What is Reddit?

Well, it has more than i.5 billion users and is the 6th most-visited site in the U.S. – which means more people visit information technology than Instagram, Twitter , eBay, LinkedIn, or Netflix.

But what is Reddit?!

Why is Reddit so hard to define? I mean, even if you don't use LinkedIn , you lot probably know what it is.

Reddit is confusing because it'southward in a niche of its own.

The platform is a melting pot of trends, media, micro-communities, micro-cultures, and within jokes – and that'southward what makes it crawly.

Once you learn the basics, you'll find a whole new earth of possibilities.

So, what is Reddit and why does it refer to itself as "the front page of the internet"? This commodity will teach you everything you demand to know to get started.

Post Contents

  • What is Reddit?
  • What is a Subreddit?
  • Is Reddit Social Media?
  • What is Reddit Karma?
  • Start Posting and Commenting on Reddit
  • Search Earlier You Share on Reddit
  • Understanding Reddit's Language and Jargon
    • A Glossary of Reddit Terms
  • How to Utilise Reddit for Business
  • Reddiquette: Stick to the Rules or Face the Consequences
  • Summary
  • Want to Acquire More?

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What is Reddit?

Reddit combines spider web content , social news, a forum, and a social network into one behemothic fauna of a platform. Registered members tin can contribute to the site with content such as images, text, videos, and links. All content on the site can be voted upwards or downwardly by other members.

This meritocratic system ensures that interesting content rises to the top and uninteresting content falls into an abyss. As a result, Reddit is the birthplace of most internet memes and viral sensations .

Reddit truly is some other world.

That'south why Reddit's iconic alien , "Snoo," is such a perfect mascot for this oddball community-based platform.

What is a Subreddit?

As mentioned, Reddit works a bit like a forum.

A subreddit is a micro-community within Reddit and is based on a certain topic – and at that place's a subreddit for everything. Sure, you've got your usual topics covered with subreddits like:

  • Crafts: r/SomethingIMade or r/Crafts
  • Travel: /r/travel/ or /r/backpacking/
  • Business concern: r/entrepreneur or r/smallbusiness
  • Fitness: r/Fitness or /r/GYM/
  • Cooking: r/cooking or r/AskCulinary

Merely it doesn't stop there.

Whatever you can call up of , there will be a subreddit nigh it. I'm dead serious.

Don't believe me? Well, check this out…

There's a dedicated subreddit for people to share Photoshopped images featuring birds with human arms: /r/birdswitharms/ In that location's another subreddit where people share, quite literally, pointless stories: /r/pointlessstories

Or ow about the subreddit r/CatsStandingUp ? It's an entire customs of people posting pictures and videos of – y'all guessed it – cats standing upwards.

These niche communities each have their own rules, etiquette, subscribers, and posts.

Y'all can view the subreddit's rules in the right-paw sidebar:

At the top of each subreddit feed, yous tin use the driblet-down menu to sort posts by:

  • Hot: Posts that are pop right now
  • New: Recently shared posts
  • Controversial: Posts that are receiving a relatively equal amount of upvotes and downvotes
  • Top: The most popular posts in a subreddit
  • Rise: Posts that are currently receiving a lot of upvotes

Niche communities, content voting, and the ability to filter posts by Hot, New, Controversial, Summit, and Ascent are central to the Reddit feel. These features allow interesting posts to gain massive traction rapidly.

Although it'south extremely unlikely, if in that location'due south a subreddit that doesn't be, you lot tin can always create your own subreddit .

A social media website is commonly defined as a network platform that people utilize to share and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities.

Reddit meets these criteria.

But is Reddit social media? Really?

On most social media platforms, users have profiles, personal feeds, and predominantly utilise the website to grow relationships with other people.

Reddit doesn't exactly fit this clarification.

Instead, Reddit is more than like a forum where aggregated content takes center stage and uses are generally bearding.

Ph.D. Researcher Tim Squirrel sums upward the site beautifully : "If Facebook is people y'all know sharing things yous don't care about, Reddit is things you lot care about shared by people you don't know."

Okay, just is Reddit social media?!

In short, yes. All the same, it'southward certainly different from most social networking platforms.

The core divergence lies in Reddit's community values. Reddit values contribution to the community and experience of others over individuals. The aim is to create value as part of a customs that exists in a subreddit.

In other words: On Reddit, it isn't almost you. Information technology'southward about the collective.

As a result, unlike virtually social media platforms, Reddit isn't big on user-generated content .

For instance, it's okay to mail service a shameless selfie or a picture of your breakfast on Instagram. All the same, if you lot do this on Reddit, y'all should expect a tidal wave of mean comments and downvotes.

Some might say that in that location are ii kinds of people in the earth: those who don't utilise or understand Reddit, and Redditors – the diehard fans of the website.

