https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditTalk/comments/11m4ijn/sunsetting_reddit_talk/
created by cozy__sheets on 08/03/2023 at 18:49 UTC
78 upvotes, 64 top-level comments (showing 25)
Hi all,
Today we’re sharing that we have made the difficult decision to sunset the Reddit Talk product in the coming weeks.
Hosting Reddit Talks will continue to be available until **March 21**. The Happening Now experiment[1] will also wind-down on this date.
TL;DR: Supporting Talk in the short-term requires significant resourcing - more than we anticipated.
Reddit’s goal is to become the de facto home for communities. Audio, like Talk, has a place in that. However, there’s significant work we need to do - like making Reddit simpler[2] and building better subreddit infrastructure - before incorporating audio.
2: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/11l3td9/making_redditing_simpler/?sort=new
Our original plan was to maintain Talk while we worked on this. Unfortunately, the 3rd party audio vendor we use for Talk is shutting down its service. In other words, the resources required to keep Talk live during this transition increased substantially.
We don’t have a timeline to bring Talk or an audio product back in the future, however we will share any updates when we have them.
We learned that communities of all sizes can make unique connections through live social conversations. And if our goal is to make Reddit the place for communities, audio will likely play a part in the future.
We also understood more about the need for community discovery (for communities that want it), particularly with the Live Bar experiment[3]. Though we decided not to continue with the Live Bar, it underlined how we should think about bringing awareness and growth opportunities to small communities.
3: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditTalk/comments/z7zhw8/winding_down_the_live_bar_experiment/
We’re working on more subreddit discovery spaces throughout this year that we’ll share in more detail on r/reddit[4].
4: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/
Most importantly, we learned all this through community feedback and partnership. Reddit Talk was built alongside and for you all. The engagement and feedback from this community was amazing and critical to bringing this product to life.
Talks hosted **after September 1, 2022** will be available for download. Reason being, this is when we implemented a new user flow that expanded the potential use case of talks.
Users can start downloading talks starting **March 21** and have until **June 1, 2023** before we turn the ability off. We will share more on how to download talks ahead of the March 21 date here in r/reddittalk[5] and on this help page[6].
5: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddittalk
6: https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4404349195284-What-is-Reddit-Talk-
Thank you from the entire Talk team (and of course, from Reddit). Big shoutout to the many mods and hosts who really ran with Talk since we introduced it as a pilot two years ago[7].
People across the platform would not have been able to connect, share stories, or feel inspired without you all.
We know this is not the update that you all were looking for. We strongly believe in the future efforts we’re working on and we would love to continue partnering with you all for potential future experiences for those open to it.
As always, we’ll stick around for a while to answer any questions and hear your feedback.
Comment by ryfi-- at 19/03/2023 at 19:33 UTC*
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
To clarify, the last day to host Talks is March 21st. The ability to create new Talks will be shut off on March 22nd.
Comment by Fatal_S at 08/03/2023 at 18:58 UTC
11 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'm sorry to hear that, but I love the communities I've managed to find through the Talks. Thank you for giving us some time to wrap it up for now.
Comment by SeValentine at 08/03/2023 at 19:15 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
So sad seeing it go, still a program with potential ngl.
I was thinking about this for a while after RPAN also got discontinued and how come if there's any hope to see RPAN do a comeback but mixed up with the Talk feature.
Call it RPACN- **Reddit Public Access Community Network** focused on the community and by the community to either participate just like in reddit talk by *raising its hand* to participate in the host live community feed with either the option to use Audio *Mic* or Video under a moderated environment. Yet it would be nice to see any of these coming back restructured for podcast and various purposes according to the communities.
But anyways good thing there's attempts to these programs and see how they play out.
Comment by themarshnymph at 08/03/2023 at 19:34 UTC
11 upvotes, 0 direct replies
that's a sad day for all Talk subs, but an expected one, the Talks have been showing signs of issues lately.
I hope you guys re-introduce them one day, it would be nice. However, I do agree UI restructuring and simplifying needs to be a priority.
Heads up, talk more :3
Comment by Lottielittleleaf at 08/03/2023 at 18:59 UTC
13 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Sad to see all the talk communities go including my own r/stonercornertalk thanks for the opportunity and the fun times!
Comment by _DizzyChicken at 08/03/2023 at 19:23 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks again for the fun times from all us at r/TheHappyHourChat & r/mentalhealthisland
Comment by Sarcofaygo at 08/03/2023 at 19:30 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Fs in the chat
Comment by ZiggoCiP at 08/03/2023 at 22:34 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Could have seen the writing on the wall months ago. Signal left, massive issues with notifications, I'm certain a number of complaints of people who 'didn't want' them, etc.
Which is no fault of the admins or mods - Reddit was trying something new, and like RPAN before it, lost the 'special feeling' of talks.
But like many are pointing out - the 'support' for talks was consistently lacking, and this was obvious after even a few months. By contrast, RPAN seemed to have a lot more support, but it being video-based can explain that disparity.
So, so long Reddit Talks. It *was* good, and my community of Antiwork hosted a talk virtually every single week, right on time, with few hitches. If stuff like that was messing up Reddit's back end somehow, I get it.
Speaking of which, we're doing what seems to be one of our last talks right now, and I should get back to it.
Thanks again to admins/mods like Avocado, 404, RyFi, and of course Signal, who helped make the talks as much of a success as they did.
