At first glance, Reddit looks like a website straight out of the 90s. One can’t help but wonder how such a sparse and retro looking website, is so popular this day in age. However, many people believe that Reddit is one of the top 5 most influential websites out there today, and I would have to agree. So what exactly is Reddit? It’s a social news site where users can submit links or posts on any content they find particularly interesting. Other users can then vote on if its good or bad, by clicking on either the upward facing arrow or the downward facing arrow. If its considered good content, the link will continue to rise up on the Reddit homepage toward the #1 spot, if its voted bad content it will fall off the site entirely. The site also has discussion pages where users can talk about certain posts and people can vote for or against users comments. It is one big, awesome, discussion group filled with your peers.
Here are 3 reasons why you should join Reddit ASAP.
1. The homepage is continually updated with fresh and interesting content, content that users like you and me want to read and therefore have voted it to the top. The great thing is that the content is constantly changing depending on what other users find interesting that day, so every time you go back, there is something new to read about. It is impossible to become bored with this site, trust me. You don’t have to read any other websites to get up to date news on every topic imaginable.
2. Reddit sub-communities. Reddit is made up of hundreds of sub-communities. Each sub-community is focused on a certain topic. You can personalize your homepage so you can see posts and links on topics that you find most interesting, or you can have your homepage be filled with all of the links/posts that are most popular throughout the entire site. Some of my favorite sub-communities are WTF?! Which is described as “All (& only) things that make you say WTF (except politics)”. TODAYILEARNED, which is described as “You Learn something new every day, what did YOU learn today?” But they also have more serious sub-communities, such as WORLDNEWS, and SCIENCE. There is something for everyone.
3. Karma. When you’re logged in to Reddit you will noticed that there are numbers next to a username and that is called that user’s “karma.” That number reflects how much “good” the user has done for the Reddit community. The best way to gain karma is to submit links that you think other people will like and vote for, making it rise to the top. The more your posts are liked and voted for, the higher your Karma number is. The higher your Karma number is, the more people will trust you and the content you provide. The Reddit team has said the best way to gain Karma, is to just be a good person, but they also make sure to note that they can make no guarantees about attaining Nirvana.
Reddit has almost 85,000 fans on Facebook, 45,000 followers on Twitter and is continuing to grow on the new Google+ social network, these numbers are impressive in their own right, and just helps to prove how popular and influential this site is. Sign up today, you will be glad you did.