So, how can you become a Redditor? How to Use Reddit

Now that we've answered the question, "What is Reddit?" allow'due south swoop in.

First things first: Reddit thrives on anonymity.

Nigh users don't use their real names or birth twelvemonth in their usernames, and it'due south strongly discouraged.

What's more than, it's mutual for users to accept a couple of "main" accounts and several "throwaway accounts" they use for specific situations or subreddits. For example, check out the usernames used by the moderators of the subreddit /r/backpacking :

This creates a peculiar phenomenon.

The widespread anonymity actually provides a foundation for openness – in other words, pretty much anything goes on Reddit. You tin share and interact freely. Plus, this anonymity is kept in cheque by transparency.

All users can see each other'southward entire posting and commenting history. This makes it piece of cake for subreddit communities and moderators to police themselves and learn how accurate a person is based on their previous posts and "Reddit karma." And so, when creating an account, consider using an anonymous username.

Information technology's easy to create an business relationship . You lot only need an electronic mail accost, a username that isn't already in use, and a password.

When you first sign up, Reddit volition propose popular subreddits to subscribe to. Then, you can head to reddit.com/subreddits to search for more subreddits.

Here, you can besides use the tabs at the peak of the folio to navigate subreddits.

Next up?

What is Reddit Karma?

Due to the anonymity, Reddit uses "karma" to found the credibility of users. Every user's profile shows the number of karma points they've accrued.

As your karma increases, and so does your influence on the site. The more karma you take, the more seriously other users volition take yous.

However, there are two kinds of karma:

  • Post karma is earned from upvotes on the posts you share in subreddits.
  • Comment karma is earned from upvotes on comments you get out on posts.

You can besides lose karma if other users downvote your posts and comments enough that the score falls beneath zero. And then, how can you grow your karma on Reddit?

Get-go, make certain to subscribe to subreddits that y'all experience you're able to actively participate in and contribute to. What are your interests and hobbies? Exercise yous have specialist noesis, experience, or skills? Then, become an agile participant in your chosen subreddits.

Ideally, you should share height quality posts and comment on other people'southward posts regularly. It also helps to respond to comments on your own posts.

Yous could likewise caput to r/askreddit and ask or respond questions.

Building up karma on Reddit takes time and dedication, and so aim to contribute positively and frequently.

Start Posting and Commenting on Reddit

Reddit really is all nigh interaction.

Individual contributions to subreddits, posts, and discussions are the lifeblood of the site. Posting and commenting on Reddit is also how you get upvotes which increase your karma.

To share a new post , just head to a subreddit and click, "Create Post" nether the subreddit title and description.

There are iii chief types of posts that you tin can share on Reddit:

  • Mail service: Write something and mayhap add some media to keep with it.
  • Epitome & Video: Share media files with a simple championship.
  • Link: Share a link with a unproblematic title to accept visitors to another webpage or piece of content.

It'southward worth noting that subreddits will sometimes limit yous to just one of these iii types of posts.

Before y'all share something, make certain you use the Reddit search feature to check that you're not reposting something that's already been shared – Redditors frown upon this.

You lot can use shortcodes to search more accurately. For case, if you want to search for the give-and-take "cats" in postal service titles, search " title:cats ".

Here is a list of some of Reddit'southward search queries that y'all can use:

  • Author: The user who submitted the post.
    For example, author:PresidentObama
  • NSFW: NSFW posts.
    Set to yes for NSFW submissions; otherwise, set to no. 1 and 0 are also supported.
    For example, nsfw:no or nsfw:0
  • Selftext: For cocky-posts, the body of the mail service.
    For example, selftext:cats
  • Site: The domain of the submitted URL.
    For example, site:example.com
  • Subreddit: The submission's subreddit.
    For example, subreddit:cats
  • Title: The submission championship.
    For instance, title:cats
  • URL: The submission'south URL (the website'south address).
    For case, url:cats

You can also search multiple fields at once, such every bit, " cats subreddit:pics site:imgur.com ".

Lastly, try to make sure that whatever you share contributes something new and interesting to the subreddit…

… unless you're posting in /r/pointlessstories that is.

Understanding Reddit's Language and Jargon

Afterward spending some time browsing Reddit posts and reading comments, you lot'll observe that Redditors have adult their own jargon.

There are tons of abbreviations and special words used to communicate.

When starting out, it helps to go the basics nether your belt. So, here's a glossary of common Reddit terms to help y'all immerse yourself in this new globe.

A Glossary of Reddit Terms

AMA : "Ask Me Anything." An invitation for Redditors to enquire any questions with the promise that they'll respond. It often starts with "I Am A [something interesting nearly yourself], Inquire Me Anything." Check out r/AMA for examples.

AMAA : "Ask Me Almost Anything."

