Following the announcement of the company’s Q2 results on Tuesday afternoon, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman spoke to shareholders and answered questions in an earnings call. As noted by Engadget, Huffman teased a few new features that we might see on the platform in the coming months, including paid subreddits and AI-powered search results.
At one point, Huffman was asked about how he plans to protect the culture of Reddit while also making money for the company’s new shareholders.
“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said after explaining that new features haven’t cannibalized the platform in the past. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”
While Huffman did not specifically mention paying to access subreddits, it’s easy to extrapolate. For instance, what if you could pay to access a subreddit with exclusive news about your favorite band, creator, or influencer? Maybe something similar to Instagram subscriptions? It sounds like it’s just a matter of time before this becomes a reality.
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In his opening remarks, Huffman also revealed that AI-powered search results are coming.
“Later this year, we will begin testing new search result pages powered by AI to summarize and recommend content, helping users dive deeper into products, shows, games, and discover new communities on Reddit,” he announced.
That’s quite a vague summary of how AI search will actually work on Reddit, but we won’t have to wait long to see how the company implements it.