Overview
Reddit is a social media site that displays pages of links to articles, pictures, videos, and other forms of media. It revolves around a participatory culture when users are able to vote links "up" or "down" based off of their personal preferences. The most popular links will be ranked higher and be seen by a wider range of people. The name "reddit" derives from the phrase "read it" because reddit allows early exposure to the most significant information. Therefore, a user has already "read it". Reddit is a customizable, participatory site that revolves around competition, community, and participation. One may customize their reddit experience by choosing to follow certain subreddits that interest them. Subreddits are organizational categories of reddits that are dedicated to providing information on that subject (for example r/politics features articles about the current domestic and international political scene).
History
Reddit was founded in June 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. The pair designed the site after graduating from the University of Virginia with the intention for the for the site to be a simple "bulletin style" link sharing site. The site now has would later become known as "the front page of the internet" garnering 400 million unique visitors and 37 billion page views in 2012.[1] The site was purchased by Condé Nast in October 2006 for an estimated $25 Million. In 2012, Reddit split from Condé Nast and is run independently from its San Francisco offices. It has remained a private company.
Basics of Reddit
Reddit is a link sharing site. The most popular links at that current time will be displayed on the front page. There is a general front page that is a representation of the "default" subreddits and there are customizable pages based off of the subreddits to which an individual user may subscribe. In this sense, no two users front pages will be the same. Reddit users, or "redditors" (a combination of the word reddit + editor) have three abilities in reddit: 1) Submit links or text posts 2) Comment on Links 3) Vote Positively (Upvote) or Vote Negatively (Downvote) a links. Links are then sorted in hierarchal order. The links with the highest average upvotes (more upvotes than downvotes) will be on the front page, thenceforward attracting a larger audience.
The Organization of Reddit/Subreddits
Links submitted to reddit have to submitted to a categorical "subreddit". (For example, you would submit a link of a cute puppy to the subreddit "r/aww" which is a subreddit committed to cute pictures of animals.) There are 22 default subreddits that all users are automatically subscribed to. There is a wide variety of subreddits. Anyone user can create a subreddit about anything of their choice. There is over 5,400 subreddits, so there is essentially a subreddit for most topic you might be interested in. File:Example.jpg
References
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- ↑ Reddit has announced that in 2012 it served an impressive 37 billion page views and 400 million unique visitors. Additionally, the company has shared that it saw 30 million posts, and received a total of 4 billion votes over the past year — roughly 133 votes per post.
