tiny hobbyist discussion site. Some would argue it's not worth advertising on, which is why for a while J-List was the only advertisement seen here, know your target audience.
4chan shouldn't be operated as a profit focused business. We should be happy to make enough to pay for server costs and development.
>>291500
Go read the wikipedia article on reddit to see how laughable your revisionist history is.
>>291516
Okay.
>Started in 2005
>Sold to a media company in 2006
So, what's the issue?
>>291512
I don't disagree with that. But the incoming owner has expressed a desire for more profit. Which may still be purely related to wanting to have a war chest/buffer for the future.
>>291509
Pretty much this, and the fact that moot wanted the site to remain bootstrapped from start to "finish."
When people asked him why he did not merge 4chan with canv.as/drawquest, he said that he did not want the site intertangled with the whole venture capital borg.
He also mentioned that 4chan was just a hobby for him (or something like that).
We'll just have to see what changes hiro will make to make this place earn some cash.
how much money do you think hiro paid to get this site? 10 grand? 100 grand?
>>292410
If it's anything over 6 figures, I think Hiroyuki would have had silent backing from a media company with which he has a relationship.
A company is usually valued at 5 times its current annual net profit. But 4chan doesn't come with employees, and I don't think moot is part of the deal either, so 4chan really defies traditional valuations. The name has huge cache on the internet, but that cache is in the form of notoriety, which is bad for advertising. 4chan would be most valuable in the hands of experts at social engineering and guerrilla marketing, people who can directly monetize the user base some way. Anyone who takes a more traditional advertising model with 4chan will not get his money's worth.
>>292410
>how much money do you think hiro paid to get this site?
I'm guessing around $50,000
>>292394
He always looked for ways to stunt the site's growth. It kinda felt like he was trying to stop it in the name of nostalgia or something.
>>293859
>"I've seen the future, and I'll be the ludite standing in the way of progress if that's what progress leads to."
>>291500
>But with the ownership change and talk of the site's long term sustainability and how that may affect moderation policy going forward
When was this talked about?
