Influence of Reddit on Kickstarter Campaigns

Transcription

1 HARVARD UNIVERSITY EXTENSIONS SCHOOL Influence of Reddit on Kickstarter Campaigns Alex Samaei April 24, 2015 LSTU E 120 Internet and Society: Technologies of Politics of Control Assignment 4: Final Paper Draft

2 Introduction With growing ease of access, the internet has become the ultimate powerhouse for innovators. It s reach is unquestionable and it has managed to change everything in our business and social interactions. Many websites have been able to benefit from these changes and combine the business and social areas in a new ways to create platforms for small businesses to gain notice and funding, often called crowdfunding. According to Forbes in 2014 the top crowdfunding websites were Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdrise, Quirky, Tilt, and Invented.com. 1 This was based off the growing popularity of these sites; and with that growth a user community also evolved. Interestingly these crowdfunding communities seem to have the most influence on projects while using other websites, such as Reddit.com. This paper will explore the Kickstarter community, one of the more popular crowdfunding sites, and how it s use of Reddit.com influences the former. Background on Kickstarter Kickstarter is a popular crowdfunding website which has secured over $1.5 billion in funding for thousands of creative projects since it launched in The Kickstarter website serves as a platform for anyone who wants to make their project a reality. It does this by allowing creators who are over 18 years old to create a free account and post a project under one of the 11 different categories. Creators design a profile describing their project, goals and even an optional video, together this is call their campaign. When launched their campaign page allows anyone with internet access to donate to bring the project to life. It is encouraged that creators offer different reward levels for different monetary contributions from backers. So if you donate above a set amount, you would receive some sort of reward, often associated with project. For example, if you donate to a musician they would often give an Page 1

3 autographed copy of one of their CDs. Campaigns have between 0 60 days to raise the necessary funds to meet their goal. If they are successful, Kickstarter sends the creator the money minus a 5% service fee as well as 3 5% payment processing fee. If a project does not reach the necessary goal then backers are never charged and there is no exchange of money. Because of the deadline creators will often advertise their project on various platforms in hopes of receiving more backers. The Community With over $1 million being pledged every single day a community has evolved from Kickstarter in the form of backers and creators. The Kickstarter community has been limited on its website due to a lack of a proper forum for discussion. On each project page a user can only post comments if they are already a backer and have to privately message the creator otherwise. With guidelines in place to provide a friendly environment for it s users, the platform is also limited due to its fast growth and difficulty keeping up with complaints. This caused the online community to emerge on various other websites including Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit. But due to it s popularity and transparency, Reddit has risen to be one of the main platforms where the community discusses. In these forums users are meant to ask questions such as: how to best advertise their Kickstarter page, promote interesting projects they ve found, and give advice on approaching a campaign launch. The problem right now is, that s not all that is being discussed. Reddit seems to functions as a soapbox for the Kickstarter community to voice their opinion. It can be used to gain funding for dying projects, as well as call out fraud in others. Currently Kickstarter has no control over the inner workings of Reddit, which can put the Page 2

4 website into a difficult position if not correctly monitored. We will examine in this paper the question: Why does the Kickstarter community turn to Reddit? Background on Reddit Reddit is an online open source network of communities that anyone with an account can join. Last month the website had over 168K unique visitors from over countries. Each user has the ability to create their own subreddit for any topic they want (i.e. /r/barbie, /r/pokemon, /r/catpictures) and there is no limit on the amount of subreddits a user can create. Other users can then join these communities and make posts that are relevant. Posts are filtered by a ranking of upvotes and downvotes that are made by other users. The more upvotes a post receives, the higher it gets on the page listing. It is the hope of most users to get enough upvotes to be featured on the front page of Reddit. The front page is a customizable combination of several subreddits that is often viewed by thousands of members before the post dissipates with time. Reddit is a very transparent community which often runs in the financial red so that they can avoid monetary influence by companies and governments. Undisputed Projects At the start of research on this topic it was believed that specific subreddits had influenced Kickstarter campaigns the most, but the more cases examined this proved to be false. While groups such as /r/kickstarter and /r/crowdfunding had a steady stream of discussion on the topic, it was not until projects were posted in multiple subreddits that projects really gained notice. First we will discuss projects which were undisputedly ethical to examine the influence Reddit had on funding. Page 3

