What Reddit Can Teach Us About the Importance of Valuing Customers

Caid Christiansen• July, 06 2015

As of this morning, the petition to remove Ellen Pao from her position as CEO of Reddit Inc. has 163,108 signatures.

The petition has been around for a few weeks, but picked up significant steam 4 days ago when Reddit employee Victoria–a fan favorite–was fired. Since then, it’s gained more than 150,000 supporters, all users who want nothing to do with this CEO.

Regardless of what you think of the situation, of Pao, or of Reddit, one thing’s for sure: this is a great lesson in audience management and in the endless number of choices your customers have if they decide they don’t like you.

David Frum, Senior Editor for The Atlantic, has an interesting outside perspective on the situation. A few days ago, he tweeted the following:

I’m not following the Reddit thing closely, but one thing seems obvious: corporations shouldn’t hire CEOs who hate their product & customers

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why we may want to welcome at least some of the changes to Reddit that Pao is apparently responsible for. Many of the subreddits–small forums hosted on Reddit–that were removed recently were downright offensive. (Do a quick Google search if you’re really curious.) But that doesn’t mean the users can’t pack up and go elsewhere.

The lesson in all of this, again regardless of what your perspective on the situation is, is that today’s business climate is more diverse than it’s ever been.

Just as there are tens of thousands of places for people to source content from, so too are there tens, hundreds, or thousands of other options for customers to do business with. CEOs don’t have power. The user base has power.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be in the game to make money. Nor does it mean that you shouldn’t be progressive and make changes for what you perceive to be right. What it does mean is that you should beware the consequences of doing so, and be hyper-aware about your customers and audience. This is especially true if you’re a content provider.

In today’s two-way, interactive, global world, your customers have more power than ever. They can vote with their wallets, and they will. If it’s clear that you care more about your money than about your users and customers, you’re in for a big surprise.