The world of Reddit is vast and enigmatic. Though its unique lingo and subcommunities might be intimidating at first, Reddit does serve its purposes. It’s a great place to go when you need the answer to a specific question. Need tips on how to clear acne? Check r/SkincareAddiction. Going through a rough patch in your relationship? Look no further than r/relationship_advice.
The possibilities are endless on Reddit; it’s not just for entertainment but also community building and brand growth. Let’s dive into one of the most eccentric social media platforms to date to see why it’s developed such a cult following.
What is Reddit?
For the uninitiated, Reddit is a social media platform structured around forum-style discussion boards called subreddits. These subreddits are microcosms built around a particular subject where community members can interact with each other through comment threads. The originator of a thread is called the OP (original poster), and Reddit users—colloquially known as Redditors—can upvote or downvote threads to alter their place in the stream of posts. Upvoted posts are therefore likely to get more exposure, while downvoted posts get lost in the shuffle and fade into obscurity.
Subreddits are managed by volunteer moderators, also called mods, who help to establish the guidelines for interacting within a specific Reddit community by removing posts and comments that violate a subreddit’s rules, banning trolls and spammers, and determining the subreddit’s focus.
The History of Reddit
Reddit was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, two roommates at the University of Virginia. The two had been building Reddit as a hobby when they attended a lecture by Paul Graham, a computer scientist and entrepreneur. After the lecture, Huffman and Ohanian had the chance to speak with Graham, who encouraged them to apply to his startup accelerator program, Y Combinator, which serves as a springboard for entrepreneurs to get their projects off the ground via financial backing, connection-building, and idea development.
Huffman and Ohanian pitched Reddit as a democratic online forum to promote the free expression of thoughts and opinions. Y Combinator approved this idea, and Huffman and Ohanian were provided funding to launch their site.
The Language of Reddit
If you’ve never used Reddit, one of the platform’s more challenging quirks to get used to is its unique terminology. Though they can be tricky to get the hang of as a beginner, Reddit acronyms have become essential to the platform’s culture. Here is a brief Reddit dictionary to help you navigate the site:
- AMA — ask me anything; refers to Q&A threads where Redditors can ask and answer questions about themselves
- TLDR or TL;DR — too long, didn’t read; denotes a shortened version of a long post for users who don’t want to read the whole thing
- TIL — today I learned; used when Redditors want to share a newly acquired piece of information
- NSFW — not safe for work; denotes explicit content not suitable for viewing in a workplace environment
- DAE — does anyone else; used at the beginning of a sentence to ask if others share in a particular experience or eccentricity
- IIRC — if I remember/recall correctly; used to express uncertainty about a statement
- FTFY — fixed that for you; can be used literally when correcting another user’s accidental grammatical or spelling error or humorously when adding to or altering another user’s opinion
- CMV — change my view; used to invite other Redditors to challenge an expressed opinion or point of view
- LPT — life pro tip; used when giving life hacks or advice
- ELI5 — explain like I’m five; placed before a complex question to request a simplified explanation that any layman could follow
Why do people use Reddit?
- To Find Community
One of the major allures of Reddit is its community-based nature. Forums are organized around common interests, such as specific TV shows, hobbies, or public figures, and within these forums, users are free to discuss their interests with like-minded people.
While images and videos can be uploaded onto Reddit, the main form of communication used on the site is words. With a whopping character limit of 40,000, Reddit is the ideal platform for long-form communication and discussion.
- Because It’s User-Centric
If you’ve ever been frustrated with the seemingly random collection of posts delivered to you on your Instagram or Facebook home pages, Reddit is the place to go. Instead of using a complicated algorithm to determine what users want to see, Reddit lets users speak for themselves with the upvote and downvote functionality, influencing what content appears on the Reddit homepage and at the top of subreddits.
Reddit foregoes the personalized recommendations that most social media networks employ in favor of collaborative filtering, a process by which Reddit users determine what content they do and don’t want to see through upvotes and downvotes. This simple ranking system pushes heavily upvoted posts and brand-new posts to the top of peoples’ feeds, ensuring that the most popular posts will be seen and that newer posts with fewer upvotes will get a chance to be discovered.
- To Seek Answers and Advice
One of the most common reasons people use Reddit is to seek answers or advice for a specific problem. There are a plethora of subreddits solely dedicated to problem-solving and advice-giving, including r/FinancialPlanning for all your budgeting and investing questions, r/Relationships for sorting out interpersonal issues, r/LegalAdvice for all your law-related queries, r/TechSupport for help with technological troubles, and the r/NeedAdvice forum for general advice seeking.
As Reddit is a social platform built around community, it’s not difficult to find people who are more than willing to lend a helping hand when you’re in need. Considering the vast number of niches the site contains, you can rest assured that whatever your question or dilemma, someone on the platform has the expertise you’re looking for.
- To Stay Informed or Learn Something New
One of Reddit’s many merits is that it allows users to stay up-to-date on topics of interest. If you’re a fan of a particular video game or movie franchise, there’s undoubtedly a subreddit for it. Subreddits can also serve as a resource for news and updates surrounding a given topic.
Another draw to Reddit is the wealth of information it provides users with. Reddit users come from diverse backgrounds and bring a wide range of knowledge and skills with them, which they can then share with others through various forums dedicated to learning new skills, such as r/LearnPython, r/LearnToDraw, r/LearnUselessTalents, and more.
- For Entertainment
Finally, Reddit is a great place to find entertainment via memes, fan art, discussions, and dedicated humor subreddits like r/humor. If you’re not careful, users can easily spend hours at a time on Reddit, especially considering there are over 100,000 subreddits to willfully get lost in. So whatever your interests may be, your rabbit hole of choice awaits in a subreddit.
Reddit as a Digital Marketing Tool
Reddit is an incredible tool through which individuals can build personal friendships, but the community-based nature of the platform also makes it an ideal place for digital marketers to foster authentic connections with potential clients and consumers.
Nowadays, people want to know there’s a face and a character behind the brands they engage with, and Reddit is the perfect place to demonstrate your brand’s personality! Create a subreddit for your brand where customers can get to know your values and what you have to offer, host an AMA to strengthen your brand’s credibility, or simply use Reddit as a resource to gather information on what’s important to your target audience. There are multiple ways businesses can use Reddit to their advantage; it’s just a matter of finding which strategy works best for your brand.
Digital marketers who don’t acknowledge and accommodate the immense impact community building has on brand identity and engagement will find it exceedingly difficult to find a loyal audience and achieve their business goals. If your team needs assistance navigating digital marketing, the first step to your success starts here! Contact us today, and watch your business grow tomorrow!
Go Beyond The Social With BlueTickSocial
BlueTickSocial is a woman-owned and women-led digital marketing agency. We focus on building your digital presence to generate sales, increase engagement, create brand awareness, and take your company goals to the next level.
Other Sources:
How does Reddit’s ranking algorithm work?
What is Reddit, and Should Your Brand Be Using It?
