Reddit's AMA Feature Goes Mobile: Website Attempts To Simplify Ask Me Anything; App Aims To Also Improve Monetization For Profitless Tech Company

Reddit’s AMA feature goes mobile as it aims to simplify its most popular attraction, the Ask Me Anything (AMA) interviews. The move is also seen as Reddit’s way of improving it's monetization strategies as it remains profitless on its upcoming 10th year, Variety reports.

The app is now available for download on iTunes for iOS users and is expected to arrive on Android later in the week. It simplifies the AMAs and makes it easier to ask questions in real time, browse other AMAs, and be notified of trending interviews.

“We want to make it easier for new users to join Reddit and experience all the awesome content,” said Ellen Pao, senior VP at Reddit in charge of the company’s mobile efforts, speaking with Variety. “That’s part of the overall goal of becoming a more mature company.”

The app could be the first of many for Reddit, which is a website known to produce viral content through its system of “vote up” submissions. It’s recorded to be getting 133 million unique visitors as of August and have doubled in unique users since its launch in 2005.

According to Variety, the website is in the unenviable position of having largely surrendered the ground of primary app access to third-party apps like Alien Blue for iPhones and BaconReader for Android-powered handsets. Reddit initially launched an app that provided mobile access to the site in 2011 but abandoned the idea months later after it failed to gain traction.

But in August, 40% of new users came from mobile, prompting Reddit to try again, but with a finer focus.

“We’ve found in the last year or so a huge uptick in people accessing Reddit from the mobile web, and we want to give those folks a great experience,” Pao told Variety.

The app doesn’t have premium features requiring a fee but it can potentially become a venue for native advertising.

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