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Reddit Expands Horizons with Acquisition of AI Startup Memorable

Reddit Expands Horizons with Acquisition of AI Startup Memorable

Reddit has announced its acquisition of Memorable, a company that helps improve ad creative. This move, revealed on Thursday, aims to strengthen Reddit’s advertising capabilities and make it more competitive with big players like Google, Meta, Amazon, and TikTok, all of which have recently upgraded their ad technologies.

Improving Ad Performance

Reddit Expands Horizons with Acquisition of AI Startup Memorable

Image Source: forbes.com

By acquiring Memorable, Reddit plans to boost the effectiveness of its ads across various formats, including display and video. The goal is to make Reddit’s ads more appealing and effective.

“Creative quality is crucial for how well ads perform,” said Roelof van Zwol, Reddit’s VP of Ads Engineering. “Memorable has made great strides in understanding and improving ad content with its smart analysis and recommendations.”

Memorable, backed by industry experts such as MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan and Brian O’Kelley, former CEO of AppNexus, raised $2.75 million in 2022. The company has worked with big brands like Unilever, Mars, Georgia Pacific, and ExxonMobil, many of whom are also Reddit advertisers.

What’s Next

Reddit will use Memorable’s technology to give advertisers detailed feedback on their ads, including text, images, and videos. This tool will analyze past campaigns to suggest improvements, helping advertisers get better results.

Memorable’s technology also helps lower costs associated with testing ads. Usually testing can eat up a lot of a campaign’s budget, but the company’s system offers valuable insights without extra spending.

This acquisition is part of Reddit’s broader strategy to improve its advertising services. It follows previous purchases of platforms for machine learning, textual analysis, and audience insights.

Van Zwol emphasized the importance of good ad creative, saying, “This acquisition helps us enhance our work in optimizing and generating ads, leading to better results for our advertisers.” Reddit’s goal is to give advertisers a stronger edge in their campaigns on the platform.

Alexis Ohanian: The Inspiring Story of Reddit's Co-Founder

Alexis Ohanian: The Inspiring Story of Reddit’s Co-Founder

The “Mayor of the Internet,” Alexis Ohanian, who is well-known for being one of the Reddit co-founders, followed an unusual route to fame. Ohanian was reared in Baltimore, Maryland, after being born in Brooklyn, New York, and at first wanted to practise law. But it was during a pivotal encounter at a Waffle House that he realised his genuine calling was business.

Reddit's Founding

Alexis Ohanian: The Inspiring Story of Reddit's Co-Founder

Image Source: inc.com

Ohanian met Steve Huffman, who would later co-found Reddit, while he was a student at the University of Virginia. They became good friends because of their mutual passion for video gaming. They came up with the concept for MyMobileMenu, a mobile meal ordering service, during their junior year. They were encouraged to join the startup accelerator with a new directive, despite Paul Graham, one of the co-founders of Y Combinator, initially rejecting them: to build the first page of the internet.

Ohanian and Huffman created Reddit, a basic website with text and links, in just three weeks in 2005. Ohanian rapidly realised the potential of their user base, and it began to incorporate user comments. Due to Reddit’s explosive growth, Condé Nast purchased the site in 2006 for an estimated $10–20 million.

Individual Sad Events and Novel Pursuits

Ohanian has personal difficulties in spite of his success in his career. After an accident, his then-girlfriend went into a coma but arose months later. 2008 saw the passing of his mother, who had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at the same time.

After leaving Reddit, Ohanian started other projects. He accepted a fellowship in Armenia, started the travel website Hipmunk, and co-founded the “geek” marketplace Breadpig. In order to defend online liberties, he also became a vocal opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and co-founded the Internet Defense League.

Personal Life and Reddit

Ohanian and Huffman got back together in 2015 amidst internal strife and public controversy to help revive Reddit. Ohanian travelled to Rome in the same year to meet tennis sensation Serena Williams. As their romance developed, they got engaged in 2016 and welcomed their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., into the world in 2017. Adira River Ohanian, their second daughter, was born in 2023 after they were married later that year.

Advocacy and Venture Capital

Ohanian co-founded Initialized Capital in 2016 with an emphasis on inclusive and diverse investing. Later on, he founded Seven Seven Six, a venture capital company whose goal is to uplift marginalised areas. Ohanian has also supported paternity leave, highlighting its significance in advocacy and personal essays.

Latest Advancements

Ohanian still has an impact on the IT and startup industries. He oversaw a 2020 investment in the National Women’s Soccer League team Angel City FC. His recent purchase of a Tesla Cybertruck generated headlines and cemented his reputation as a tech aficionado.

In summary, Alexis Ohanian’s path from aspiring lawyer to digital tycoon is characterised by creativity, tenacity, and a dedication to social justice. The digital world is still being shaped and inspired by his influence on the internet and his support for inclusive growth.

reddit live stream

Reddit is Testing a New Live Stream Feature

The popular American social news aggregation and discussion website, Reddit, has just announced that it is going to start a new live streaming service. Last Friday, the Reddit feed was filled with posts that were talking about a new r/pan subreddit, which made everyone curious about the new feature. Finally, Redditers started getting notifications about this new subreddit on their accounts, including the announcement about a new live broadcasting service from Reddit, and also, the rules that one need to follow in order to live stream.