5 One successful case can be seen with Prismata developer, Elroy Grant, who posted the story of how he had lost a list of interested clients for a game his company was developing worth $6,500 in /r/tifu. 3 The post gained enough sympathy that it was eventually cross posted onto /r/bestof where it rose to the top item. Being so popular on two different subreddits helped the post land a spot on the front page. Grant stated truthfully, hitting the 3 front page of Reddit was, by far, the best thing that ever happened to us. Soon after reaching the front page their campaign received a significant increase in funding, reaching 50% of it s goal with three weeks left. This jump in popularity after being cross posted makes sense because the true power in Reddit lies with its large number of users. Each user has a set of subreddits which they frequent and are more likely to see a post. So when Kickstarter projects are listed on multiple subreddits it increases the likelihood of being seen and upvoted by more users. Image #1 shows how being featured on the front page of reddit jumped /r/100yearsago s number of 17 pageviews overtime. This is fairly typical of smaller subreddits who did not originally have as many subscribers. Image #1: Traffic stats of subreddit /r/100yearsago before and after being featured on the front page 17 Page 4

6 Another successful Kickstarter campaign was Tabletop Simulator by Berserk Games 4 who originally set out to raise $3,000, but ended up raising over $37,000. This project did well from the beginning by gaining recognition from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, a larger video game company, but it was through Reddit that their donations exploded. Originally posted on /r/steam, a gaming subreddit, the group s post made it to the front page and in turn they received their first boost getting to 136% funded. As stated by the project creator Kimiko: We were lucky because we had a variety of genres we could go under: pc gaming, game physics, board games, tabletop gaming, etc. 4 Taking advantage of this fact the team was able to post onto multiple subreddits, including /r/gamephysics where they made it to the front page for a second time. With this popularity they found themselves being referenced on other websites which only served to raise more funding. By the time the deadline arrived the project had been 1243% funded with 36.02% of that coming directly from Reddit. Image 1: Breakdown of top 12 Tabletop Simulator by Beserk Games funding by reference location 4 Page 5

7 Controversial Projects The last two cases showed how Reddit quickly raised funding for worthy Kickstarter projects, but this is not always the case. Because of it s open and diverse nature, Reddit has also helped spring life into projects that can be more ethically questionable. First we will look at a more lighthearted project that became a media sensation: Potato Salad. This kickstarter was unique to say the least. Creator, Zack Brown, stated Basically I m just making potato salad. I haven t decided what kind yet. 7 Within a few hours Brown had a call from CNET asking questions about the project and in a few days he would appear in The New Yorker, Good Morning America, and The Verge. According to Kickstarter the campaign 8 had been referenced by the media 2,068 times in over 54 countries. But when the numbers were broken down by The Atlantic it was shown that Reddit was what really pushed funding 7 into the five digits. When the project was posted to /r/offbeats it gained the momentum it need to reach the front page of the site and hundreds of new backers. Interestingly, most backers only donated $1 4 and only accounted for ~20% of the total funds. This means that a small group of backers were contributing ~80% of the total donations. Again, this makes sense because with larger exposure the campaign is more likely to attract all types of backers, some of whom are more willing to make larger donations. In the end the project received over $55,000 in funding when it had only asked for $10. While the majority of media was commenting on the comicalness of it all, there was a growing group of anti backers who did not want this project to succeed. The group argued 9 that money would be much better spent supporting the arts, science, or health care. Writer, Rebecca Chao, did a sample study of comments posted on Facebook about the project and found 70% of comments were negative of the use of funding to support this silliness. 7 Many of these comments came from supposed kickstarter users who felt the project was degrading Page 6

8 to their community. It is suggested that the project may have been a financial success because it found its niche environment in Reddit. Still, Kickstarter embraced the success of the project, openly acknowledging it s humor and even stating that the site is a place that users can aim high and go big, but small projects are great too. 8 This potato salad case is an interesting example of how Reddit was able to take a project that was doing mildly successful and make it a financial success while receiving opposition. The next controversial case is on a project called Above the Game: A Guide to 5 Getting Awesome with Women created by Reddit user Ken Hoinsky on May 29, This proposed project was to compile a series of post that Hoinsky made on /r/seddit, a seduction themed subreddit, and create a how to book. Many Kickstarter users were offended by the content of the book, believing it encouraged sexual assault by making suggestions such as Don t ask for permissions. Be dominant. 6 Still though with the help of its Reddit popularity the project managed to greatly pass it s $2,000 goal and raise $16,369 dollars. 5 Even with calls to shut down the project coming from various news outlets such as the Huffington Post and the Guardian, Kickstarter did not respond until the deadline had passed and money had changed hands. On July 21, 2013 Kickstarter published an apology letter on their official blog titled We Were Wrong, which explained their failure to cancel the project. It was states that they were only informed of the campaign 2 hours before the deadline; and because of this did not have time to do a proper investigation. The letter stated that the project should not have been allowed to launch in the first place due to it s offensive material towards women and merely fell through the cracks. In a last ditch effort to gain back the public's trust Kickstarter banned all future seduction guide projects and donated $25,000 to RAINN, an anti sexual assault organization. 7 The letter was met with mostly praise, users thanking the company for being Page 7

