What is Reddit

Reddit.  What do you think of when you hear the word Reddit? Some may think of a worldwide multimedia source for all of your needs in billions of categories, or you may think of a dark evil place, that has called the “cesspool of the internet”. But whatever your view may be, Reddit has become almost synonymous with the internet, with the site drawing in millions every day.

                Reddit was started by 2 college students in 2005. The site started as a simple open funded project which tried to take news and types of media and bundle them all in one website. It stayed fairly unknown until about mid July, where it had a massive popularity spike. If you have never been on reddit before, let me explain what you can do. With reddit you can make an account and start browsing through its many pages, with it having a page (Known as sub reddits) for almost anything you can think of, from funny pictures to an entire page about the oak tree. You can subscribe to the page to get its top posts on your wall, and you can post things to any page you would like as well. If people enjoy your post they may give it an up-vote, and if you get enough, you may be able to get featured on the front page of the site. With this comes bragging rights and also earns you karma, which is like a score system (Higher karma means overall better posts). It since has grown exponentially from its original design, with the website making over 15 million dollars a year, and is estimated to be worth 3.5 billion dollars. The site has started many things that are now in our pop culture, and has hosted many of fundraising events, with one making over $200,000 to donate for relief work in Haiti after the earthquake.

                It has also become a hit with celebrities, with many popular actors hosting their very own AMA. AMA stands for ask my anything and it gives the chance to let everyday people post a question to the actor, and if they’re lucky, they very well might have it answered. A few examples of celebs that have hosted their own include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, PSY, Bear Grylls, and even our own president, Barrack Obama.

                While reddit does have its positives, it also has its dark side. It has grown a reputation of being a “cesspool” for the pedophiles, creepers, criminals, and other bad types of people. When I said that there was a page for anything, I wasn’t lying. Many people just hear of the bad things that happen time to time, but with millions of people coming in and out of the site daily, it’s expected. Reddit has cleaned up quite a lot from a few years ago, and has greatly improved its security measures. But even with them in place, I wouldn’t recommend visiting the site unless you are 14+.

                I hope that I did a fairly good job explaining what reddit is, and I highly suggest that you make an account on the site and explore the many pages it has to offer.