When a small group of University of Virginia roommates founded Reddit in 2005, they could have only dreamed of the behemoth that the site would grow to. Reddit, a discussion and news aggregation platform, is now one of the most popular websites in the world, valued at over $10 billion.
Reddit has a long and controversial history, so we've rounded up some of the most interesting facts about the site. Even if you use Reddit every day, chances are you don't know all of these.
1. Reddit Faked Its First Users
When you first launch a website, it's natural that no-one will visit it. You need to build it up and let the word spread. But when the purpose of your website is to aggregate community-submitted content, how do you get going?
In the case of Reddit, it faked its users. If you visited Reddit in the early days, there was plenty of content to keep your interest, seemingly all posted by different users. In fact, it was just the Reddit admins submitting content under different names.
This was explained by Reddit co-found Steve Huffman in a video lesson for Udacity. He said this had two benefits. First, it set the tone of the type of content they wanted to see on Reddit. Second, it made the Reddit community feel alive.
“I remember the first day, a few months in, when we didn’t have to submit any content. It was such a magical feeling because it meant everything was finally working on it its own,” said Huffman.
2. Reddit Didn't Launch With Comments
Nowadays, comments are an integral part of Reddit. It's how you read other's thoughts on posts and connect with a community. However, Reddit didn't launch with comments; that feature took six months to arrive.
Amusingly, if you look at the first post on the Reddit thread announcing comments, user charlieb seems unhappy about the introduction of comments: "There's nothing like simplicity and not following the crowd. I for one welcome our new comment spam overlords."
Thankfully for Reddit, it didn't listen to the criticism. Generally, the site has done a good job at keeping spam comments away, and it's hard to imagine Reddit without the functionality.
3. Reddit Has Won Three Guinness World Records for the Largest Gift Exchange
In 2009, user kickme444 launched RedditGifts, a way for Reddit users to come together across the globe and share gifts with one another. It began as a Secret Santa exchange. Users would sign up, submit their preferences, and be randomly paired with someone. In 2011, Reddit bought the site, and it expanded to cover all sorts of gift exchanges.
As announced on the RedditGifts blog, the exchange has won three Guinness World Records for hosting the largest Secret Santa gift exchange. In 2014, over 200,000 people signed up to take part.
One of those people was Bill Gates, who participated for a number of years, and was known for giving extravagant and thoughtful gifts.
Unfortunately, 2021 marks the end of RedditGifts. In a Reddit post, the service is apparently closing so that the team can "put more focus on enhancing the user experience on Reddit". The 0 upvotes and negative comments speak for themselves.
4. Countless Celebrities and Politicians Have Hosted Interviews on Reddit
One of the most popular subreddits is r/IAmA (which stands for "ask me anything"), where users can solicit questions from anyone on Reddit. At first, this subreddit was designed to turn the mundane fascinating, or let unique people share their stories.
Now, r/IAmA plays host to huge celebrity interviews. Musicians, film stars, and politicians all use it as a place to spread their message. Some get more involved than others. Famously, Woody Harrelson refused to answer any questions unrelated to the film he was promoting.
However, one person who understood the purpose was then-US President Barack Obama. His post gained around 216,000 upvotes and 23,000 comments, making it one of the largest posts on the subreddit of all time. What other website could you casually pose a question to the president?
5. Reddit Has Influenced the Stock Market
r/wallstreetbets is a Reddit community all about the stock market. Users gather to share their predictions and thoughts on what the next big investment will be.
The subreddit took a turn in the spotlight in January 2021 when a huge number of users collectively bought stocks in GameStop, which was performing poorly, after a user plunged $50,000 into the company. The group were able to skyrocket GameStop's share price, with the news hitting headlines and many amateur investors jumping on board.
The stock grew to over 120% of its original value, with many cashing out and making a tidy sum. Though the situation didn't destroy Wall Street, it certainly shook its foundations.
6. 40% of Reddit's Traffic Comes From the US
According to Alexa, around 40% of the people visiting Reddit are based in the US. 8.5% are from the UK and 6.6% are from India. So while Reddit ranks 21 in global traffic and engagement, it's important to remember that the site skews heavily towards the US.
If you browse the front page of Reddit, it becomes evident. Much of the news shared has a US focus, and many of the memes and pop culture references are born from Western media.
It's not a bad thing. But despite Reddit's overwhelming popularity, it still doesn't fully reflect the thoughts and feelings of everyone across the globe.
Reddit Continues to Grow and Change
One of the key parts of Reddit is that the site constantly changes. From one day to the next, you won't see the same content on your feed. That's why so many people return to it day after day, upvoting posts and dishing out karma; they're looking for the next thing to entertain or educate them.