9 sincere and making a real effort to right their wrongs. Still some criticized that they were in fact able to shut the project down or at least pause it with a 2 hour window. This argument came about because Kickstarter had in fact cancelled a campaign hours from it s deadline before. The project in question was titled Kobe Red, and set it s goal to raise $2,400 to mass produce Kobe beef based jerky, but instead reached over $120,000. There were a few red flags which documentarians, Jay Armitage and Jason Cooper, noticed while creating their film 10 Kickstarted. The film was going to do a story on interesting Kickstarter campaigns and tried to reach out to the Kobe Red creator. They found his excuses to avoid meeting and general production concept to be faulty and decided to do more research on the campaign. After some time Cooper took his findings and posted them onto /r/kickstarter and /r/kobered 11 in an effort to expose the campaign as a fraud. Already close to the deadline for the project the campaign was shut down by Kickstarter with only a few hours left to go. Kickstarter declined to make a statement on the matter, claiming that they never discuss why a project has been shut down. Soon after news stories began to pop up on websites like CNN Money 11 which attributed the findings to Armitage and Cooper. It was through their use of Reddit that the fraudulent Kickstarter had been exposed. This leads to the question of why they felt the need to turn to Reddit as opposed to going directly to Kickstarter. Interestingly Armitage and Cooper were not alone in using Reddit before Kickstarter to expose corruption. In late 2014 a campaign to fund a device titled Anonobox was launched by August Germar which claimed that it could make it s users online activity private. The campaign had reached $600,000 in pledges when Redditors began to take notice that the 12 device resembled a mini router already being sold in China. Several posts began to arise on different subreddits pointing out how the product was being misrepresented and was Page 8

10 clearly the same as a product being sold in China for a fraction of the price. All attempts from websites such as Motherboard and Mashable, who had heard about the story, attempted to reach out to the Germar were denied. Instead Germar decided to do a Q&A on Reddit itself in hopes of clearing up some of the legitimacy issues at the source. Unfortunately for him the idea backfired with top posts becoming a platform for backers to point out all the flaws with 13 the device and exploit it as a scam. DigitalTrends.com reported when Anonobox was finally 14 shut down by Kickstarter for breaking their rules. Interestingly this directly contradicts Kickstarters statement during the Kobe Red incident that they never give an explanation of why they shut down a project. But similarly it was again through Reddit that people decided to make their arguments heard. Reasoning & Solution All these cases show the Reddit communities influence on many Kickstarter campaigns success and failures. The dilemma that arises for the Kickstarter community is best states as a question: Why are people more vocal about Kickstarter campaigns on Reddit than on Kickstarter? This is a concern because users should be able to solve Kickstarter issues within that site without having to resort to using their soapbox (aka Reddit) to gain enough support to make a difference. Currently Kickstarter tries to keep their governing simple by having three main rules for projects and three guidelines for community involvement. They are as follows: Project: Projects must create something to share with others Projects must be honest and clearly presented Page 9

11 Projects can t fundraise for charity, offer financial incentives, or involve prohibited items Community Involvement: Don t spam Don t be a jerk If you see something say something It is through these simple rules by which Kickstarter attempts to exert control and maintain order. Below there is a graphic representation of the four main forces of control on a internet source. The above Project rules correspond to the law and market force on their control. It is through the regulations on projects that they can ban entire campaigns and attempt to keep their vision intact. The Community Involvement rules attempt to enforce the norms through the use of law. By making it a rule that this is how users should behave, it should in turn become the norm, because if not there will be consequences. Below the areas of architecture and norms will be explored in more depth because they are where I believe the most potential for improvement exists. Image 2: Graphical representation of forces of control 16 Page 10

12 Architecture Ideally Kickstarter wants its users to be actively involved in the community and, by doing so, call out issues that they see may be violating any of the above rules. By making the appropriate selections at the bottom of a project page a report is generated. Currently all reports go through the Integrity Team who reviews and takes appropriate actions to correct if necessary. By asking users to stay within these simple rules and remaining a third party in all other disputes Kickstarter has attempted to become a neutral voice. They believe this is the best way to become an open platform for creators to feel free to propose any appropriate project. This process came as part of Kickstarter s policy changes in 2014 in an attempt to 15 streamline project launches. Previously each project needed to be vetted by a community manager who would make sure the project is ready for launch and follows all rules provided. This change is a reflection on how much Kickstarter has grown since it s launch in By automating this screening process the company is able to take approve more projects at a time and keep up with their market demand. Still though there is room for further improvement on the design on the website. For example, currently on any project page only backers are allowed to add comments. If you are not yet a backer and have a question, you have the ability to send a private message to the creator. This is a problem in itself because it lacks transparency for other users to see how a question was answered. If potential backers could see a more open communication it could help answer doubts that they may have. This could also allow for more users to spot red flags when they arise so that it does not fall solely on the shoulders of the person asking a question to research. Giving more transparency to all users on individual project pages would remove the need to use Reddit to ask questions. Page 11

