The company wants users to be able to watch and listen to conversations.
Reddit is known for not really changing much about its core features. It even maintains (for now) a 21-year-old version of its site for longtime users who want everything to always look the same. But now the company is testing whether people want to experience posts and comments without having to read walls of text.
Reddit is beginning to experiment with new audio and video features that make its text posts and comments more interactive, the company tells Engadget. With the test, which is starting to roll out now, users can choose to listen to posts or watch them as shortform videos.The company describes the test as a “limited experiment” affecting “a sample of posts across select communities” on the platform. The new audio and video formats will still link back to the original text posts and comments, which will “remain unchanged,” according to a Reddit spokesperson.
It’s not yet clear what exactly these new audio and video posts will look like, but the company has recently added more video features elsewhere in the app. In June, the platform introduced video comments, which allow Redditors to post videos in comment threads that can then be watched in a full-screen player.
The latest test is part of a broader effort from Reddit to draw more new users to the platform and keep casual lurkers coming back. CEO Steve Huffman previewed the change last month during the company’s earnings call. “There’s an emerging content type elsewhere on the internet of basically podcasts where people read Reddit content, and so I think this version of like listened-to or spoken-Reddit can be really engaging as well,” he said.
