In 2005, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, two University graduates, launched Reddit.com, which became one of the most explosive Internet sites of the 21st century. Reddit is similar to Flickr and Digg in that it is made up entirely of user-generated content from anyone who creates a Reddit account. Its appeal lies in users' ability to share news, viral videos and other web fodder in a large but concentrated forum.
Much of Reddit's genius lies in its "upvote" and "downvote" features. Through this system, competitions emerge surrounding who can submit the most interesting - or in some cases, most disturbing - content found on the Internet to gain votes. In addition, the submissions can be commented on, which also can be rated with the click of an upward or downward arrow. Comments with the most upvotes trend toward the top of their respective posts, and only the submissions with the most upvotes make it to the coveted front page.
Getting a post on the front page of Reddit is an achievement which requires attention to content, as well as to the wording of the title; the wittiness of the wording can create an enormous impact on the number of upvotes the post receives. The comment and title system creates a distinct subculture and humor which all "redditors" - those who use Reddit - find intriguing and addicting.
Another notable Reddit feature is "subreddits." Subreddits are communities inside the whole of the site which focus on specific topics or themes. Two of the most popular subreddits are AskReddit and IAmA. These subreddits, created through the inspiration of the users themselves, are truly ingenious. AskReddit is a subreddit which allows users to ask any kind of question with one rule: It has to be thought-provoking. In this subreddit alone, there are more than 750,000 users who ask ridiculous, mind-boggling and sometimes plain gross questions. Users of the IAmA subreddit, which not only allows users to post things about themselves but also to request information from others, recently asked No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain to answer 10 user-generated questions - and he complied. Of course, in true reddit style, the top 10 questions asked were chosen depending on the number of upvotes they received.
In addition to garnering celebrity attention, websites like Reddit have the power to move the masses. Case in point, a Reddit campaign called "Restoring Truthiness" is partially credited with persuading Stephen Colbert to put on the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. last October. Through the reporting, rating and spreading of cultural phenomena in our society, Reddit is quickly becoming, as its tagline proclaims, "the front page of the Internet"
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