13 Norms The norms followed by Kickstarter users is where the main issue currently lies. It is the norm for many users to turn to Reddit in order to ask questions and raise concerns about a project. Part of the reason for this is, as mentioned above, the project pages do not allow for a user to post comments if they are not a current backer of that project. If a user sees red flags on a project page they are not likely to back the project in order to post a comment and hopefully receive a good answer from the creator. So the backers either report the project, which creates more complaints for the Integrity Team to go through, or they turn to another website. By turning to Reddit, a site with hundreds of thousands of users with varying expertise, potential backers can get quicker responses. A change of norms is needed for Kickstarter to continue on their path of growth while maintaining/improving user trust. It needs to be a user's first response to post on Kickstarter, reach out to their customer service, and solve issues inhouse. Ideally complaints/reports would have a quicker turn around instead of the varying timeline there is now. Giving an actual response with brief reasoning would help users feel more connected to the community on their own website. And doing so in a timely fashion allows each individual to feel like they have a larger impact than they would if all the complaints go unanswered or unreplied for days. Ideally a user would be informed of exactly where in the process their complaint is: Submitted, Waiting to be Evaluated, Being Evaluated, Decision Rendered. The more a user is informed of where they are in a process the more involved they feel. Of course the base issue here still remains timeliness and openness from Kickster. These new processes would need to be expedited and given a solid answer to all possible complaints. Last, the openness of Reddit is what attracts Kickstarter users to post. Kickstarter should be able to start an open online forum which could be divided by project category and Page 12

14 allow users to generate original posts and have open discussions. These posts need not be tied to individual projects, but can be when desired. Allowing users to pitch ideas and discuss controversial projects within the confines of this forum could allow Kickstarter to track sensitive projects closely and hopefully prevent another Above the Game project fiasco. Conclusion In conclusion, the Kickstarter community has emerged within Reddit due to its immense power in numbers. By using Reddit projects can gain backing when they might not have, or be exposed for a sham. The conflict lies in Kickstarters slow response and openness with complaints with its users which forces them to turn to Reddit in situations which ideally would be handled by the former. If Kickstarter changed it s design to allow more transparency for users and a real platform for discussion, then users might not need to turn to other parties in order to bring to light issues. This would also help the Kickstarter community to manage some of the projects which do not sit well with them ethically. Reddit will continue to be a powerful voice to gain funding, but it needn't be a soapbox to expose corruption within another community. Page 13

15 Sources 1 Barnett, Chance. August Crowdfunding Sites in sites in 2014/ 2 Reddit. April About Reddit. 3 Falero, Michael. November Prismata Developer Recounts How Reddit Saved His Game, Redditors Respond by Funding His Kickstarter. developer recounts how reddit saved his game r edditors respond by funding his kickstarter 4 Briggman, Salvador How Reddit Can Ignite Your Kickstarter Campaign. can ignite kickstarter campaign/ 5 Hoinsky, Ken. June Above the Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome with Women. e the game a guide to getting awesome with wom/posts 6 Huffington Post. June Above the Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome with Women, Raises $16,000, Complaints. the game kickstarter tofutofu_n_ ht ml 7 Chao, Rebecca. July The Secret to that Potato Salad Kickstarter Campaign s Success. data behind that potato salad kick starter/374998/ 8 Benenson, Fred. August Potato Salad: By the Numbers. salad by the numbers 9 Rife, Katie. July Please Don t Give This Kid Money For His Potato Salad Kickstarter. dont give kid money his potato salad kickst Larson, Eric. June How the Biggest Scam in Kickstarter History Almost Worked. scam/ 11 jmaxcpr Likely MAJOR Kickstarter FRAUD Uncovered: Kobe Red. d_kobe_red/ Page 14

16 12 Santus, Rex. October Redditors Accuse Popular Kickstarter Project of Misleading Customers. kickstarter misleading customers/ 13 Cox, Joseph. October How Anonabox went from privacy savior to scam in less than a week. anonabox went from privacy savior to scam in less th an a week 14 Hahn, Jason. October Kickstarter Suspends Controversial Anonabox Router Project for Breaking the Rules. suspends controversial anonabox router p roject breaking rules/ 15 Frost, Joe. June Is Kickstarter Compromising Integrity in a Rush to get Bigger. compromising integrity rush get bigger/ 16 Lessig, Lawrence Code 2.0 Chapter Reddit The Effects of Being Mentioned by a Big Subreddit. _a_big_subreddit/ Page 15