What if your daily entertainment
site was more than just for laughs? What if while you browsed funny pictures and
movies you learned something new about the world? The website, Reddit is a great example of how a site can
union science with politics, entertainment with humor, and even animals with
death metal.
Reddit is a fast moving information
site where posts are submitted and subject to a voting system. There are many news
sites out in the world but, Reddit stands out from the crowed. The site’s motto
is “The front page of the internet” and
for good reason. Anyone can post
anything about any topic, whether it’s a video, image, site link, question,
comment, or an idea. For example, let’s say a person is really interested in
sea horses. A user can go on the site and view (or create if there isn’t one) a
subreddit. Subreddits are groups that help organize all posts on a specific
topic into one place and help bring people who really like sea horses together to
share, learn, and collaborate. When a
post is submitted to a subreddit it is subject to a voting system. If there is
a sea horse post that appears to be about dogs, the irrelevance of the post is
voted on by other users that can give it a “downvote”. If your post gets too
many “downvotes” it gets “buried,” it doesn’t really go anywhere, however, if
your post is popular and many people like it they can give it an “upvote.” The
more “upvotes” a post gets the more
people tend to notice it. If the votes reach up into the hundreds the post has
the chance to reach the front page! The front page is much like that of a
newspaper; it’s a collection of recent popular posts from all the Subreddits
and put on Reddit’s homepage. The front
page is filtered by popular vote so that the posts with the highest approval
rates are featured, this unique way of channeling certain pieces of media and
information to the front page makes Reddit a different type of news site. This is
a perfect example of Mcluhan’s sense of a global village, everyone is connected
(Mcluhan)1.
Reddit is set up like a news feed.
Posts are organized chronologically with their “upvote” counter shown on the
right. It’s very easily considered a
digital media artifact as it is only found online. Created by Steve Huffman and
Alexis Ohanian, graduates from the University of Virginia in 2005, started the
website as a way to connect people2. The demographic of the site
reaches nearly every age range and nearly every age group, although, that the
average user (~72%) are between 25 to 34 years old and in the lowest income
bracket, $25k and less. (What is the
significance behind this type of age group? Are those between the ages of 25
and 34 more likely to use online websites like this? Is it a generational
thing? Elaborate a little bit.) But with 2.065 billion page views3 what
makes Reddit so popular?
With more than 100,000 subreddits4,
the content on Reddit is astronomical. Entertainment subreddits like /funny have
nearly 1.8 million subscribers, /pics has 1.4 million. What about the more
serious subreddits? What about the non-funny ones? For example /politics has 1.56 million people who follow it. The subreddit based in “Interesting
Facts”, “Today I Learned”, or /TIL, has 1.4 million followers5. This vast contrast of humor and
science brings in a very interesting dynamic to a site. The broad range of topics
established in the site has brought many people from different ages,
ethnicities, and income to one place to browse for new information and
entertainment. Reddit has become a place where people can share their interests
and discover new interests in one single site. The site has few limitations
which allow people to post what they want and “upvote” what they like. Reddit
is open and subject to the people want. With the content and the number of
readers it can vary easily be considered a Hypermedia according to Manovich’s piece
on The Language of New Media6.
Reddit offers laughs and knowledge in one place. Shows like the Magic School Bus, which also try to inform in an
entertaining way, cannot compare to the essence of Reddit. This is where Reddit
rises way above other sites such as Tumblr.com or 9gag.com whose basis is solely on images and
short blogs, Reddit offers more ways to connect and experience new information in
a fun manner that allows the people to choose what is displayed.
When it comes to facts, credibility
is key. Therefore, Reddit users can prove to the admins of the site that they
have certain academic credentials (e.g engineering or geology). After proof is
submitted, their username is tagged with a little icon displaying their field of
study. So when these professionals comment on posts in their field it can help
build a good sense of credibility in what they are saying. This helps to cut
down on false content creating a good strong learning environment. A good Subreddit
example of this is /askscience, where anything from mathematics to
soc./poli-sci./econ./arch./anthro/etc can be found.
Overall Reddit is a very unique site
that offers a lot in way of content and community. I would recommend it to anyone
looking for a few good laughs and might want to learn something interesting
along the way.
Sources
11 -- McLuhan,
Marshall, and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage. 1st ed. Corte
Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2001. Print.
22 -- http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/10/14/a-rundown-of-reddits-history-and-community-infographic/
55 -- www.reddit.com
66 -- Manovich,
Lev, and . The language of New Media. Cambrage, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002.
19-63.
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