Comment by imagination_machine at 09/03/2023 at 01:43 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Please please find a way to keep Reddit Talks going in the near future.
I have to say, there was next to no marketing of the talks in my feed. Not a single advert. I just pressed a strange new button to find out about them.
I think you missed out on many more communities using Reddiit Talk because of poor marketing. So many subreddits I'm a member of never used Reddit Talks because of a lack of promotion and support.
I understand the technology is being pulled by a 3rd party company. But I think these talks are a revolutionary platform that needs more time to develop. Can you find another provider?
Please find another company to provide the Reddit Talk service. Maybe limit it initially to reduce cost and introduce a price to mods who want a Reddit Talk, I bet their communities will support with the cost. Offer it as a premium. I would pay in a flash. $30 a year for 5 Subreddit chats? Done!
But please don't give up on Reddit Talks. Please please please!!!!
Comment by Ardeet at 09/03/2023 at 06:30 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
At r/Australian we had really gotten into the groove of Reddit Talks.
It’s a bummer but a company has to do what it needs to do.
How can we do something similar, announce it and link to it for our members? (We’d appreciate suggestions)
Comment by reddit_playboy at 13/03/2023 at 15:23 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Use LiveKit instead. It's open source, easy to run, and the API is almost the same as Twilio.
Comment by Revolutionary_Pack54 at 08/03/2023 at 19:05 UTC
23 upvotes, 3 direct replies
So communities which until now have built their entire presence on talks alone (like with my Karaoke subreddit) will ostensibly be forced to die. That's really unfortunate.
Also, all due respect, but you didn't "learn" much. The Live Bar was probably the one "killer feature" that Reddit Talks had over even Discord, and yet you all removed it and replaced it with an arguably much worse implementation. "Happening Now" is pretty much proof of **not** learning anything.
You also say things like "___ was built for you" when you pretty much never actually take any feedback to heart. I witnessed a near-universal dislike for Happening Now, along with other changes to the talks structure, all of which was either ignored or openly disregarded. What is the point of feedback if you don't actually *feed us anything back*. It's less feedback and more tossing notes over the Berlin Wall and hoping that someone is actually listening on the other side.
Such a shame that an admittedly promising and unique feature (arguably the first unique Reddit feature in years to have any success or community appreciation) gets shafted by the very people that came up with it, developed it, wrecked it, and subsequently buried it into the ground. It's almost poetic in a way.
In conclusion, modern Reddit's biggest problem: itself.
To all those like myself who used and appreciated the feature; It was fun while it lasted I guess. No doubt we'll see some social media program or something else steal this idea and make it even more successful. Reddit basically just spend all the R&D money for you, so why not.
Cheers.
Comment by BrokenOverdrive at 08/03/2023 at 19:06 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks for the opportunity to host. Good luck with the next try!
Comment by CADIUSBAN at 08/03/2023 at 19:10 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It's the end of an ERA! Long live joebuddenology
Comment by MajorParadox at 08/03/2023 at 21:49 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
After June 1st, will the posts and comments still be accessible without being able to playback the recording?
Comment by Vardaan147 at 08/03/2023 at 19:11 UTC*
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
My subreddit r/Indian_Hangouts was totally based on reddittalk many of the members became good friends. It was good feature to connect with people from different cultures, ideologies and age group without compromising on anonymity. Even members of different communities use to connect eachother but well now everything is going down, those barriers will be held again. Reddit admins may have made this feature subscription based or introduce ads on it to generate revenue. Please give suggestions if anyone knows alternative of reddit talk.
Comment by Khyta at 08/03/2023 at 19:27 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Sad to hear that. I enjoyed the talks amongst moderators which gave us an opportunity to connect better than just through text.
Comment by vio212 at 09/03/2023 at 01:49 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
TLDR "we know you like this feature but we can't figure out exactly how to properly monetize it so we are just gonna kill it instead"
Comment by SevenWhoAreOne at 16/03/2023 at 00:14 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This sucks, Ive met so many wonderful people through Talks. I've been on reddit a while now but it wasn't until Reddit Talks became a thing that I started using it more because I genuinely looked forward to popping into random talks, having a laugh, telling and listening to stories, it was awesome. I'm sorry to see it go. </3
Comment by iKR8 at 08/03/2023 at 19:49 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Talk was obviously better than chat feature which is being pushed.
This is the second reddit thing I'm sad about after the closure of secret santa.
Comment by Netwelle at 08/03/2023 at 20:20 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Knew this would come. It was poorly rolled out. Not open to everyone. Twitter spaces and LinkedIn models were clearly the better choice.
Reddit wanted too much control.
Comment by Kakarot_94 at 08/03/2023 at 20:30 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This is not good news:(
Comment by redbark2022 at 08/03/2023 at 20:31 UTC*
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
LoL wait. A company as big as reddit outsourced? As if Asterisk, BBB, and Jitsi we're not already things for like a decade? This isn't technology innovation folks. It's just basic free software. 🤦
Comment by dieyoufool3 at 08/03/2023 at 22:06 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
To clarify, does this announcement and the call to download past Talks mean users won't be able to access or listen to old Talks?
Comment by ChmodForTheWin at 09/03/2023 at 02:09 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
A very sad day. Is there no way to create something similar that we could use? Otherwise a lot of redditors might find other solutions, such as discord, diluting this platform.