What Is Reddit and How Does It Work?

Reddit is a U.S based social platform for news, website content quality rating and website reviews; in other words, an interactive discussion network similar to forums because of its user-generated content. It’s a place where individuals can post anything and get feedback from other users, given that they follow the guidelines and the conditions in posting. People can share experiences, ask advice, post random quotes, funny photos, real or fake news, meet people with the same interest or even fall in love. Additionally, the general public may inquire for tips and tricks, research DIY’s, joining various groups, sell merchandise or services and so much more. It’s no surprise that It is widely known for its loyal and compassionate users.

• Reddit is derived from playing around the phrase “read it” (pronounced as the past tense of read)
• Reddit users are called “redditors” with over more than 330 million active users.
• It is a network of 138,000 communities by which you can be a part of too.

Each content posted by a user is labeled under boards or so-called “subreddits.” As of now an estimated 1.2 million subreddits currently exists with general topics ranging from books, news, movies, food, relationships, academics, medical, fitness, image sharing, video games or games in general, science and music.

When and how it was discovered

Reddit is currently 13 years old and was discovered by two roommates namely, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian on June 23, 2005. Both of them studied at the University of Virginia. But then it was sold to a company called Conde Nast Publications the following year. Fast forward, Reddit Headquarters is now based in San Francisco, California. In 2014, Reddit received big funding ($50million) by different investors. Snoop Dog (Weed King), Jared Leto, Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal), etc. all led by Sam Altman (CEO OF OpenAI). Due to their investment the company was estimated to be $500 million worth of value. To date, it has a 1.8 billion valuation. After leaving their baby, these two roommates eventually got back together. Alexis is the Executive Chairman and Steve as the Company’s Chief Executive. Both of them did a major upgrade by launching iOS and Android Reddit app. They made technical changes such as basic tool upgrades for users to post, edit, comment, hide comments, upvotes, and the works. They also instituted guidelines for banning explicit, offensive and violent contents.

How Reddit works

As like many other normal social media platform, prospective users may start by creating an account. Next, would be choosing which subreddit thread to be followed. Subreddits are communities for each topic you prefer. For example, a gamer can join r/gaming (a subreddit) for game info, announcements, trivia, etc. Users can post questions in anything related to gaming. Also, aside from this gaming community if an individual has a specific favorite game they can just easily join the group and be a part of that subreddit community. Any questions about bugs, cheats, tip, and tricks will be easily answered. For others, they would describe Reddit as their Holy Grail. Overall, if a person has anything to share or to ask about a simple post or comment on the thread would suffice.

Why you need Reddit

To put it simply Reddit has got to be the easiest way you can interact with the people of the internet.  The users are known to be an open nature person or in other words has a high tolerance of differences and to other people’s opinions. They are also described as a culturally diverse community of people on the internet. Reddit has been used by users multiple times as a platform to showcase their charitable and philanthropic efforts. It’s a very good place to gain support from people easily. A way to influence and get together for the greater good. Also, Reddit has helped raise money for Haiti earthquake relief efforts and food distribution. Additionally, in February 2014 Reddit has decided to give 10% of its yearly revenue to non-profits organizations that is chosen by the users. It is known that they have contributed to various organizations.

Reddit is also involved in different activism movements. It functions as a voice from the people. Thus, creating a movement that would benefit the majority. In terms of politics, users have been politically engaged in the Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Trump, Clinton and Sanders. In turn, making it into a hotpot for political discussion from all over the world. Another movement that started in just a random Reddit thread was the March for Science. It was all due to the White House Official website deleting all the files and references related to climate change. On 22 April 2017 about more than 1 million scientists and supporters got involved in 600 different events all over 66 countries worldwide. And most importantly the role Reddit users had in the movement for internet privacy, neutrality, and anonymity. The users promoted the internet blackout day in 2012 joined by Wikipedia and another website in protest of the Protect IP and Stop Online Piracy acts. This resulted in Reddit joining the Internet Defense League. Today, Reddit is active in advocating for network neutrality.

Conclusion

Overall, Reddit has gone from a small project that was started by two roommates that would, in turn, change the internet world. It can be used as a life tool hack, a way to meet friends, a way to talk to anybody without being judged. It’s famous not only because of the unforgettable meme’s but for what it stands for and what it’s offering to the general public. And that is giving anyone, any human being a platform for their voice to be heard, a chance for their ideas and project to be shared and talked about, to spread like wildfire globally.