The company revealed
through the notification that the new broadcasting service will be
called the “Reddit Public Access Network”, and only the eligible
people will be able to live stream over it. The r/pan subreddit will
be dedicated to the very service.

Reddit will be displaying the best live streams on its first page. There will be a voting system, like the upvote Reddit already have on it. The other users can vote for their favourite creators, and those votes will be the parameters for the lives streams to feature on the Reddit front page.

reddit live stream
Image Source: marketingland.com

But, there are some
rules that the users need to follow in order to live stream on the
platform. One of the rules states that the creators need to be
careful about posting any adult content, anything that can offend the
common users of Reddit, graphic violence, hoax promotion, as well as
illegal or dangerous behaviour.

Since it will be a
public network, there is no choice for the users to post anonymously
or keep the live stream private. Currently, the new feature is out
for testing. But even during the test, it will display the top voted
posts on its first page. There has been put a limitation on the
timings for the stream as well. It will be a five days test, that
will end on 23rd August, and the users will be able to post between 9
am to 5 pm.

The main purpose for
setting the time limit for the post is to carry out an accurate
moderation for the content that will be posted through live
broadcast.

“We are 100 per cent committed to making sure that content on RPAN stays safe and Safe for Work. We will be watching RPAN broadcasts very closely.” said the company in the blog post.

Though Reddit is already one of the most loved contents posting platforms, if all worked fine, the new feature can lead it to join YouTube and Twitch as one of the leading streaming platforms as well.

Alexis Ohanian’s journey from a waiter at Pizza hut to running Reddit

Alexis Ohanian is a popular name in the entrepreneurial world as he co-founded one of the biggest content sharing sites, Reddit. Ohanian was born in the year 1983 in New York and had his schooling in Maryland. He completed his graduation in Commerce and History from the University of Virginia in 2005. Although he had no formal education in technical field and was not much aware of the business world that time yet the desire to achieve something big in life kept enlightening his hopes. And his persistent efforts and hard work to get what he wanted turned out to be fruitful. His journey to success had not been a cakewalk. He considered every failure as a stepping stone in his path and accepted the challenges to secure the desired aim.

Ohanian’s first job as a waiter at Pizza Hut played an important role in making him a successful entrepreneur. He has set a very inspiring example for all those who wish t o reach at the pedestal of success that no job is big or small in itself and every task has its own importance. Waiting at the tables for customers gave him much experience to deal in customer service which is a crucial part of every business.

While Alexis Ohanian was studying in the University of Virginia, he shared his room with Steve Huffman who was a student of Computer Science. The beginning of the journey towards the business world could be traced from the room they lived in. It is after befriending Huffman that Alexis got some idea of programming and technology. Steve Huffman discussed his dream idea of opening a food app with Alexis and got positive response from him. This encouraged Steve’s spirit and he insisted Alexis to take the idea further and discuss it with the programming expert Paul Graham.

Although Graham rejected the idea of food app but the talent and spark in the duo made him welcome both Alexis and Steve to work with him and their working together gave birth to the idea of Reddit. Surprisingly the site took only 3 months to be built and from then on Alexis Ohanian and his partners never looked back. Movement is the basic mantra of life, all you have to keep yourself away from is stagnation.

Image Credit: Wikiepedia
Image Credit: Wikipedia

The world fell in the awe of Reddit
The foundation of Reddit in June 2005 created a storm in the techno world as it was one of the earliest websites that offered social news, discussion and web content rating. Alexis Ohanian managed to get the initial funding from Y Combinator. However, later in the year 2006 when the website gained much of popularity, Conde Naste proposed to acquire the company while Ohanian still being one of the members of Reddit’s Boards of Directors.

Alexis Ohanian’s exit from Reddit
After serving the company for about four years, Alexis Ohanian took an exit from the company in 2009. After leaving the company Alexis didn’t just simply sit back at his home rather he looked out for opportunities wherever he found better prospects.

After deciding to leave Reddit, Alexis worked as a fellow in a micro finance company for three months where he gained more knowledge about technology, marketing and business.

Never ending quest for stability
Ohanian’s journey with technology and computers began with Reddit and such was its seduction upon him that he clung to it even after. In the mid of 2010 he established another company aiming to deal with startups, consulting and advising. The company he named as Das Kapital Capital focused on helping the new youths who wish to turn stones in the entrepreneurial field but possess less knowledge and experience. He also opened many other websites like Hipmunk and Breadpig to keep himself constantly in touch with the techno world.

Alexis Ohanian is also a wonderful speaker and internet activist. He stood against Congress’s protests against online piracy and spoke so confidently that he is known as one of the best speakers in the field of internet and technology. In October 2012, Ohanian worked in collaboration with Erik Martin, the General Manager of Reddit to support the open internet during the debates of President and Vice President.

Alexis was mentioned as important figure in the technology industry by Forbes magazine in 2012. In 2015, Alexis was accused to have played an important role in the firing of Reddit’s communications director Victoria Taylor. Ohanian is supposed to be in a relationship with Serena Williams.