Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says there are two sorts of people that come to the social media platform: Scrollers and seekers.

Scrollers are those who come to Reddit’s core product, which is group dialog and interesting about subjects they’re enthusiastic about, from r/sourdough to r/popculturechat. Then there are the Seekers; the individuals who may sort their particular question into Google Search and tack “Reddit” on the top to allow them to discover actual recommendation and opinions from actual folks. 

Reddit Answers, the corporate’s AI-powered chatbot that surfaces verbatim solutions and summaries from current Reddit posts, is for the Seekers. And early outcomes recommend it’s already gaining traction.

“Up till very not too long ago, we haven’t constructed a product for them,” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman stated Thursday on the corporate’s first-quarter earnings name. “These customers will not be coming to Reddit for a group in that second. They’re coming for a solution. And I believe we will [acknowledge] the use case that the person’s bringing us and be more practical at fixing it.”

Reddit introduced through the name that its Solutions product already has 1 million weekly energetic customers because it launched in beta in December. Final month, Reddit expanded Solutions past the U.S. and into Australia, the U.Okay., Canada, and India. 

The characteristic, which continues to be in beta, presently lives within the navigation bar of the app as its personal separate expertise. Going into 2025, Reddit plans to combine Solutions extra deeply into the platform in just a few alternative ways. 

Huffman stated the obvious manner to do that can be to combine Solutions into the first search field, which might permit customers to sort in a full question somewhat than just some key phrases. 

The manager additionally stated the corporate is exploring methods to combine Solutions into the start of the person journey.

“So that you’re a brand new person opening Reddit for the primary time, utilizing Solutions to see what’s in Reddit and be taught that Reddit nearly definitely has what you’re searching for,” he stated.

One other “level of entry” for Solutions can be by means of exterior search, “serving to [users] get a extra summarized or easy-to-parse model of the reply on Reddit,” Huffman stated.

That might additionally shield Reddit from being on the mercy of Google Search. Within the fourth quarter of 2024, a Google Search algorithm change prompted some “volatility” with Reddit’s person development, which spooked traders on the time, regardless of beating earnings estimates.  

“We’re an open platform, and we wish folks to seek out Reddit content material in [Google] Search,” Huffman stated. “Being open drives consciousness and visibility. It will possibly additionally create variability, and we do anticipate some bumps alongside the best way from Google, as a result of we’ve already seen just a few this 12 months. That is anticipated in any 12 months, however on condition that the Search ecosystem is beneath heavy development, the close to time period may very well be extra bumpy than normal.”

Reddit’s inventory soared in after-hours buying and selling as the corporate beat analyst earnings expectations and robust person development. The corporate reported income of $392.4 million, up 61% year-over-year, an adjusted EBITDA of $115.3 million, and each day energetic distinctive customers of 108.1 million, a 31% YoY enhance. 

Within the second quarter, Reddit estimates income within the vary of $410 million to $430 million and adjusted EBITDA between $110 million and $130 million.