IAMA: "I Am A." The beginning of a mail service in which notable people are interviewed by the Reddit customs. It's featured guests like President Obama, Snoop Dogg, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Also a subreddit – /r/IAMA .

Brave or So Brave : Used to sarcastically dismiss a comment or to patronize someone going forth with popular opinion.

Cake Day : The date a user joined Reddit – like a altogether. Cake days are displayed on user profiles.

DAE: "Does Anyone Else." An appeal to a mutual feeling or situation. Also a subreddit – /r/DAE .

EDIT: An indication that someone has inverse their annotate after showtime posting information technology.

ETA : "Edited To Add" something.

ELI5: "Explain Like I'm v (Years Old)." A asking to explain something in very simple terms.  Besides a subreddit – /r/explainlikeimfive .

FTFY: "Fixed That For You." When a user makes a small edit of a previous annotate that changes the meaning in a helpful or humorous way.

IIRC : "If I Recall Correctly."

MIC: "More than In Comments."

Novelty Account : An account specifically used for humorous purposes. Often used to share jokes related to the account's username.

OP : "Original Affiche." The person who commencement submitted the post that'south being commented on.

Power User : A Reddit user with a high karma score who is well-known to many people on Reddit.

RTFA : "Read the F***ing Article."

THIS : An indication that you agree wholeheartedly with a comment and want to draw attention to it. These comments are oft downvoted. TIL: "Today I Learned." Something a user just learned and wants to share. Also a subreddit – r/TodayILearned .

TL;DR: "Likewise Long; Didn't Read." A brusk description of a longer piece of text. It tin be shared by the original commenter or some other user.

Whoooosh : Used to indicate that a joke has "gone over someone's caput" and that they didn't understand it.

X-Mail : "Cross Post." An indication that something has already been posted in some other subreddit.

These are but some of the more common ones – if you're in need of more Reddit lingo help, check out the full lossary here . How to Use Reddit for Business

How to Utilise Reddit for Business

Redditors are quick to shoot down anyone who engages in self-promotion, marketing, URL shorteners, and anything else that makes it seem like yous're using Reddit as a place to sell something.

Remember, this platform is all nigh community.

So, while you lot might exist tempted to endeavor to sneak your products into a subreddit like r/shutupandtakemymoney , there'southward e'er the chance information technology might backfire and impairment your business' brand. How can you use Reddit for concern?

Well, the safest way to employ Reddit for business is to utilise Reddit ads .

These ads are tolerated because advertisers are being upfront nigh their intention to promote their concern. Plus, they're using a defended space for promotions instead of clogging up subreddit feeds with self-serving content.

Reddit ads allow you to target people based on the subreddits they subscribe to. This means you tin promote your marketing messages direct to specific, passionate, and engaged niches.

Reddiquette: Stick to the Rules or Confront the Consequences

"Reddiquette" is the name given to Reddit's detail rules and etiquette – which you've probably realized by now is vast .

Y'all can read Reddit'southward full reddiquette guide here .

It's extremely important to stick to reddiquette to avoid being "shadowbanned."

Considering of anonymity and the widespread use of multiple accounts, Reddit created "shadowbanning."

This is the term used to describe the act of banning a user from all of Reddit if they break the rules – without the user beingness notified .

The shadowbanned user'south posts and comments volition continue to bear witness up for them, but other people won't run across them.

This prevents users who abuse the rules from simply setting up some other account to continue their misbehavior.

However, a shadowbanned users profile will brandish an fault page.

Plus, you tin can log out and cheque your profile if you think you've been shadowbanned. And if you experience you've been unfairly shadowbanned, you can follow these guidelines .

Then, how can you avert being shadowbanned?

Well, bullying, insults, personal attacks, illegal activities, trolling, and posting someone'due south personal data on Reddit will all get yous shadowbanned.

In other words, simply play dainty.

Whenever you engage on the site, always consider other people and the community first. Aim to contribute and add value. Also, recall to check and follow each subreddit'southward individual guidelines.

Summary

Reddit is a rare breed of social network.

It values community and contribution more than than the individual. And it's the place to detect new trends, memes, and viral sensations before the remainder of the world hears most them.

Recall:

  • Reddit thrives on anonymity, and information technology's a place where pretty much anything goes.
  • There's a thriving niche community for seemingly every involvement or topic.
  • The best way to employ Reddit is to detect means to contribute to subreddits and comment threads.
  • It tin can accept time to accrue karma points, only every bit you practice, your influence will grow .
  • There's a strict code of ethics, and reddiquette is taken very seriously.
  • The safest mode to use Reddit for business is to utilize Reddit ads.
  • Be sure not to corruption the community for self-serving purposes.

Take you establish whatever great subreddits to check out? Let united states of america know in the comments below!

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